Jack Black

At 54 years old, Jack Black has this physical status:

Thomas Jacob "Jack" Black (born August 28, 1969) is an American actor, comedian, singer, musician, songwriter, and YouTuber.

He is known for his roles in films such as High Fidelity (2000), Shallow Hal (2001), School of Rock (2003), King Kong (2005), Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny (2006), The Holiday (2006), the Kung Fu Panda franchise (2008–2016), Tropic Thunder (2008), Gulliver's Travels (2010), Bernie (2011), Goosebumps (2015), and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017) and its sequel, Jumanji: The Next Level (2019).

For his work in School of Rock and Bernie, he gained Golden Globe nominations, and was inducted into Hollywood's Walk of Fame in 2018. Outside of acting, Black is the lead vocalist of the Grammy Award-winning comedic rock duo Tenacious D, which he formed in 1994 with Kyle Gass.

They have released the albums Tenacious D, The Pick of Destiny, Rize of the Fenix, and Post-Apocalypto.

Early life

Thomas Jacob Black was born in Santa Monica, California, on August 28, 1969, the son of satellite engineers Thomas William Black and Judith Love Cohen. He was raised in Hermosa Beach, California. His mother worked on the Minuteman nuclear missile guidance system, the Apollo lunar module guidance system, the science ground station for the Hubble Space Telescope, and was also a writer.

He has three older half-siblings through his mother: scientist Neil Siegel, Howard Siegel, and Rachel Siegel. His mother was born Jewish, and his father converted to Judaism. Black was raised Jewish, attending Hebrew school and having a bar mitzvah. His ancestry also includes Polish, Russian, and Scotch-Irish.

Black's parents divorced when he was 10, and his father then stopped practicing Judaism. Black moved to Culver City with his father and frequently visited his mother's home. As a child, he appeared in a commercial for the Activision game Pitfall! in 1982. For high school, Black's parents enrolled him at the Poseidon School, a private secondary school designed for students struggling in the traditional school system. He also attended the Crossroads School, where he excelled in drama. He later attended University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), but dropped out during his sophomore year to pursue a career in entertainment. Fellow UCLA student Tim Robbins later cast Black in Bob Roberts. In 1995 and 1996, he gained recurring roles in the HBO sketch comedy series Mr. Show.

Personal life

At the age of 14, Black struggled with cocaine use. He said, "I was having a lot of troubles with cocaine ... I was hanging out with some pretty rough characters. I was scared to go to school because one of them wanted to kill me. I wanted to get out of there."

One of Black's brothers, Howard, died of AIDS in 1991 at the age of 36. His oldest brother, Neil, is an engineer, scientist, and musician.

Black dated actress Laura Kightlinger between 1996 and 2005.

In January 2006, Black became engaged to singer Tanya Haden, a daughter of jazz bassist Charlie Haden. They had both attended Crossroads School and, after graduation, met again 15 years later at a friend's birthday party. They married on March 14, 2006, in Big Sur, California. Their sons were born in 2006 and 2008.

Although an atheist, Black identifies as nominally Jewish, and fatherhood influenced his decision to raise his children in the Jewish faith.

Black endorsed Barack Obama's 2012 re-election campaign. In 2015, he visited Kampala as part of Comic Relief USA's Red Nose Day.

Black was an outspoken critic of Donald Trump. On the day of Trump's presidential inauguration, he and Tenacious D bandmate Kyle Gass performed their 2006 protest song "The Government Totally Sucks". Black said to the audience beforehand, "We haven't played [this song] for years, because it just never felt appropriate—but now, we're happy to unleash the beast. The government totally sucks."

Source

Career

Black's first acting gig in 1982 was in a television commercial for the video game Pitfall. Black joined the Actors' Gang, a UCLA student theatre company established by UCLA students, Tim Robbins, in 1987 and appeared in a number of stage plays. Black's adult career began with small roles on prime time television, including Life Goes On, Northern Exposure, Mr. Show, Picket Fences, The Golden Palace, and The X-Files. In the episode Heat Vision and Jack, directed by Ben Stiller, in which he played an ex-astronaut pursued by actor Ron Silver, Black appeared in the unaired television pilot Heat Vision and Jack. Owen Wilson led him to his friend who had merged with a motorcycle, who was accompanied by him.

Black began appearing in small film roles, such as Airborne (1993), Demolition Man, Waterworld, The Fan, The Cable Guy, The Brick Guy, Dead Man Walking, Enemy of the State, and others. He was only as a security guard in True Romance, but the scene was deleted.

