- Born
- Birth nameMichael Ian Schwartz
- Height1.78 m
- Michael Ian Black was born in Chicago, Illinois, but his family moved to Hillsborough, New Jersey, when he was young. His parents divorced when he was 3. When he was 12, his father died during neurological surgery following a mysterious assault.
Michael attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts but left before graduation. It was there he met and joined the core group of the comedy group "The State", who had a short run with their own MTV show, The State (1993), before attempting a move to CBS in the mid-1990s; their make-or-break Halloween special fell short of expectations, and a CBS series never came into fruition. Since then Black has appeared as a regular on Comedy Central's Reno 911! (2003) starring Thomas Lennon, Robert Ben Garant and Kerri Kenney.
In addition to his regular television appearances, he also performs in the comedy group Stella (2005) with fellow State alumni Michael Showalter and David Wain.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Bethany
- SpouseMartha Hagen(October 17, 1998 - present) (2 children)
- ChildrenRuth Black
- While a guest on "Live with Regis & Kelly" in 2010, Bradley Cooper was asked which of the many actresses he has co-starred with was his favorite on-screen kisser. Instead of an actress, he chose Michael Ian Black, with whom he shared a love scene in Wet Hot American Summer (2001).
- Real name is Michael Ian Schwartz, but changed his name to Michael Ian Black because there was already a popular actor named Michael Schwartz.
- Added his middle name, Ian, because there was already an actor named "Michael Black".
- Was the voice of the pets.com sock puppet.
- Lives in Connecticut with his wife, Martha Hagen, and their two children.
- I honestly believe you can never tell if a relationship is going to last. In my own marriage, which is going on 14 years, I don't think of it as 'I'm going to be with this person forever.' Instead, I think of more like, 'I'll probably be with this person for the next six weeks. Then I'll re-evaluate.'
- Everybody has something they love to do. Do that thing.
- Lordy, lordy, lordy do I love money. It is a character flaw, no doubt, one that springs from a panicked childhood in which I always felt as if our family was only a couple missed child support payments from being tossed onto the pitiless streets of our suburban New Jersey town.
- Well, I think my stand-up is often kind of visual. Not like Carrot Top visual, but visual.
- Separation is the worst. There's no good way to deal with it, other than to get on the phone and do Skype and try to visit.
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