BILLY CRYSTAL (Mike Wazowski) gives a hilarious performance as the energetic, enthusiastic and excitable Scare Assistant to James P. Sullivan.

"Mike is one of the favorite characters that I've ever played in anything," says Crystal. "He is really a tiny underdog living in Monstropolis. He's sort of the Burgess Meredith to John Goodman's Rocky. He's a little manager; a Jiminy Cricket. He's a high energy, crazy, spirited one-eyed guy who is actually more animated than some of the characters I've played with two eyes. Mike is also a romantic and he doesn't want anything to get in his way. He's head over heels in love with Celia and he's all head so he's really just 'over heels' for her.

"I've loved working with John Goodman on this film," he adds. "We're like a Laurel and Hardy combination and we have a great relationship in the film. He does things that I can't do and I get him to be the best monster he can be.

"The design and concept of 'Monsters, Inc.' is unlike anything I've ever seen. The movie is enormous. Kids and adults will love this movie because the idea of it is so universal. We've all been scared. We've all been worried about what's in the closet. We've all worried about what's blowing in the wind outside the window late at night. This movie embraces that and teaches us how to handle fear. And in my world, laughter is a great medicine. It's a rare thing when you have a movie that suspends your belief and takes you into another place where you laugh and you get scared and maybe you even cry a little bit.

"I used to do a routine back in 1984 about a 10-year-old kid being left home alone for the first time," Crystal continues. "It was all done with sound effects through a computer and it was all about the kid's imagination. Imagination is very powerful and most of the time it's worse than what really is. Pixar and everyone who's created this film -- from the directors to the writers and animators embrace what we're afraid of and make it into entertainment. This movie is so breathtaking in its inventiveness. The end result is as exciting and well directed and well cut as any adventure movie."

Billy has created one of the most versatile and prolific careers in the entertainment industry, finding success in front of the camera, as a performer in film and television, and behind the scenes as a writer, director and producer.

His family owned and operated the legendary Commodore label and record store, so Crystal grew up in New York surrounded by music and musicians. His father, Jack, produced concerts by the era's great jazz performers, including the legendary Billie Holliday. It was his exposure to these great stars that helped Crystal develop a knack for stand-up comedy, incorporating his gifts for mimicry and satire, as well as his ability to create enduring characters who are funny, human, and touching.

After touring with such stars as Billy Joel, Barry Manilow, Neil Sedaka, and Sha Na Na, he became a regular on the popular series "Soap," playing the first openly gay character on a network television series. During the 1984-85 television season, Billy met with phenomenal national success on "Saturday Night Live." Along with fellow performers like Christopher Guest and Martin Short, he created many memorable characters and catch lines, including his classic imitation of Sammy Davis, Jr., Fernando ("You look mahvelous!") or Willie the Masochist, who would hurt himself and then claim, "I hate when that happens."

In recent years, Crystal has moved between successes on television and film. He created, wrote and produced the critically-acclaimed HBO series "Sessions" and became the first comedian to perform in the then-Soviet Union with his special Midnight Train to Moscow, one of four one-man specials done for HBO. He has hosted the Grammy Awards three times, and, of course, the Oscars� seven times.

He has starred in "Running Scared," "Throw Momma from the Train," "The Princess Bride," "When Harry Met Sally," "City Slickers I and II," "Mr. Saturday Night," "Forget Paris," "Hamlet," "Deconstructing Harry," "Father's Day," "My Giant," "Analyze This," and most recently, "America's Sweethearts."

Crystal recently received acclaim for the film "61*" for HBO Films, serving as both director and executive producer. Based on the true story of the pursuit of Babe Ruth's home run record by New York Yankees stars Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris, the film stars Thomas Jane as Mantle and Barry Pepper as Maris. Crystal will next star opposite Robert DeNiro in "Analyze That," the sequel to "Analyze This."

A dedicated human rights advocate, he has co-hosted with Robin Williams and Whoopi Goldberg all eight "Comic Relief" telethons on HBO which have brought the plight of the nation's homeless to the public and raised over forty million dollars for housing and medical care for these needy people. Billy has won six Emmy Awards, six American Comedy Awards, and seven Cable Ace Awards.

His professional accomplishments abound, but Billy considers his greatest achievements to be his 32-year marriage to his wife, Janice, and his two daughters, Jennifer and Lindsay.