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Born in Wilmette, IL, the fifth of nine children. He and most of his siblings worked as caddies, which paid his tuition to Loyola Academy, an all-boy's Jesuit school. He played sports and did some acting while in that school, bit in his words, mostly "screwed off". He enrolled at Regis College in Denver to study pre-med, but dropped out after being arrested for marijuana possession. He then joined the National Lampoon Radio Hour with fellow members Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, and John Belushi. However, while those three became the original members of "Saturday Night Live", he joined the "Howard Cosell Variety Hour", which premiered that same year. After that show failed, he later got the opportunity to join SNL in 1977. Murray made a sort-of screen debut providing one of the voices for SHAME OF THE JUNGLE, a 1975 animated spoof of Tarzan films, but got his big break as the sly summer camp counselor in the Canadian-made MEATBALLS (1979), directed by Ivan Reitman, with whom he's collaborated several times since. Murray and Reitman made the most of that smart aleck characterization in the country-club farce CADDYSHACK (1980) and the service comedy STRIPES (1981, teamed with writer-performer Harold Ramis), then struck box office gold with GHOSTBUSTERS (1984, in which Murray and Ramis were joined by Dan Aykroyd). From the start, Murray was also intrigued by other kinds of film projects, however. He played fabled "gonzo" journalist Hunter S. Thompson in WHERE THE BUFFALO ROAM (1980), reportedly ad-libbed his supporting role opposite Dustin Hoffman in TOOTSIE (1982), and used his box office clout to star in (and cowrite) a serious, and ambitious, remake of W. Somerset Maugham's story of a man's quest for inner peace, THE RAZOR'S EDGE (1984), which failed to please many critics or moviegoers. Murray contributed a hilarious cameo as the pain-addicted dental patient in LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS (1986), starred in a too mean-spirited SCROOGED (1988), and sailed through GHOSTBUSTERS II (1989) before taking his first turn behind the camera, as cowriter and codirector of the very funny (if low-key) caper comedy QUICK CHANGE (1990). Since then he's had some of his best screen opportunities, as the insufferably ingratiating hypochondriac in WHAT ABOUT BOB? (1991), in a surprisingly serious part as a gangster who wants to be accepted as a stand-up comic in MAD DOG AND GLORY (1993), as a cocky TV weatherman who's doomed to relive the same day over and over again in the clever GROUNDHOG DAY (also 1993), and as a member of fringe filmmaker Ed Wood Jr.'s bizarre coterie in ED WOOD (1994). Murray's more recent screen credits include KINGPIN and LARGER THAN LIFE (both 1996), THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO LITTLE (1997), WILD THINGS, WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE and a critically-acclaimed performance in RUSHMORE (all 1998), CRADLE WILL ROCK and SCOUT'S HONOR (both 1999), as Polonius in HAMLET and Bosley in CHARLIE'S ANGELS (both 2000), OSMOSIS JONES, THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS and SPEAKING OF SEX (all 2001) and COFFEE AND CIGARETTES and LOST IN TRANSLATION (both 2003). 2004 releases include the voice of the title character in GARFIELD and THE LIFE AQUATIC WITH STEVE ZISSOU. Subsequent credits include BROKEN FLOWERS (2005), GARFIELD: A TAIL OF TWO KITTIES (2006, voice), THE DARJEELING LIMITED (2007), FCU: FACT CHECKERS UNIT, GET SMART and CITY OF EMBER (all 2008), and THE LIMITS OF CONTROL and THE FANTASTIC MR. FOX (both scheduled for release in 2009). Married to Margaret "Mickey" Kelley, 1981-1994, divorced - 2 sons. Married former costumer-actress Jennifer Butler in 1997. They have 3 children. Murray owns a minor league baseball team in Charleston, SC, called the Riverdogs. His brother Brian Doyle-Murray -- stockier and older-looking than his sibling -- has become a familiar character actor in television and films, including a number of Bill's like CADDYSHACK, THE RAZOR'S EDGE and GROUNDHOG DAY.  Nominated for Actor in a Leading Role 2003: LOST IN TRANSLATION 1 nomination