Jim Belushi Biography

James Adam Belushi (born June 15, 1954) is an American actor, comedian and musician. He is the younger brother of comic actor John Belushi, and the father of actor Robert Belushi. He is best known for playing the role of James "Jim" Orenthal on the long-running sitcom According to Jim.

Early life

Belushi was born in Chicago. to Adam Anastos Belushi and Agnes Demetri Samaras Belushi. He was raised in Wheaton, a Chicago suburb, along with his three siblings: older brother John, his sister, Marian, and a younger brother, Billy. After graduating from Wheaton Central High School, Jim Belushi attended the College of DuPage and graduated from Southern Illinois University Carbondale with a degree in Speech and Theater Arts.

Career

From 1977 to 1980, Belushi, like his older brother John Belushi, worked with the Chicago theater group The Second City. During this period, Belushi made his television debut in 1978's Who's Watching the Kids and also had a small part in Brian De Palma's The Fury. His first significant role was in Michael Mann's Thief (1981). After his elder brother John's death, from 1983 to 1985 he appeared on Saturday Night Live; he portrayed characters such as Hank Rippy from "Hello, Trudy!" and "That White Guy". Belushi also appeared in the film Trading Places as a drunk man in a gorilla suit during a New Year's Eve party. He made a guest appearance in Faerie Tale Theatre's third season episode Pinocchio, starring Paul Reubens as the titular puppet.

Belushi rose to greater prominence with his supporting roles in The Man with One Red Shoe (1985), About Last Night..., Salvador and Little Shop of Horrors (as Patrick Martin) (all 1986), which opened up opportunities for lead roles. He has starred in films including Real Men, The Principal, Red Heat, Homer and Eddie, K-9, Dimenticare Palermo, Taking Care of Business, Mr. Destiny, Only the Lonely, Curly Sue, Once Upon A Crime, Wild Palms, Royce, Race the Sun, Jingle All The Way, Separate Lives, Retroactive, Gang Related, Angel's Dance and Joe Somebody (2001).

His voice work includes The Mighty Ducks, The Pebble and the Penguin, Babes in Toyland, Gargoyles and Hey Arnold!, and the more recent Hoodwinked, Scooby-Doo! and the Goblin King and The Wild. He also lent his vocal talents for 9: The Last Resort (a PC game released in 1995), in which he portrayed "Salty", a coarse yet helpful character. In 1997, he portrayed the "Masked Mutant" in the Goosebumps PC video game, alongside Adam West as "The Galloping Gazelle". On January 4, 2001, Belushi appeared on the ER episode "Piece of Mind". The episode focused on both Dr. Mark Greene's life-or-death brain surgery in New York and Belushi's character, who had been in a car accident with his son in Chicago. Belushi's performance contributed to his re-emergence in the public eye, and the following year he was cast as the title role in ABC's According to Jim. His first animation voice-over was as a pimple on Krum's head in Aaahh!!! Real Monsters on Nickelodeon. That performance led him to be cast in the continuing role as Simon the Monster Hunter in that series, where he ad-libbed much of his own dialogue.

In 2003, Belushi and Dan Aykroyd released the album Have Love, Will Travel, and participated in an accompanying tour. He also performs at various venues nationwide as Zee Blues in an updated version of The Blues Brothers. He released his first book, Real Men Don't Apologize, in May 2006. Recently, Belushi was a narrator of an NFL offensive linemen commercial. Belushi also introduced the starting lineups for the University of Illinois football team during ABC's telecast of the 2008 Rose Bowl.

Belushi started to take interest in his Albanian ancestry. During his visit to Tirana on November 11, 2008, he received the order Honor of the Nation from the President of Albania, H.E. Bamir Topi. On October 9, 2009, he received Albanian citizenship. He appeared in MC Hammer's video "Too Legit to Quit" in 1991 (in the extended full-length version). He also hosted a celebration rally for the Chicago Cubs playoff series in Chicago prior to the 2008 World Series. Steve Dahl has dubbed him "The Funniest Living Belushi."

In 2010, Belushi was cast in a pilot for CBS called The Defenders a series about defense lawyers. The one-hour series premiered on September 22, 2010. In two episodes in 2011, Belushi was paired with Blues Brothers partner Dan Aykroyd. On May 15, 2011, The Defenders was canceled by CBS. In 2011, he was cast as corrupt businessman Harry Brock in Born Yesterday, which opened on Broadway in late April.

