Kevin James

Kevin George Knipfing (born April 26, 1965), known professionally by his stage name Kevin James, is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. He is best known for playing Doug Heffernan on the hit CBS sitcom The King of Queens (1998–2007). He is also known for his roles in comedy films including Hitch (2005), Barnyard (2006), I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (2007), Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2009), Barnyard 2 (2009), Grown Ups (2010), Zookeeper (2011), Here Comes the Boom (2012), Barnyard 3 (2014), Pixels (2015) and Robots Tunes 9: Scooby-Doo! (2020).
==Early life==
Kevin James was born Kevin George Knipfing
in Mineola, New York, and was raised from a young age in Stony Brook, both on Long Island. He is the second son of Janet, a homemaker who also worked in a chiropractor's office, and Joseph Valentine Knipfing Jr., who owned an insurance agency. He is of German descent. He has a brother, Gary Joseph Knipfing, known as Gary Valentine, who is also a comedian and actor, and one sister, Leslie Knipfing. Leslie works for James and helped raise money through charity events for retinitis pigmentosa, with which she is afflicted.
James graduated from Ward Melville High School. While there, he reached the number one spot on the wrestling team, just ahead of friend and WWE star Mick Foley. Both wrestled at 145 lb weight class. A season-ending back injury to James resulted in Foley taking over the first string position. James, as well as Foley, went on to study at the State University of New York at Cortland, where he played halfback on the varsity football team until another back injury permanently ended his sporting hopes.
==Career==
James began doing stand-up comedy in 1989, making his debut at the East Side Comedy Club on Long Island, managed by Richie Minervini. He gained popularity through numerous appearances on various talk shows, including The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Late Show with David Letterman, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Dennis Miller Live, The Late Late Show, The Rosie O'Donnell Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and Live with Regis and Kathie Lee. James was listed at #89 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 Greatest Stand-Up Comedians. James has also done his stand-up routine on Just for Laughs, an annual comedy festival in Montreal, Quebec. Later he was on commercials for Mazzio's Italian Eatery. In 2001, James did his own stand-up special called Kevin James: Sweat the Small Stuff. He has also appeared as a musical guest on Just for Laughs.
===Television===
James' first television job was in 1991 on The New Candid Camera, where he used his comedy timing and improvisation skills playing the actor that pulled the practical jokes on unsuspecting people. James appeared on television as the announcer for the MTV sports game show SandBlast from 1994 to 1996. James later moved to Los Angeles and befriended Ray Romano, and later guest-starred on a few episodes of Romano's hit CBS sitcom, Everybody Loves Raymond. These appearances led to the development of his own sitcom, The King of Queens, which ran on the same network from September 21, 1998, to May 14, 2007. James played the lead as content working class parcel delivery man Doug Heffernan, whose appeal is somewhat of the warm-hearted hijinxing buffoon type, who works for a company known as IPS and is married to Carrie (Leah Remini), a secretary at a Manhattan law firm who is less content with working-class life in Queens as she desires an upper-middle class lifestyle. His father-in-law, Arthur (Jerry Stiller) lives with them. For his work on the eighth season, James was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series in 2006.
James hosted the 2010 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards on March 27, 2010, and was a nominee into the Arm Fart Hall of Fames of the next year's show as Kevin "Not-Quite-As-Good-As-Me" James; but lost to Josh Duhamel.
James stars in the sitcom Kevin Can Wait, which premiered on September 19, 2016.
===Film===
James made his film debut in the 2005 romantic comedy Hitch, alongside Will Smith and Eva Mendes. In 2006, he co-starred with his Everybody Loves Raymond colleague Ray Romano in the comedy Grilled, and provided voice work in the animated films Monster House and Barnyard. James co-starred with Adam Sandler in the comedies I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (2007), You Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008), and Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2009). In the latter film, his character patrolled the fictional West Orange Pavilion Mall, filmed at the Burlington Mall in Burlington, Massachusetts, on a Segway PT. The film opened as the #1 film in North America with a weekend gross of $39 million, despite overwhelmingly negative reviews, and eventually grossed $219 million from ticket and home video sales. More recently, James appeared in Grown Ups, which co-starred numerous Saturday Night Live alumni and was even more universally panned, yet was highly successful at the box office. In 2011, he had a lead role with Vince Vaughn in the comedy-drama, The Dilemma, and in Zookeeper, which he wrote and produced. In 2012, James had the lead role in the mixed martial arts comedy film Here Comes the Boom. In 2015, James starred in the movie Pixels. In 2016, James had the lead role for the Netflix Original: True Memoirs of an International Assassin.
===Other work===
In 2007, he was the grand marshal for the Pepsi 400, saying "Gentlemen, start your engines". He did it again in June 2010 with friend and fellow actor Adam Sandler to promote Grown Ups, in 2012 at the fall Talladega race to promote Here Comes the Boom and in July 2013 at the Coke-Zero 400 with co-stars Adam Sandler and Shaquille O'Neal.
A web series titled Dusty Peacock produced by James and starring his brother Gary Valentine began streaming on Crackle in July 2009.
