American comedian and
actor, best known for his concurrent roles on
ABC's
The Drew Carey Show and
Whose Line Is It Anyway?.
Stiles was born April 22, 1959, in Seattle, Washington, to Canadian parents (his father was a fisherman). The family moved to Vancouver, British Columbia when he was 10.
Stiles was a natural comic, and dropped out of high school at 17 to tell jokes at local comedy clubs (he had to use fake ID to get in). He moved to Toronto at 27, and joined the Second City comedy troupe; he met future co-star Colin Mochrie there.
Three years later, Stiles joined the Second City troupe in Los Angeles, but landed a regular spot on the original British improv television show Whose Line Is It Anyway?, which featured Clive Anderson, the following year. He stayed on the show till it ended in 1998, fitting it in amid much other work.
That other work included a series of guest spots on American sit-coms, commercials, and bit parts in movies. He co-starred on The Drew Carey Show from its launch in 1995 as Lewis Kiniski, a janitor for an evil pharmaceutical company.
In 1998, with the British Whose Line fading, Stiles got its producer, Dan Patterson, together with American comic Drew Carey to pitch the idea of an American version to ABC; it debuted as a summer fill-in, and then was picked up as a regular series.
Stiles's comedic talents are much more visible in improv than in his acting role on Drew Carey; he's a gifted physical comic with a rubber face, and knows how to use his gangly 6'6" body for maximum laughs. He has a knack for mannerisms that enhances more sedate jokes and helps with impressions.
He's married, with a daughter and a son, and has homes in Los Angeles and Washington state.