The eldest son of a Canadian government official, Dan Aykroyd became famous on ABC-TV (sic) for introducing a hilarious lineup of unlikely characters including Irwin Mainway, E. Buzz Miller and Jorge Festrunk, the latter being one of the Czech Brothers (the other was Steve Maritn).
Aykroyd's adroitness with accents may be due to bilingual upbringing in Hull, Quebec. The fact that he was thrown out of six Catholic schools for infractions of the rules reflects his unpredictable amnner. He finished high school at sixteen and went on to Carleton University but left at twenty, three credits short of an arts degree.
After a brief stint as a thirty-five-dollar-a-week announcer on Toronto's cable TV Channel 79, Aykroyd opened Club 505, an after-hours bar where he served drinks and laughs to the customers. He found a more appropriate forum in Toronto's Second City revue which had opened at 110 Lombard Street.
In the early 1970s John Belushi, then a member of Chicago's Second City revue, was on the road with a National Lampoon show, Lemmings. He met Aykroyd in Toronto and attempted to recruit him for the National Lampoon radio hour but Aykroyd wanted to stay and finish a children's radio series, Everything's Coming Up Rosie (sic), for the CBC. However, another Canadian, Lorne Michaels, then executive producer of Saturday Night Live convinced Aykroyd he was needed by the "Not Ready For Prime Time Players," which featured Belushi, Chevy Chase, Gilda Radner and Jane Curtin. In 1975 Aykroyd signed as a writer-actor for SNL, won an Emmy for writing in 1976 and another in 1977.
He made two movies with the late John Belushi: The Blues Brothers in 1980 and Neighbors in 1981. It was Belushi's last film. Aykroyd also recorded with Belushi as The Blues Brothers. Their albums include Briefcase Full of Blues.
In 1982 Aykroyd and fellow-Canadians Tommy Chong and John Candy introduced It Came From Hollywood, a collection of some of the worst films ever to bomb on the big screen. In 1984, Aykroyd's Ghostbusters was one of the summer's biggest hits and a huge box office success.
Despite wealth and acclaim in the U.S., Aykroyd retains his Canadian connections: "Being Canadian is an imporant factor in my life," he told Sid Adilman in the Toronto Star. "I love this country. The links are strong. I return at least four times a year.