Chris Farley

Christopher Crosby Farley was born in Madison, Wisconsin, on February 15, 1964, and grew up in Maple Bluff. His father Thomas John Farley Sr. (1936–99) owned an oil company and his mother Mary Anne (née Crosby) was a homemaker. He had four siblings: Tom Jr., Kevin, John, and Barbara. His cousin Jim is chief executive officer at Ford Motor Company. Of Irish Catholic descent, Farley attended parochial schools in Madison, including Edgewood High School of the Sacred Heart. According to Joel Murray, a fellow Second City cast member, Farley would "always make it to Mass."

Many of his summers were spent as a camper and counselor at Red Arrow Camp, near Minocqua, Wisconsin. He graduated from Marquette University in 1986, with a double major in communications and theater. At Marquette, he played rugby union and discovered a love of comedy. After college, he worked with his father at the Scotch Oil Company in Madison. He first learned the art of improvisational comedy at the Ark Improv Theatre in Madison.

Farley made his way to Chicago, performing first at Improv Olympic. He then attended Chicago's Second City Theatre, starting the same day as Stephen Colbert, initially as part of Second City's touring group. He was eventually promoted to their main stage in 1989, and was a cast member of three revues, The Gods Must Be Lazy, It Was Thirty Years Ago Today, and Flag Smoking Permitted in Lobby Only or Censorama.