Craig Ferguson was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and began performing in music before moving into comedy and theatre. He moved to the United States in the 1990s and gained a major television break as Nigel Wick on The Drew Carey Show. His experience in stand-up and acting helped him develop a distinctive television style built around improvisation and conversational comedy. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2008.
Ferguson took over CBS’s The Late Late Show in January 2005 and hosted it for ten years. His unpredictable monologues and free-form interviews made the program distinct from conventional late-night formats. The show won a 2009 Peabody Award for its interview with Archbishop Desmond Tutu, while Ferguson received a 2006 Primetime Emmy nomination. He also hosted the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in 2008.
After leaving CBS, Ferguson hosted Celebrity Name Game from 2014 to 2017, winning Daytime Emmy Awards in 2015 and 2016. He later hosted History’s Join or Die with Craig Ferguson and ABC’s The Hustler, while continuing his work as a comedian, writer, actor, and producer. In 2026, he became the host of The CW’s Scrabble, giving him another television role after years of stand-up tours and other media projects.
