Dana Carvey

About Dana Carvey

Dana Thomas Carvey (born June 2, 1955) is an American Emmy-award winning actor and comedian known for his work on Saturday Night Live and the spin-off movie Wayne's World.

Carvey was born in Missoula, Montana, the son of Billie, a schoolteacher, and William Carvey, a high school business teacher. Carvey is of Italian and Irish descent. His father is from Rome. Carvey is the brother of Brad Carvey, the engineer/designer of the Video Toaster. The character Garth Algar (from the movie Wayne's World) is a loosely-based portrayal of Brad. Carvey was raised Lutheran. When he was three years old, his family moved to San Carlos, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. He received his first drum kit at an early age. He attended Tierra Linda Junior High in San Carlos, California, and Carlmont High School in Belmont, California, and received his Bachelor's degree in communications from San Francisco State University.

In 1979, while performing at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco, he met Paula Zwaggerman, who would later become his wife. Soon after returning to the Bay Area in 1980, Dana and Paula were engaged.