Ellie Genower talks to Ben Stiller about being funny, the strange side of film fame and how his children, Ella and Quinlan, became involved in Madagascar: Escape to Africa.

PEOPLE always expect Ben Stiller to be funny. It’s not surprising, given that he’s made a career out of a string of hilarious characters; from the overthe- top vanity of male model Derek in Zoolander to his recent turn as an actor desperate to be taken seriously in Tropic Thunder.

And hiding from his fame isn’t always easy he admits.

"I’ve had somebody ask for an autograph at a funeral," he says.

"That might not be appropriate. I gave it to them. I don’t want to lose a fan. It was a family person who was closer to the deceased than I was, so I didn’t want to rain on their parade even more.

He adds: "You go on a talk show and people want to laugh. They want to see the funny guy be funny. But in life, I don’t feel any sort of pressure to have to do that. When you’re living your life you want to relax a little bit. Enjoy the funeral – you know what I mean?"

Stiller has plenty of reasons to enjoy life as he turned 43 last weekend.

Tropic Thunder, which he co-wrote and directed, did brisk business at the US box office, knocking the phenomenally successful Batman film The Dark Knight off the top spot. And his latest movie, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, the sequel to the 2005 hit animated film, in which he voices Alex the lion, also made No 1 in the American movie charts.

"It wasn’t hard to decide to do the sequel because the first one was so much fun," Stiller says. "So with the second one, once you’ve done it and you understand what the process is, it actually makes it a bit more fun because you understand that there’s actually going to be a movie at the end of it. The first time we always wondered if they were making a movie because it went on for so long and we didn’t see anything."

Animated films of this calibre take years to make, and can be a tricky task for actors. The stars usually have to voice their parts alone in a studio vocal booth, which was the case for Stiller’s costars David Schwimmer (Melman), Jada Pinkett Smith (Gloria) and Will.i.am (Moto Moto).

Stiller was lucky enough to be paired up with Chris Rock (Marty) for many of his scenes.

"Sometimes there’s another actor there. If it’s not Chris, there’s somebody else there to read the lines with you. And that’s really helpful. It’s always funny to see the guy they get to read Chris’ lines.

They’re nothing like him. And I find humour in that. It makes me laugh which is good for the energy."

Since voicing the first Madagascar movie, Stiller has become a dad to Ella, five, and Quinlan, three, with wife Christine Taylor. He admits that fatherhood has made him more open to choosing family-friendly roles.

"You’re aware of it when you have kids," he says.

In fact, Quinlan and Ella got more involved in Escape 2 Africa than just being fans. They came into the studio to help provide the voice of the ‘young Alex’, ending up supplying around 45 seconds of air time But despite this brief taste of stardom for his kids, Stiller isn’t interested in becoming a pushy Hollywood dad. "I would never force them to do anything they didn’t want to do, in terms of that," he says.

■ Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa opens tomorrow.