Is Will Ferrell married?

Actor and comedian Will Ferrell has had several on-screen wives in the course of his decades-long career including Amy Poehler (The Other Guys), Christina Applegate (Anchorman), and Rebecca Hall (Everything Must Go), but is the actor married in real life? The answer is yes. In fact, Ferrell and his wife, Viveca Paulin, have been together for more than two decades.

Paulin was born in Sweden but grew up in Boston. She has a few acting credits under her name, including the role of Porsche Girl in the 1998 movie A Night at the Roxbury, which stars Ferrell and Chris Kattan. Paulin works in the art industry as an auctioneer and is also an avid art collector.

How did Will and Viveca meet?

Will Ferrell and Viveca Paulin met in the summer of 1991 at an acting class at the South Coast Repertory theater in Costa Mesa, California. There was mutual attraction and they began dating, but as Ferrell revealed in the podcast MeSsy, they went their separate ways. “It’s one of those stories of, we met, at first we were both like, ‘Wait a minute, I really like this person,’ but it was kind of like too much too fast at too young,” the actor recalled. Ferrell was 24 at that time and Paulin was 22.

Despite the separation, the two remained friends and in Ferrell’s mind, Paulin was “the one that got away.” After five years of just being friends, however, Paulin confessed that she still liked Ferrell, to which the actor replied, “I just told my uncle that I’m going to marry you one day,” as he said in an interview with Elle. It was then that the two decided to give the relationship another try.

A family of five

After dating for a few years, Ferrell took the next step and proposed to Paulin. What was supposed to be a serious moment turned comedic, however, when Ferrell fumbled his words. He took her to a beach where they had one of their first dates, but Paulin told him she found it creepy in the dark of night. “I was trying to think of what I was going to say and it just turned into, ‘So I, uh, really like you and, uh, anyway…’ Then I went down to a knee–at least I think I did–and proposed,” Ferrell shared.

The couple married in 2000 and now have three sons Magnus, Mattias, and Axel, born in 2004, 2006, and 2010, respectively. Paulin often shows her support to her husband by walking red carpet events with him, and at times, the entire family shows up.

Apart from working in their respective fields, Ferrell and Paulin also make it a point to give back to their community by donating to various charities. In 2018, they established the Viveca Paulin and Will Ferrell Scholarship Fund, which provides opportunities for student-athletes to attend Ferrell’s alma mater, the University of Southern California. Ferrell and Paulin celebrated 24 years of marriage on Aug. 12, 2024.