Lorne Michaels CM (born Lorne Lipowitz; November 17, 1944) is a Canadian television producer, writer, comedian, and actor, best known for creating and producing Saturday Night Live, and producing the Late Night series (since 1993), and The Tonight Show .

Early life

Michaels was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the son of Florence (Becker) and Henry Abraham Lipowitz, a furrier. He was the eldest of the Lipowitz children. He has a sister, Barbara Lipowitz, who currently resides in Toronto, and a brother, Mark Lipowitz, who died from a brain tumor. Michaels attended the Forest Hill Collegiate Institute in Toronto and graduated from University College, University of Toronto, where he majored in English, in 1966. Michaels began his career as a writer and broadcaster for CBC Radio.[6] He moved to Los Angeles from Toronto in 1968 to work as a writer for Laugh-In and The Beautiful Phyllis Diller Show. He starred with Hart Pomerantz in The Hart and Lorne Terrific Hour, a Canadian comedy series which ran briefly in the early 1970s. During the late 1960s, Michaels married Rosie Shuster, who later worked with him on Saturday Night Live as a writer.  She was the daughter of Frank Shuster, one half of the famous comedy team, Wayne and Shuster. Michaels and Shuster were divorced in 1980.

Birth name        Lorne Lipowitz
Born                   November 17, 1944 (age 71)
                           Toronto, Ontario, Canada
                            Medium     Film, television
Years active     1968–present
Spouse             Rosie Shuster
                          (m. 1973; div. 1980)
                          Susan Forristal
                          (m. 1981; div. 1987)
                          Alice Barry
                           (m. 1991)
Children          3
Website        www.lornemichaels.com