Rise to Fame
His great-grandfather held Sunday seances in the 1930s, and his father told him ghost stories. By the time Aykroyd sat down to write Ghostbusters, the paranormal wasn't a genre choice, it was family inheritance. He'd already established himself as a founding SNL cast member and writer from 1975, winning an Emmy for writing in 1977. Ghostbusters (1984), which he wrote and starred in, grossed nearly $300 million on a $30 million budget. The movie turned a TV performer into a franchise.
In the Spotlight
Crystal Head Vodka, which he co-founded in 2007, is the clearest signal of where Aykroyd put his real energy. The skull-shaped bottle moved roughly 20 million units by 2018, and he also co-founded the House of Blues chain. His film output after the 1990s was patchy at best, but the business side more than compensated. He still shows up for Ghostbusters, reprising Ray Stantz in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024), and he hosts The Unbelievable on History Channel. The acting is legacy work. The empire is the main event.
Side Notes
He's an official Hollywood consultant for the Mutual UFO Network and claims to have personally spotted four UFOs, which puts his obsession with the paranormal somewhere beyond research into personal conviction. He's said he had pretty bad Tourette's tics at 12 and describes himself as having Asperger traits, which he credits for an ability to hyperfocus on interests until they become projects. Ghostbusters was one result. Crystal Head Vodka was another.