Jimmy Kimmel

**Jimmy Kimmel** is one of the actors of ***A Million Little Things***, portraying his own role.

## Biography

### **Early life**

Kimmel was born on November 13, 1967 in Brooklyn, New York, and grew up in the neighborhood of Mill Basin as the eldest of three children of Joan Iacono and James John Kimmel, who worked at American Express and was an IBM executive.

Kimmel is and was raised Catholic, and as a child was an altar server. Kimmel's mother is of Italian ancestry from Ischia, Naples, whose family migrated to the United States following the 1883 earthquake, while two of his paternal great-great-grandparents were German immigrants. His family's surname was "Kümmel" ("caraway" in German) several generations back.

The family moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, when he was nine years old. He graduated from Ed W. Clark High School, and then attended University of Nevada, Las Vegas (for one year), and Arizona State University (for two years). He received an honorary degree from UNLV in 2013.

Kimmel's uncle, Frank Potenza ("Uncle Frank"), appeared on *Jimmy Kimmel Live!* as a regular from 2003 until his death in 2011. His cousin, Sal Iacono, performed Kimmel's former co-hosting duties during the last season of *Win Ben Stein's Money* and then became a writer and sketch performer on *Jimmy Kimmel Live!*. His Aunt Chippy (Concetta Potenza) is also a featured part of the show. His brother, Jonathan, works on the show as a director. His sister, Jill, is a comedian.

### **Career**

Kimmel began his television career as the comedic counterpart to Ben Stein on the game show *Win Ben Stein's Money*, which began airing on Comedy Central in 1997. The combination earned the pair an Emmy award for Best Game Show Host.

In 1999, during his time with *Win Ben Stein's Money*, Kimmel co-hosted (with Adam Carolla) and co-produced (with Daniel Kellison), Comedy Central's *The Man Show*. Kimmel left *Win Ben Stein's Money* in 2001. *The Man Show'*s success allowed Kimmel, Carolla, and Kellison to create and produce, under the banner Jackhole Productions, *Crank Yankers* for Comedy Central, and later *The Andy Milonakis Show* for MTV2. Kimmel also produced and co-wrote the feature film *Windy City Heat*, Festival Prize winner of the Comedia Award for Best Film at the 2004 Montreal Comedy Festival.

In January 2003, Kimmel permanently left *The Man Show* to host his own late-night talk show, *Jimmy Kimmel Live!*, on ABC. As of 2020, the show is still airing. Despite its name, the show has not actually aired live since 2004, when censors were unable to properly bleep censor a barrage of swearing from actor Thomas Jane.

In February 2008, Kimmel showed a mock music video with a panoply of stars called "I'm Fucking Ben Affleck", as "revenge" after his then-girlfriend Sarah Silverman and Damon recorded a similar video titled, "I'm Fucking Matt Damon". Silverman's video originally aired on *Jimmy Kimmel Live!* and became an "instant YouTube sensation." Kimmel's "revenge" video featured himself, Ben Affleck, and a large lineup of stars, particularly in scenes spoofing the 1985 "We Are the World" video.

After this, Kimmel 's sidekick, Guillermo, appeared in a spoof of *The Bourne Ultimatum*, which starred Matt Damon. He was then chased down by Damon, who was cursing about Kimmel being behind all this. As a tradition, celebrities voted off *Dancing with the Stars* appear on *Jimmy Kimmel Live!*, causing Kimmel to describe himself as "the three-headed dog the stars must pass on their way to No-Dancing Hell."

In spring 1996, Kimmel appeared as "Jimmy the Fox Guy" in promos on the Fox Network. His other television work included being the on-air football prognosticator for Fox NFL Sunday for four years. He has had numerous appearances on other talk shows including, but not limited to, *Live with Regis and Kelly*, *The Howard Stern Show*, *The Ellen DeGeneres Show*, and the *Late Show with David Letterman*.

Kimmel has appeared on *The Late Show* five times, most recently in 2010. Kimmel served as roastmaster for the New York Friars' Club Roast of Hugh Hefner and Comedy Central Roasts of Pamela Anderson. He has appeared on ABC's *Dancing with the Stars*.

In August 2006, ABC announced that Jimmy Kimmel would be the host of their new game show *Set for Life*. The show debuted on July 20, 2007. 'On July 11, 2007, Kimmel, along with basketball player LeBron James, hosted the 2007 ESPY Awards. The show aired on ESPN on July 15, 2007. Kimmel hosted the American Music Awards on ABC five times, in 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, and 2008.

Kimmel guest hosted Live with Regis and Kelly during the week of October 22–26, 2007, commuting every day between New York and Los Angeles. Kimmel has performed in several animated films, often voicing dogs. His voice appeared in *Garfield: The Movie* and *Road Trip*, and he portrayed Death's Dog in the *Family Guy* episode "Mr. Saturday Knight".

Kimmel hosted the 64th Primetime Emmy Awards on September 23, 2012, and the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards on September 18, 2016. With the Presidential Election only weeks away, Kimmel pointed out the role Mark Burnett played in the rise of Trump. Kimmel hosted the 89th edition of the Academy Awards ceremony on February 26, 2017. Kimmel returned as host for the 90th edition of the Academy Awards on March 4, 2018.

In 2020, Kimmel portrayed his own role on *A Million Little Things*.

### **Personal life**

Kimmel married Gina Maddy in 1988; the couple divorced in 2002. They have a daughter, Katherine (born 1991), and a son, Kevin (born 1993). He had a relationship with comedian Sarah Silverman from 2002 until they broke up in March 2009.

Kimmel started dating Molly McNearney, a co-head writer for *Jimmy Kimmel Live!*, in October 2009. Kimmel and McNearney became engaged in August 2012, and married in July 2013. In July 2014, they had their first child, a daughter they named Jane.

Their second child, a son named William ("Billy") John, was born on April 21, 2017. The infant was born with a rare congenital heart defect, tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) with pulmonary atresia, which was first detected when he had a purplish appearance at three hours after birth. He underwent successful surgery at three days of age. The first guests Kimmel had when his show returned following his son's birth were cardiac surgeon Dr. Mehmet Oz, who explained the condition, and snowboarder Shaun White, who was born with TOF.

Kimmel plays the bass clarinet, and was a guest performer at a concert in Costa Mesa, California, on July 20, 2008, featuring The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, performing with the group on the song "The Impression That I Get".

Kimmel has spoken publicly of being a narcoleptic. Kimmel co-founded the annual Los Angeles Feast of San Gennaro, a New York City annual tradition, and co-hosted the eighth annual Los Angeles version in 2009.

Kimmel has been a fundraiser for the Democratic Party.

## External links

* Official Facebook
* Official Twitter
* Official Instagram