Orville Willis Forte IV was born in Alameda County, California. His father, Orville Willis Forte III, is a financial broker, and his mother, Patricia C. (nee Stivers), is an artist and former schoolteacher. He was raised in Moraga, before moving to Lafayette. He went by Billy in his early years until he was teased at school for it also being a girl's name, at which point he decided he would from there on be known as Will.

MacGruber was shot on a tight schedule of 28 days in Albuquerque, New Mexico, during the summer of 2009. It was written while simultaneously producing the weekly episode of SNL, and the show's production process left the trio deprived of sleep. Forte was positive regarding the film, saying, "What you see with this movie is exactly what we wanted to do. It's the three of us having a bunch of fun writing it, then having fun making it with a bunch of our friends--old friends and new friends. I think that fun comes across when you watch it. It's rare that you get that kind of creative freedom." The film was released in May 2010 and received mixed reviews. It fared worse at the box office, where it failed to recoup its budget and was pulled from theaters after its third week. Forte found the failure tolerable, commenting, "When you make something that you're really proud of and it doesn't do well, you can live with it." The film has since seen more positive reception and has been dubbed a cult classic. Forte left Saturday Night Live, shortly before the beginning of the show's thirty-sixth season in 2010. He felt it the "right time to go," considering his eight-year tenure there, his expansion into film with MacGruber, and his age. In addition, his sister had just had kids and he wanted to move to the West Coast to be closer to them. He soon regretted the decision, calling the following year an "emotionally trying period," as he felt "devastated" that he would no longer be on the program. He assumed his shot at a film career was ruined, and he imagined that if acting did not work out, he would return to writing primarily. Following this, he entered what he has called a "lost period" and had small supporting roles, such as Rock of Ages, That's My Boy and The Watch, all of which were not successful. The only commercial successful film he worked on was Grown Ups 2, where he made a cameo as a male cheerleader. He also took a role as Paul L'Astname, the cross-dressing boyfriend of Jenna Maroney on the critically acclaimed sitcom 30 Rock. Forte took his first dramatic role for the 2013 film Run & Jump. Director Steph Green offered him the part, and Forte imagined it a "fun thing to try," though he noted that she had more confidence in him than he had himself. Later, he sent an audition tape to director Alexander Payne for a role in his next film, Nebraska. He equated his casting in the film to his fear of joining SNL a decade prior, noting that he was "terrified" to begin working on it. He felt hard initially, but followed co-star Bruce Dern's acting advice to "look for the truth" in each scene--in other words, "In every scene, you're just trying to play it as honestly and as real as you can." CANNOTANSWER

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