During his tenure on SNL , he appeared in a recurring series of sketches, particularly featuring the Coneheads and the Blues Brothers. For his work on the show, he received five Primetime Emmy Award nominations, winning for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series in After his departure, he has since returned to guest roles. Aykroyd's most famous roles are as Elwood J. Raymond "Ray" Stantz in Ghostbusters , and Ghostbusters II he has reprised his role in various projects within the Ghostbusters franchise.
Other dramatic roles include Chaplin , North and Pearl Harbor Aykroyd is also a businessman, having co-founded the House of Blues chain of music venues and the Crystal Head Vodka brand. He attended St. Pius X and St. Patrick's High Schools, and studied criminology and sociology at Carleton University , but dropped out before completing his degree.
He worked as a comedian in various Canadian nightclubs and ran an after-hours speakeasy , Club , in Toronto for several years. Aykroyd developed his musical career in Ottawa, particularly through his regular attendance at Le Hibou , a club that featured many blues artists. He describes these influences:. There was a little disco club there called Le Hibou, which in French means 'the owl. I did actually jam behind Muddy Waters. Leary left the drum kit one night, and Muddy said 'anybody out there play drums?
I don't have a drummer. He said 'keep that beat going, you make Muddy feel good. Many, many times I saw Howlin' Wolf. As well as the Doors. So I was exposed to all of these players, playing there as part of this scene to service the academic community in Ottawa, a very well-educated community.
Had I lived in a different town I don't think that this would have happened, because it was just the confluence of educated government workers, and then also all the colleges in the area, Ottawa University , Carleton , and all the schools—these people were interested in blues culture.