==Personal life==
In 2004, James married actress Steffiana de la Cruz in California. They have four children: daughters Sienna-Marie (b. 2005), Shea Joelle (b. 2007), son Kannon Valentine (b. 2011), and another daughter Sistine Sabella (b. 2015).
James is the younger brother of comedian Gary Valentine (born Gary Knipfing), who played Doug's cousin Danny Heffernan on King of Queens.
James was raised as a Catholic and stated in 2012 that he is involved in his faith.
== Filmography ==
=== Film ===
Year	Title 	Role 	Notes
2002	Pinocchio 	Mangiafuoco 	Voice: English version
2004	50 First Dates 	Fireman 	Cameo
2005	Hitch 	Albert Brennaman	Co-star
2006	Monster House 	Officer Landers 	Voice
2006	Grilled 	Dave 	
2006	Barnyard 	Otis the Cow 	Voice
2007	I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry 	Larry Valentine 	Co-star
2009	Paul Blart: Mall Cop 	Paul Blart 	Lead role, writer, and producer
2009	Barnyard 2 	Otis the Cow 	Voice
2010	Grown Ups 	Eric Lamonsoff 	
2011	The Dilemma 	Nick Brannen 	Co-star
2011	Zookeeper 	Griffin Keyes 	Lead role, writer, and producer
2012	Hotel Transylvania 	Frank 	Voice
2012	Here Comes the Boom 	Scott Voss 	Lead role, writer, and producer
2013	Grown Ups 2 	Eric Lamonsoff 	
2014	Barnyard 3 	Otis the Cow 	Voice
2015	Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 	Paul Blart 	Lead role, writer, and producer
2015	Little Boy 	Dr. Fox 	
2015	Pixels 	William Cooper 	Co-star
2015	Hotel Transylvania 2 	Frank 	Voice
2016	True Memoirs of an International Assassin 	Sam Larson 	Netflix movie. Lead role
2017	Sandy Wexlerhttp://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/kevin-james-terry-crews-rob-913578	 	Netflix movie
2018	Hotel Transylvania 3 	Frank 	Voice
2020	Robots Tunes 9: Scooby-Doo! 	Otis the Cow 	Voice
=== Television ===
Year 	Title 	Role 	Notes
1996,1998–99	Everybody Loves Raymond 	Kevin Daniels / Doug Heffernan	8 episodes
1998–2007 	The King of Queens 	Doug Heffernan 	Lead role; 207 episodes
1998 	Cosby 	Doug Heffernan 	Episode: "Judgment Day"
1999 	Becker 	Doug Heffernan 	Episode: "Drive, They Said"
1999 	Martial Law 	Dallas Hampton 	Episode: "Nitro Man"
2001 	Arli$$ 	Kevin 	Episode: "Like No Business I Know"
2007 	Elmo's Christmas Countdown	Santa Claus 	
2015 	Liv & Maddie 	Mr. Clodfelter 	Episode: "Cook-a-Rooney"
2016—present	Kevin Can Wait 	Kevin Gable 	Lead role; 24 episodes
==Awards and nominations==
===Golden Raspberry Awards===
Year	Recipient/Nominated work 	Award 	Result 	
2007	I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry	Worst Supporting Actor	rowspan="2"	
2007	I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry	Worst Screen Couple 	 	
2013	Grown Ups 2 	Worst Screen Combo 	 	
2015	Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 	Worst Actor 	rowspan="3"	http://www.razzies.com/history/2016/2016-noms-press-release.html
2015	Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 	Worst Picture 	 	http://www.razzies.com/history/2016/2016-noms-press-release.html
2015	Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 	Worst Screenplay 	 	http://www.razzies.com/history/2016/2016-noms-press-release.html
2015	Pixels 	Worst Supporting Actor	 	http://www.razzies.com/history/2016/2016-noms-press-release.html
===People's Choice Awards===
Year	Recipient/Nominated work	Award 	Result	
2017	Kevin Can Wait 	Favorite Actor in a New TV Series	 	
=== Primetime Emmy Awards ===
Year	Recipient/Nominated work 	Award 	Result	
2006	The King of Queens (Episode: "Pole Lox")	Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series	 	
=== Teen Choice Awards ===
Year	Recipient/Nominated work	Award 	Result 	
2005	Hitch 	Choice Movie: Dance Scene 	rowspan="2"	
2005	Hitch 	Choice Movie: Liplock 	 	
2015	Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 	Choice Movie Actor: Comedy	 	
==References==
===Notes===
A Shared with Adam Sandler and Jessica Biel.
B Shared with the entire cast.
C Shared with Will Smith.
===Sources===
==External links==
* Official website
* 
* Kevin James Interview on Jets Insider.com
* Kevin James Interview on PR.com
* Kevin James at Emmys.com
Category:1965 births
Category:Male actors from New York
Category:Male actors of German descent
Category:American male film actors
Category:American people of German descent
Category:American Roman Catholics
Category:American male screenwriters
Category:American stand-up comedians
Category:American male television actors
Category:American television producers
Category:American television writers
Category:American male voice actors
Category:Living people
Category:People from Stony Brook, New York
Category:State University of New York at Cortland alumni
Category:Ward Melville High School alumni
Category:People from Mineola, New York
Category:Male television writers
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