William Edward "Billy" Crystal was born on March 14, 1948 in Manhattan. He is an actor, writer, producer, comedian, and film director. He gained prominence in the 1970s for playing Jodie Dallas on the ABC sitcom Soap and became a Hollywood film star during the late 1980s and 1990s, appearing in box office successes When Harry Met Sally... and City Slickers. He has hosted the Academy Awards nine times from 1990 through the 84th Academy Awards in 2012. After graduation from Long Beach High School in 1965 Crystal attended Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia on a baseball scholarship. He later attended New York University, where he graduated in 1970 with a BFA from its Tisch School of the Arts.
Crystal's earliest prominent role was as Jodie Dallas on Soap, one of the first unambiguously homosexual characters in the cast of an American television series. After hosting Saturday Night Live in 1984, he joined the regular cast. Crystal's first film role was in Joan Rivers's 1978 film Rabbit Test. Crystal also made game show appearances such as The Hollywood Squares, All Star Secrets and The $20,000 Pyramid. Crystal starrred in the romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally in 1989 for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe. Crystal then starred in the comedy City Slickers in 1991. Next, he went on to write direct and star in Mr. Saturday Night and Forget Paris. He continued working in film with roles in movies such as Analyze This and Analyze That.
Crystal won the 2005 Tony Award for Best Special Theatrical Event for 700 Sundays, a two-act, one-man play, which he conceived and wrote about his parents and his childhood growing up on Long