In 2000, Black co-starred in the film High Fidelity as a rebel employee in a record store run by John Cusack. Black explores his role in High Fidelity as his entry into the Hollywood scene. In The Pick of Destiny, Year One, and Gulliver's Travels, he landed leading roles in films such as Shallow Hal, Nacho Libre, Tenacious D, and Gulliver's Travels. He received particular kudos for his actor role in the well-received School of Rock, receiving critical acclaim and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor – Musical or Comedy.

Carl Denham, Peter Jackson's 2005 remake of King Kong, was one of his few dramatic appearances in the role, based on Orson Welles. He sang of the title in Kung Fu Panda, which grossed US$20.3 million on its first day, June 6, 2008, as well as Kung Fu Panda 2 and Kung Fu Panda 3; this is his favorite role, and he praises Dustin Hoffman's tutoring. Owen Wilson, Steve Martin, and JoBeth Williams' next film, The Big Year, a competitive birdwatching comedy co-starring Owen Wilson, Steve Martin, and JoBeth Williams, was released in October 2011.

Black received his second Golden Globe Award nomination, this time in the category Best Actor in a Comedy, for his 2011 starring role in Richard Linklater's black comedy Bernie. Bernie Tiede, a funeral director in a small East Texas town who befriends and eventually murders a wealthy widow portrayed by Shirley MacLaine, played as real-life murderer Bernie Tiede. Black's subpoena, authentic East Texas accent, and musical talent – as well as "Seventy-six Trombones" – had Roger Ebert describing Black's performance as "one of the year's best shows" – according to Roger Ebert.

In 2004, Black guest-starred in the first episode of Cartoon Network's Adult Swim show Tom Goes to the Mayor. He appeared in The Office's post-Super Bowl episode, along with Cloris Leachman and Jessica Alba in a fake film that was not part of the series. In 2010, Black appeared on Community and also appeared on Nickelodeon's iCarly in an episode titled, "Start a Fan War."

Black has appeared on numerous occasions on the "untelevised TV network" short film festival Channel 102, directed by Dan Harmon and Rob Schrab, and starring in the films Computerman, Timebelt, and Laserfart. He also gave an introduction to Unaired sketch comedy Awesometown, which features a Colonial-era military uniform. He claims to be George Washington in the introduction and praises other American Presidents, such as Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln, for their contributions.

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? In October 2001, the celebrity edition was released, as well as Denis Leary, Jimmy Kimmel, and others. He hosted the 2008 Spike Video Game Awards on December 14 on December 14, 2008. The Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards and Acceptable.TV have been hosted by Black. When the band was named as 2012 recipients of Kennedy Center Honors, he paid tribute to rock legends Led Zeppelin. As one of its celebrity correspondents in 2016, Black began Years of Living Dangerously as one of its climate change documentary series Years of Living Dangerously. Black appeared in the Gorillaz' "Humility" music video in 2018.

In addition to Kung Fu Panda, Black has appeared on other occasions, including "Husbands and Knives" from The Simpsons, which aired on November 18, 2007, portraying Milo, the friendly owner of the rival comic book store. In the heavy metal-themed action-adventure video game Brütal Legend, he portrayed the main character, roadie Eddie Riggs. In 2009, he received the Best Voice Award for Eddie Riggs' voice in Brütal Legend. In April 2009, Black appeared in "It's Not Fun to Get Lost," "Mates," and "The Goodbye Song" as a child actor. He has also appeared in animated films, including Zeke in Ice Age (2002) and Lenny in Shark Tale (2004).

Darth Vader, a black character in Bad Lip Reading's parodies of the Star Wars original trilogy, is a YouTube voiced Darth Vader. Black performed a fictional version of real-life author R. L. Stine for Goosebumps in 2015 and provided the voices of two of Stine's creations, Slappy the Dummy and The Invisible Boy. In the film's 2018 sequel, Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween, he reprised his role. On the animated YouTube series "Tenacious D in Post-Apocalypto," he co-directed and co-wrote with his Tenacious D partner Kyle Gass, he also voiced himself and several other characters. In The Super Mario Bros. film, which is expected to be released in April 2023, Black will be the voice of Bowser.

