Jack Black Biography

Thomas Jacob "Jack" Black (born August 28, 1969) is an American actor, voice artist, singer, comedian, writer, producer and musician. His acting career has been extensive, starring primarily in comedy films. Black is known for his roles in Shallow Hal (2001), School of Rock (2003), King Kong (2005), The Holiday (2006), the Kung Fu Panda franchise (2008-2016), Tropic Thunder (2008), and Bernie (2011). He has been nominated for two Golden Globe Awards. Black is the lead vocalist of the comedic rock group Tenacious D which he formed in 1994 with friend Kyle Gass. They have released the albums Tenacious D, The Pick of Destiny and Rize of the Fenix.

Early life

Thomas Jacob Black was born in Santa Monica, California, and raised in Hermosa Beach, California, the son of satellite engineers Judith Love (ne Cohen), who worked on the Hubble Space Telescope and is also a writer, and Thomas William Black. His mother was born Jewish, while his father converted to Judaism. Black was raised in the Jewish faith, attending Hebrew school and celebrating a Bar Mitzvah. On a guest appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, he said his surname may have come from the occupational name of blacksmith.

Black's parents divorced when he was 10; Black moved to Culver City with his father and frequently visited his mother's home. As a child, Black 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 specifically for students struggling in the traditional school system. Black also attended the Crossroads School, where he excelled in drama. He later attended 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. Black gained recurring roles on the HBO sketch comedy series, Mr. Show.

Acting career

Early roles

In 1982, Black first acted in a television commercial at age 13 for the video game Pitfall!. Black's adult career began with acting on prime time television. He played roles on shows including Life Goes On, Northern Exposure, Mr. Show, Picket Fences, The Golden Palace, and The X-Files. Black appeared in the unaired TV pilot Heat Vision and Jack, directed by Ben Stiller, in which he played an ex-astronaut pursued by actor Ron Silver. He was accompanied by his friend who had merged with a motorcycle, voiced by Owen Wilson.

Black later took on small roles in Airborne (1993), Demolition Man, Waterworld, The Fan, The Cable Guy, Mars Attacks!, Tim Robbins' Dead Man Walking, The Jackal, Enemy of the State, and others. He had a small role in True Romance as a security guard, but the scene was deleted.

Leading roles

In 2000, Black appeared in the movie High Fidelity as a wild employee in John Cusack's record store, a role he considers his breakout. He soon gained leading roles in films such as Shallow Hal, Nacho Libre, Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny, Year One, and Gulliver's Travels. He received particular praise for his starring role in the well-received School of Rock, earning critical acclaim and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor - Musical or Comedy.

He starred in one of his few dramatic roles as the obsessed filmmaker Carl Denham in Peter Jackson's 2005 remake of King Kong, a performance he based on Orson Welles. He voiced the title role in Kung Fu Panda, which grossed million|link=yes}} on its opening day, June 6, 2008, as well as Kung Fu Panda 2 and Kung Fu Panda 3; this is his favorite role and he praises the tutoring of co-star and two-time Academy Award winner Dustin Hoffman. His next film, The Big Year, a competitive birdwatching comedy co-starring Owen Wilson, Steve Martin, and JoBeth Williams, was released in October 2011.

Jack garnered a 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, as real-life murderer Bernie Tiede, a funeral director in a small East Texas town, who befriends and eventually murders a rich widow, played by Shirley MacLaine. Black's subdued portrayal, authentic East Texas accent, and musical talent - he sings several gospel hymns as well as "Seventy-six Trombones" - had Roger Ebert describing Black's work as "one of the performances of the year."

Later television roles

Black guest-starred on The Office along with Cloris Leachman, and Jessica Alba in a movie within the show. He also guest-starred in iCarly, in the episode "iStart a Fan War".

Black has appeared numerous times on the "untelevised TV network" short film festival Channel 101, created by Dan Harmon and Rob Schrab, starring in the shows Computerman, Timebelt, and Laserfart. He also provided an introduction for the unaired sketch comedy Awesometown, donning a Colonial-era military uniform. In the introduction, he claims to be George Washington (and takes credit for the accomplishments of other American Presidents such as Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln). Black also guest starred in the Cartoon Network's Adult Swim show Tom Goes to the Mayor, as a bear-trap store owner. Black also guest-starred on Dan Harmon's show Community.

Hosting work and appearances

Black took part in the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? celebrity edition along with Denis Leary, Jimmy Kimmel, and others and was handed the prize of in October 2001. On December 14, he hosted the 2008 Spike Video Game Awards. Black has hosted the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards and Acceptable.TV. He presented the tribute to rock legends Led Zeppelin when the band were named as 2012 recipients of Kennedy Center Honors. In 2016, Black joined the climate change documentary show Years of Living Dangerously as one of its celebrity correspondents.

