During his time on
Saturday Night Live, Ferrell appeared in several movies:
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery,
A Night at the Roxbury,
Superstar,
The Ladies Man,
Dick,
Drowning Mona,
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me,
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, and
Zoolander.
His first starring role came after his departure from SNL with Frank "The Tank" Ricard in
Old School (2003). The movie "belongs to Mr. Ferrell," declared the
New York Times, which described how he "uses his hilarious, anxious zealotry to sell the part."
Old School was a major success and Ferrell received an
MTV Movie Awards nomination for Best Comedic Performance.
The title role in
Elf (2003) followed, as did another MTV Movie Awards nomination. Ferrell continued to land comedy roles in
2004 and
2005 in films such as
Melinda and Melinda,
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy,
Starsky & Hutch, and
Wedding Crashers, earning himself a place among Hollywood's
Frat Pack. In 2005, Ferrell earned $40 million. In 2006, Ferrell starred in
Stranger Than Fiction and
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby; both received critical and box office success. Ferrell's performance in
Stranger Than Fiction introduced audiences to the dramatic potential of Ferrell's acting talents. On
December 27, 2006, 'The Magazine' named Ferrell as one of its three actors of the year in their 2006 year in review issue.
In March of 2007, Ferrell, along with
Jon Heder, co-starred in
Blades of Glory. During an interview in support of the ice skating comedy, Ferrell denied relying on performance enhancing drugs to assist with his work in the film, but did admit to using "a lot of human growth hormone and a little bit of Robitussin" for his work in
Stranger Than Fiction. In
2005, Ferrell was invited to join the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Ferrell has played two characters with the first name "Chazz": Chazz Reinhold in
Wedding Crashers and Chazz Michael Michaels in
Blades of Glory. Ferrell appeared as part of a pre-game video package for the Rose Bowl along with
Texas alum
Matthew McConaughey. Ferrell also sang a song at the
ESPY Awards in 2006 about
Lance Armstrong and
Neil Armstrong, and is often noted as looking very similar to
Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer
Chad Smith.
Ferrell participated in a 79th Academy Awards musical-comedy performance with
John C. Reilly and
Jack Black, where they sang a song about comedies being snubbed by the voters in favor of dramas.