Black, along with Kyle Gass, are the lead singer and guitarist for Tenacious D, a comedy rock/hard rock band. They have released four albums, including a self-titled debut, The Pick of Destiny, Rize of the Fenix, and Post-Apocalypto. "The Metal," one of their album's "The Pick of Destiny," was used in the music video games Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock and Brütal Legends. "Rock Your Socks," from the album Tenacious D, was also available in Rock Band Unplugged. The Pick Of Destiny's "Master Exploder" continued to be used in music video games Guitar Hero Van Halen, Rock Band 2, and Brütal Legends, as well as their song "Under" from Tenacious D. "Master Exploder" and "The Metal" in The Pick Of Destiny. The film, directed by Tenacious D veteran Liam Lynch, featured recurring characters from Black's comedy, including Lee the superfan and the Sasquatch. Numerous celebrities appeared in the film; actor Tim Robbins appeared as Tim Robbins, and Dave Grohl as Satan. Ben Stiller also appears as a support worker at a Guitar Center and was involved in the production of "Tribute."

Tenacious D helped the United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation raise money for the group in Los Angeles on December 20, 2001, and San Diego, California, on June 16, 2007. Tenacious D can be seen performing in the 90s-era Pauly Shore film Bio-Dome, where the pair is performing its song "The Five Needs" at a "Save the Environment" function. Black appeared on "Ellen the Musical" on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, alongside Broadway actress Kristin Chenoweth and teenage singer-actress Olivia Olson. He talked about his then-upcoming film Nacho Libre with the host, rather than singing.

Jack Black (along with Kyle Gass) contributed to punk rock band "Fourteen," which appears on Dave Grohl's "I Am The Warlock" and Lynch's "Farming" album, as well as providing vocals for the song "Rock and Roll Whore." In the last sequence of High Fidelity, Black performed a cover of Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On." With rhythmic stomps and claps, he lent his musical abilities to the queens of the Stone Age's "Burn the Witch" in the Stone Age's "Burn the Witch". He appeared on two tracks on Death by Sexy, an Eagles of Death Metal compilation, and on the album Incredibad's track "Sax Man."

On the album "Like a Rose," Black also performed a duet on Meat Loaf's album Hang Cool Teddy Bear. In the Pick of Destiny movie, Meat Loaf played Black's father.

"I Want You So Hard" by Beck's "Sexx Laws"; "Learn To Fly," "Learn To Fly" by Foo Fighters; "Mega Man's Mind" by "Weezer"; "I Want You" by Mooney Suzuki; "Weird Al" by Mooney Suzuki; "Molly "Too Late" by "Japan" by Mooney Suzuki; and "Total" by Weezer; "Wee "Wei Tenacious D appeared at BlizzCon 2010, a game-makers' convention held by Blizzard Entertainment in October 2010. Jack Black and other celebrities appeared on "Book People Unite," a song sponsored by the Library of Congress and RIF in 2012.

Black performed on the Dethklok soundtrack album The Doomstar Requiem was released as a guest artist and appeared on the Dethklok soundtrack album. He performs both as a writer and singer for Dethklok's original band boss and a blogger.

At the 57th Grammy Awards, Black, as a member of Tenacious D.A., received the award for Best Metal Performance. The album "The Last in Line" received the award, a cover of Dio's song "This Is Your Life."

On December 21, 2018, Black introduced Jablinski Games, a YouTube channel. It had collected over 1 million subscribers within a week of its introduction. Most of the videos on the channel are either candid vlogs involving Black and his two sons or gaming content. The channel was founded largely in order to bind with his son, who serves as the channel's videographer and editor. In the aftermath of Etika's suicide in June 2019, Black hosted a Minecraft stream with popular YouTuber PewDiePie on July 21, 2019 in order to raise funds for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). They earned $30,479 after two days of streaming, with the stream being streamed live on YouTube and on the streaming site DLive. Jablinski Games has 4.86 million followers and 195 million video views as of August 20,22.

Two Golden Globes were given to Black. Black was inducted into the Walk of Fame in Hollywood on September 18, 2018.

In August 2006, Black established Electric Dynamite Productions, Inc., his own production firm. Branson, 2009 mockumentary Branson, was the company's first production, co-production with BranMo Productions and Perfect Weekend. My Life As an Experiment and Shredd will be two television shows produced by the company in 2011. The firm created the TV series Ghost Ghirls for Yahoo's now defunct Yahoo! in 2013. Screen, as well as the rights to convert the UK mockumentary Wizard's Way into a film. The company will also be a producer credit on The D Train (2015) and The Polka King (2017), both of which featured Black in the leading role.

The company produced The Aquabats!

RadVentures!

Happily in 2021, the dark-comedy film Happily.

Source