Voice acting

In addition to Kung Fu Panda, Black has voice acted on other occasions, including "Husbands and Knives" from The Simpsons which aired November 18, 2007, portraying Milo, the friendly owner of the rival comic book store. He provided the voice of the main character, roadie Eddie Riggs, in the heavy metal-themed action-adventure video game Brtal Legend. In 2009, at the Spike Video Game Awards, he earned the Best Voice award for the voice of Eddie Riggs in Brtal Legend. In April 2009, Black starred in an episode of Yo Gabba Gabba!, in which he vocalized funny kid songs, such as "It's Not Fun to Get Lost", "Friends", and "The Goodbye Song".

Black voiced Darth Vader in Bad Lip Reading's parodies of the Star Wars original trilogy on YouTube. In 2015, Black not only played a fictional version of real-life author R. L. Stine for Goosebumps, but he also provided the voices of two R.L. Stine's creations, Slappy the Dummy and The Invisible Boy.

Music career

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Black, also known as JB or Jables, is the lead singer for the comedy rock/hard rock band Tenacious D. Along with Kyle Gass, they have released three albums, a self-titled debut, the follow-up, The Pick of Destiny, and Rize of the Fenix. One of their songs from their album The Pick of Destiny, titled "The Metal", was used in the music video games Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock and Brtal Legend. "Rock Your Socks" from the album Tenacious D was played in the music video game Rock Band Unplugged as well, and "Master Exploder" from The Pick Of Destiny went on to be used in music video games Guitar Hero Van Halen, Rock Band 2, and Brtal Legend along with their song "Tribute" from Tenacious D. "Master Exploder" and "The Metal" featured in the comedic film Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny.

The film, directed by Tenacious D veteran Liam Lynch, featured recurring characters from Black's comedy such as Lee the super-fan and the Sasquatch. Several celebrities had roles in the film; actor Tim Robbins cameos as does Dave Grohl as Satan. Ben Stiller also makes an appearance as a worker at a Guitar Center, also having a role in the music video for "Tribute".

Tenacious D helped the United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation to raise awareness of these diseases and funds for the organization in Los Angeles on December 20, 2001, and in San Diego, California on June 16, 2007. Tenacious D can be seen performing in the 90s-era Pauly Shore film Bio-Dome where the duo is performing its song "The Five Needs" at a "Save the Environment" party. Black was also a guest star on an episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show entitled "Ellen the Musical", alongside Broadway star Kristin Chenoweth and teenage singer-actress Olivia Olson. On the show, besides singing, he discussed his then-upcoming film Nacho Libre with the host.

In 2000, Jack Black (along with Kyle Gass) provided backing vocals to punk rock band The Vandals' song "Fourteen", which appears on their album Look What I Almost Stepped In.... Black has also appeared on Dave Grohl's Probot album, providing vocals for the hidden song "I Am The Warlock", and Lynch's Fake Songs album, providing vocals for the song "Rock and Roll Whore". Black performed a cover of Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On" in the last sequence of High Fidelity. He lent his musical abilities to the Queens of the Stone Age song "Burn the Witch" with rhythmic stomps and claps, some performed with his eyes closed. He also provided vocals for two tracks on the 2006 album Death by Sexy by Eagles of Death Metal and on The Lonely Island's track "Sax Man" from the album Incredibad.

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

Black has appeared in music videos of Beck "Sexx Laws"; Foo Fighters "Learn To Fly", "Low", and "The One"; The Eagles of Death Metal's "I Want You So Hard (Boy's Bad News)"; Sum 41's "Things I Want"; Dio's "Push"; Weezer's "Photograph"; The Mooney Suzuki's "In a Young Man's Mind"; and "Weird Al" Yankovic's "Tacky." In October 2010, Tenacious D appeared at BlizzCon 2010, a convention hosted by the game designers, Blizzard Entertainment. In 2012, Jack Black joined up with other celebrities to record "Book People Unite", a song sponsored by the Library of Congress, and RIF.

Black did guest vocals and appears on the Dethklok soundtrack album The Doomstar Requiem. He sings the parts for Dethklok's original band manager as well as a fat blogger.

Black, as a member of Tenacious D, won the award for Best Metal Performance at the 57th Grammy Awards. The award was won for the song "The Last in Line", a cover of the song of the same name by Dio that appeared on the tribute album This Is Your Life.

Personal life

As a young man, Black participated as a Cub Scout. At the age of 14, Black struggled with drugs, saying "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."

His 31-year-old brother, Howard, died of AIDS in 1989.

