Will Arnett's Real Name: William Emerson Arnett

Quick answer: Will Arnett's full name is William Emerson Arnett. He was born on May 4, 1970, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He is best known as Gob Bluth on Arrested Development, as the voice of BoJack Horseman and Lego Batman, and as a co-host of the SmartLess podcast (Britannica; Library of Congress).

Real name and early life

Britannica gives his name in full as William Emerson Arnett. The Library of Congress name authority files him as "Arnett, Will." His middle name matches his father's first name. Britannica says he was born in Toronto to Emerson James Arnett, a lawyer who later served as president and CEO of Molson Breweries from 1997 to 2000, and Edith Palk, a former actress.

His parents sent him to boarding school at 12, and he was eventually dismissed for bad behavior. "I was disgruntled, restless, caused all kinds of trouble," he told the Toronto Star in 2010. "I probably had an undiagnosed case of ADD, but back then, they just thought you were a problem kid." He spent one semester at Concordia University in Montreal before moving to New York to study at the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute.

Career highlights

Arnett's gravelly voice brought steady voice-over work while he auditioned for on-camera roles. He had guest parts on Sex and the City, The Sopranos, and Will & Grace, but Britannica says he struggled professionally and personally and developed a serious drinking problem. When his agent sent him the Arrested Development script, he told her to forget it. She insisted, and he won the role of Gob Bluth, the family's bumbling magician, over Rainn Wilson and Alan Ruck. The show ran from 2003 to 2019, and Gob's angry "C'mon!" became his trademark line.

He played rival network executive Devon Banks opposite Alec Baldwin's Jack Donaghy on 30 Rock. His voice roles include Ratatouille (2007), Despicable Me (2010), and Batman in The Lego Movie (2014), The Lego Batman Movie (2017), and their sequels. He voiced the title character of Netflix's BoJack Horseman (2014–20) and hosts Lego Masters. He co-created Flaked (2016) and stars in Netflix's Murderville (2022).

In 2020 he launched the podcast SmartLess with Jason Bateman and Sean Hayes. Each week one host brings a guest the other two don't know about in advance. Learn more about his Arrested Development costar on our Jason Bateman real name page.

Arnett married comedian Amy Poehler in 2003. They have two sons, separated in 2012, and divorced in 2016.

Name notes for searchers

Will is short for William, and Emerson, his middle name, is also his father's first name. He has always been credited as Will Arnett. Britannica describes him as a Canadian-American actor.