Will Forte made his debut in the "Robert Pastorelli/Craig Kilborn/Live" episode of the American late-night talk show ‘Late Show with David Letterman’ in 1997. In 2002, he joined the cast of the adult animated series ‘Clone High’ where he voiced the character ‘Abe Lincoln.’ That same year, Forte also became a part of the American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show ‘Saturday Night Live’ created by Lorne Michaels. He remained a part of the show until 2010. Forte made his big-screen debut in the 2004 American action-adventure comedy film ‘Around the World in 80 Days’ directed by Frank Coraci. While the film opened to mixed response from critics, it was a box office bomb.
He went on to star in films like ‘Beerfest’ (2006), ‘The Brothers Solomon’ (2007), ‘Baby Mama’ (2008), ‘The Slammin' Salmon’ (2009), ‘Brief Interviews with Hideous Men’ (2009), and ‘Fanboys’ (2009). In 2009, he voiced the character ‘Joe Towne’ in the American computer-animated science-fiction comedy film ‘Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs’ directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. The film was a critical and commercial success, grossing over $243 million on a budget of $100 million. The following year, she starred as ‘MacGruber’ in the American action comedy film ‘MacGruber’ directed by Jorma Taccone. The film opened to mixed to positive reviews but failed to achieve success at the box office.Â
In the 2012 absurdist comedy film ‘Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie,’ Forte portrayed ‘Allen Bishopman.’ The film received negative reviews upon release and was a commercial failure. However, it gained a strong cult following in subsequent years. He next appeared in films like ‘That's My Boy’ (2012), ‘Grown Ups 2’ (2013), ‘Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2’ (2013), ‘The Lego Movie’ (2014), and ‘She's Funny That Way’ (2014). In 2015, he joined the main cast of the post-apocalyptic comedy television series ‘The Last Man on Earth’ where he portrayed Philip Tandy "Phil" Miller. The series aired its final episode in May 2018. He also acted in television series like ‘Maya & Marty’ (2016), ‘Tim and Eric's Bedtime Stories’ (2017), I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson’ (2019), ‘Flipped’ (2020) and ‘The Great North’ (2021).
Forte was last in the 2021 adult animated period science-fiction comedy film ‘America: The Motion Picture’ where he voiced Abraham "Abe" Lincoln. The film received negative reviews from critics with Steve Greene of IndieWire calling it "a goofy mishmash of riffs on prominent historical figures."