Biography And Career Of Fred Armisen – An Award-Winning Comedian

It was not by chance that Fred Armisen got to spend 11 seasons as a cast member of the late night variety television show, Saturday Night Live. The award-winning comedian, who also has succesful careers as an actor, musician, writer, and producer, is also known for his role in the comedy series Portlandia which he co-created, and as the bandleader of The 8G Band, the in house band of Late Night with Seth Meyers. Biography, Ethnicity Fred Armisen was born Fereydun Robert Armisen to Hildegardt Mirabal and Fereydun Herbert Armisen on the 4th of December, 1966 in Hattiesburg, Mississippi although he was raised in Brazil and New York. Armisen is ethnically American but of mixed ancestry; Venezuela through his mother, and German/Korea through his father.

As a child, Armisen was a fan of Rock music bands like Devo and The Clash, which made him want to become a musician. He put together a band with his friends in high school but the group later disbanded as he went to college. Armisen still had hopes of following his dream but he first wanted to complete his studies at The School of Visual Arts in Manhattan. Somewhere along the line, however, Armisen opted to drop out of school to fully concentrate on his music career. Chicago turned out to be Fred Armisen's choice destination as he moved to the city in 1988 and joined punk rock band Trenchmouth as a drummer. Later on in the 90s, he began playing background drums for performance art company, Blue Man Group.

During this time, Armisen began to show interest in pursuing an acting career. He was able to land roles on the shows Crank Yankers and Adult Swim which directly led to him getting the opportunity to feature on Saturday Night Live for the first time in 2002. Two years after his first appearance, the show's creator, Lorne Michaels, promoted him to repertory cast member and making him only the second Latino cast member of the show. With the exposure Armisen received from SNL, he was now able to appear in a number of Hollywood productions like including EuroTrip (2004), Cop Out (2010), and Our Family Wedding (2010). He later quit the comedy show in 2014 as its third longest serving cast member but continues to appear in movies and series while still playing music. Family - Parents Fred Armisen is of mixed ancestry. His father, Fereydun Herbert Armisen, was born to a Korean father and a German mother in Lower Saxony, Germany. The older Armisen later moved to America where he found work at multinational IT company, IBM before meeting and marrying Hildegardt, a Venezuelan immigrant schoolteacher.