Stephen Colbert.

On May 13, 1964, Stephen Colbert was born in Washington D.C., but grew up in Charleston, South Carolina. He is the youngest of eleven children in an Irish Catholic family. His father, a doctor and medical school dean, died along with two of his brothers in a plane crash when Stephen was ten years old. That tragedy led to the Federal Aviation Administration’s sterile cockpit rule.

He studied acting at Northwestern University and performed with the Second City comedy troupe in Chicago, where he met future collaborators Amy Sedaris and Paul Dinello.

Colbert’s early career included writing for The Dana Carvey Show in 1996 and Saturday Night Live. He teamed up with Amy Sedaris and Paul Dinello to create the sketch comedy Exit 57 in 1995, which ran for two seasons and garnered five CableACE nominations. In 1997, he became a correspondent on The Daily Show, initially billed as The New Guy, and eventually became the show’s longest-running correspondent, hosting segments like Even Stepheven and This Week in God.

In 2005, he left The Daily Show to host The Colbert Report, a half-hour nightly satire that spoofed conservative punditry. The show launched his catchphrase truthiness, which the American Dialect Society named Word of the Year. He also contributed to the best-selling book America The Book and helped The Daily Show win numerous Emmy and Peabody Awards.

Colbert lives in northern New Jersey with his wife Evie McGee Colbert, whom he married in 1993. They have three children: daughter Madeleine born 1995 and sons Peter born 1998 and John born 2002. He teaches Sunday School every weekend at his church and served as an altar boy for 11 years.

Colbert is deaf in his right ear due to a childhood operation and can fold his right ear inside out. He is a huge Lord of the Rings fan and once recited Aragorn’s biography from memory on The Daily Show, prompting actor Viggo Mortensen to send him a platter of chocolate LOTR characters.

Colbert’s impact on political satire is significant. He coined truthiness, which became a cultural phenomenon and was declared Word of the Year 2005. In 2008, his portrait was temporarily accepted by the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery after a campaign on his show. He has won a Grammy Award for Best Audio Book, Narration & Storytelling Recording, multiple Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Writers Guild of America Award.

The tragic plane crash that killed his father and two brothers in 1974 led to the FAA’s sterile cockpit rule, a lasting safety regulation. Colbert is remembered as a creative force who redefined late-night comedy and political commentary through his satirical persona on The Colbert Report.