In January 2006, Black became engaged to Tanya Haden, daughter of jazz bassist Charlie Haden. Both attended Crossroads School and met again 15 years after graduating, at a friend's birthday party. They married on March 14, 2006, in Big Sur, California.

Black's first son, Samuel Jason "Sammy" Black, was born on June 10, 2006, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. On May 23, 2008, Black and his wife had their second son, Thomas David Black.

Black described himself as an atheist; but now that he is a father, he has decided to raise his children in the Jewish faith and has also started going to a synagogue with them.

Black endorsed Barack Obama's re-election campaign in 2012.

In 2015, Black visited Kampala in Uganda, Africa as part of Comic Relief USA's Red Nose Day.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1992	Bob Roberts	Roger Davis
1993	Airborne	Augie
1993	Demolition Man	Wasteland Scrap
1994	The NeverEnding Story III	Slip
1995	Bye Bye Love	DJ at party
1995	Dead Man Walking	Craig Poncelet
1995	Waterworld	Pilot
1996	Bio-Dome	Tenacious D
1996	The Cable Guy	Rick Legatos
1996	The Fan	Broadcast technician
1996	Mars Attacks!	Billy Glenn Norris
1997	Bongwater	Devlin
1997	Crossworlds	Steve
1997	The Jackal	Ian Lamont
1998	Enemy of the State	Fiedler
1998	I Still Know What You Did Last Summer	Titus Telesco	Uncredited
1998	Johnny Skidmarks	Jerry
1999	Cradle Will Rock	Sid
1999	Jesus' Son	Georgie
1999	The Love Letter	Fisherman	Uncredited
2000	High Fidelity	Barry	Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Supporting Actor - Comedy/Romance Nominated - American Comedy Award for Funniest Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture Nominated - Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated - MTV Movie Award for Best Music Moment Nominated - MTV Movie Award for Breakthrough Male Performance Nominated - Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor
2001	Frank's Book	Performance hipster	Short film
2001	Saving Silverman	JD McNugent
2001	Shallow Hal	Hal Larson	Nominated - Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor - Comedy
2002	Ice Age	Zeke (voice)
2002	Orange County	Lance Brumder
2002	Run Ronnie Run!	Lead chimney sweep	DVD Exclusive Award for Best Original Song
2003	Melvin Goes to Dinner	Mental patient	Phoenix Film Festival Award for Best Ensemble Acting Nominated - DVD Exclusive Award for Best Supporting Actor
2003	School of Rock	Dewey Finn	MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Nominated - MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Team Nominated - New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor (3rd place) Nominated - Satellite Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Nominated - Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor - Comedy Nominated - Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Liar
2004	Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy	Motorcyclist	Cameo
2004	Envy	Nick Vanderpark	Nominated - People's Choice Award for Favorite Funny Male Star
2004	Shark Tale	Lenny (voice)
2005	King Kong	Carl Denham	Nominated - Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Villain
2006	The Holiday	Miles
2006	Nacho Libre	Nacho	Also producer Nominated - Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Male Movie Star Nominated - MTV Movie Award for Best Fight Nominated - Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actor: Comedy Nominated - Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Chemistry Nominated - Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Rumble
2006	Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny	Jack "Jables" Black	Also producer and writer
2007	Margot at the Wedding	Malcolm	Nominated - Gotham Award for Best Ensemble Cast
2007	Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story	Paul McCartney	Uncredited cameo
2008	Be Kind Rewind	Jerry Gerber
2008	Kung Fu Panda	Po (voice)	Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Voice from an Animated Movie
2008	The Secrets of the Furious Five	Po (voice)	Short film
2008	Prop 8: The Musical	Jesus Christ	Short film
2008	Tropic Thunder	Jeff "Fats" Portnoy	Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Cast
2009	Year One	Zed
2010	Kung Fu Panda Holiday	Po (voice)	Short film
2010	Gulliver's Travels	Gulliver	Also executive producer Nominated - Razzie Award for Worst Actor Nominated - Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards for Favorite Male Movie Star
2011	Kung Fu Panda 2	Po (voice)	Nominated - Teen Choice Awards for Choice Movie Voice Nominated - Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Voice from an Animated Movie Nominated - People's Choice Award for Favorite Animation Movie Voice
2011	Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Masters	Po (voice)	Short film
2011	Bernie	Bernie Tiede	Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Nominated - Gotham Award for Best Ensemble Performance Nominated - Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead Nominated - New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor (runner-up) Nominated - Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Actor in a Comedy
2011	The Big Year	Brad Harris
2011	The Muppets	Himself	Uncredited
2014	Sex Tape	Owner of YouPorn	Uncredited
2015	The D Train	Dan Landsman	Also producer
2015	Goosebumps	R. L. Stine Slappy (voice) Invisible Boy (voice)	Nominated - People's Choice Award for Favorite Comedic Movie Actor
2016	Kung Fu Panda 3	Po (voice)
2016	Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Scroll	Po (voice)	Short film
2017	The Polka King	Jan Lewan	Also producer
2017	Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle	Professor Shelly Oberon
2018	Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot	Dexter	Post-production
2018	Unexpected Race	Sheriff	Post-production
2018	The House with a Clock in Its Walls	Jonathan Barnavelt	Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1991	Our Shining Moment	Teenage boy	Television pilot
1993	The Golden Palace	Taxi driver	Episode: "Seems Like Old Times: Part 2"
1993	Life Goes On	Skinhead	Episode: "Incident on Main"
1993	Northern Exposure	Kevin Wilkins	Episode: "A River Doesn't Run Through It"
1993	Marked for Murder	Car thief	Television film
1994	Blind Justice	Private	Television film
1994	The Innocent	Marty Prago	Television film
1995	All-American Girl	Tommy	Episode "A Night at the Oprah"
1995	Pride & Joy	Man	Episode: "Brenda's Secret"
1995	The Single Guy	Randy	Episode: "Sister"
1995	Touched by an Angel	Monte	Episode: "Angels on the Air"
1995	The X-Files	Bart "Zero" Liquori	Episode: "D.P.O."
1995-1996	Mr. Show with Bob and David	Various characters	4 episodes
1995-1996	Picket Fences	Curtis Williams	2 episodes
1997-2000	Tenacious D	JB	6 episodes; also co-creator, writer and producer
1999	Heat Vision and Jack	Jack	Pilot
2002	2002 MTV Movie Awards	Himself (host)	Television special
2002	The Andy Dick Show	J.D.	Episode: "Flipped"
2002	Clone High	Pusher/Larry Hardcore (voices)	Episode: "Raisin the Stakes"
2002	Crank Yankers	Tenacious D	Episode: "#1.3"
2002	MADtv	Tenacious D	Episode: "#7.22"
2003	Player$	Tenacious D	Episode: "Tenacious D a la Mode"
2003	Will & Grace	Dr. Isaac Hershberg	Episode: "Nice in White Satin"
2003-2004	Computerman	Computerman	6 episodes; Also executive producer
2003-2004	Time Belt	Computerman	2 episodes
2004	Cracking Up	Brian	Episode: "Scared Straight"
2004	Tom Goes to the Mayor	Trapper JB (voice)	Episode: "Bear Traps"
2006	Kids' Choice Awards	Himself (host)	Television special
2006	MTV Video Music Awards	Himself (host)	Television special
2007	Acceptable.TV		Executive producer
2007	The Naked Trucker and T-Bones Show	Jables	Episode: "Break-Up"
2007	The Simpsons	Milo (voice)	Episode: "Husbands and Knives"
2008	Sesame Street	Himself	Episode: "The Golden Triangle of Destiny"
2008	Kids' Choice Awards	Himself (host)	Television special
2008	Spike Video Game Awards	Himself (Host)	Television special
2009	The Office	Sam	Episode: "Stress Relief"
2009	Yo Gabba Gabba!	Himself	Episode: "New Friends"
2010	Community	Buddy	Episode: "Investigative Journalism"
2010	iCarly	Aspartamay	Episode: "iStart a Fanwar"
2011	Kids' Choice Awards	Himself (host)	Television special
2012-2015	Comedy Bang! Bang!	Himself	2 episodes
2013-2015	Drunk History	Elvis Presley / Orson Welles / Benjamin Franklin / William Mulholland	4 episodes
2013	Metalocalypse: The Doomstar Requiem	Dethklok's original manager / Fat Blogger (voices)	Television special
2015	Workaholics	Pritchard DeMamp	Episode: "Gramps DeMamp is Dead"
2015	The Brink	Alex Talbot	10 episodes; also producer
2015	Documentary Now!	Jamison Friend	Episode: "Dronez: The Hunt for El Chingon"
2016	Panda Republic	Narrator (voice)	Documentary
2017	Great Minds with Dan Harmon	Ludwig van Beethoven	Episode: "Ludwig van Beethoven"
2017	The Last Man on Earth	Rear Admiral Roy Billups	Episode: "M.U.B.A.R."

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2005	Peter Jackson's King Kong	Carl Denham (voice)	Spike Video Game Award for Best Performance by a Male
2009	Brtal Legend	Eddie Riggs (voice)	Spike Video Game Award for Best Voice
2014	Broken Age	Harm'ny Lightbeard (voice)
2015	Goosebumps: Night of Scares	R.L. Stine and Slappy the Dummy (voice)