Personal life

Belushi has been married three times and has three children. He married Sandra Davenport on May 17, 1980, and the couple had a son, Robert James (also an actor, born October 23, 1980). Belushi was married to actress Marjorie Bransfield from 1990 to 1992. He has been married to Jennifer Sloan since May 2, 1998. The couple has a daughter, Jamison Bess (born July 28, 1999), and a son, Jared James (born February 8, 2002). Belushi is closely linked to his Albanian heritage and received honorary Albanian citizenship from the President of Albania, Bamir Topi. Belushi is an avid fan of the Chicago Blackhawks, Chicago Bears, Chicago Cubs, Chicago Bulls and the Chicago Fire Soccer Club.

In 2011, Belushi announced that he suffered from gout, and became a spokesman for Savient Pharmaceuticals' educational campaign "Check Out Your Gout". He has also appeared on the cover of and been interviewed by Cigar Aficionado magazine.

Belushi endorsed the re-election campaign of Democratic President Barack Obama in 2012. On a Fox News interview, he explained,"When you talk to the President in private, he's a cool guy, that knows what he's doing. Besides, I'm from Chicago too."

Filmography

Film and television roles

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1978	The Fury	Beach Bum	Uncredited
1979	Working Stiffs	Ernie O'Rourke	9 episodes
1981	Thief	Barry
1983	Trading Places	Harvey
1983-85	Saturday Night Live	Various	33 episodes; also writer
1985	The Man with One Red Shoe	Morris
1986	Little Shop of Horrors	Patrick Martin	Cameo
1986	Salvador	Doctor Rock
1986	Jumpin' Jack Flash	Sperry Repair Man
1986	About Last Night...	Bernie Litgo
1987	The Principal	Rick Latimer
1987	Real Men	Nick Pirandello
1988	Red Heat	Det. Sgt. Arthur Ridzik
1989	K-9	Detective Michael Dooley
1989	Homer and Eddie	Homer Lanza
1989	Who's Harry Crumb?	Man on Bus	Uncredited cameo
1990	Taking Care of Business	Jimmy Dworski
1990	Mr. Destiny	Larry Joseph Burrows
1990	Masters of Menace	Gypsy
1990	Dimenticare Palermo	Carmine Bonavia
1990	Wedding Band	Reverend
1991	Curly Sue	Bill Dancer
1991	Diary of a Hitman	Shandy
1991	Only the Lonely	Salvatore Buonarte
1991	Abraxas, Guardian of the Universe	Principal Latimer
1992	Traces of Red	Jack Dobson
1992	Once Upon a Crime	Neil
1993	Wild Palms	Harry Wyckoff	5 episodes
1993	Last Action Hero	Himself	Cameo
1994	Royce	Shane Royce	Television film
1994	Parallel Lives		Television film
1994-97	Aaahh!!! Real Monsters	Simon the Monster Hunter	Voice role, 8 episodes
1995	Sahara	Sergeant Joe Gunn	Television film
1995	Canadian Bacon	Charles Jackal
1995	Separate Lives	Tom Beckwith
1995	The Pebble and the Penguin	Rocko	Voice role
1995	Destiny Turns on the Radio	Tuerto
1995	Irving	Gay Vampire #2	Cameo
1995-96	Gargoyles	Fang	Voice role, 3 episodes
1996	Jingle All the Way	Mall Santa
1996	Race the Sun	Frank Machi
1996	Gold in the Streets	Mario
1996	Pinky and the Brain	Additional characters	Voice role, 3 episodes
1996-97	Mighty Ducks	Phil Palmfeather	Voice role, 23 episodes
1996	9: The Last Resort	Salty	Voice role
1996-99	Hey Arnold!	Coach Jack Wittenberg	Voice role, 4 episodes
1997	Gang Related	Frank Divinci
1997	Retroactive	Frank Lloyd
1997	Living in Peril	Harrison/Oliver
1997	Disney's Bad Baby	Dad	Voice role
1997	Wag the Dog	Himself (as Jim Belushi)
1997	Total Security	Steve Wegman	13 episodes
1998	Overnight Delivery	Overnight Delivery Boss	Scenes deleted
1999	Angel's Dance	Stevie 'The Rose' Rosellini
1999	Made Men	Bill "The Mouth" Manucci
1999	K-911	Detective Michael Dooley
1999	My Neighbors the Yamadas	Takashi	English dub
1999	The Florentine	Billy Belasco
1999	The Nuttiest Nutcracker	Reginald the Mouse King	Voice role
2000	Return to Me	Joe Dayton
2000	Who Killed Atlanta's Children?	Pat Laughlin
2001	Joe Somebody	Chuck Scarett
2001	ER	Dan Harris	Episode: "Piece of Mind"
2001-09	According to Jim	James "Jim" Orenthal	182 episodes; also Executive producer
2002	Snow Dogs	Demon	Voice cameo
2002	Pinocchio	The Farmer	English voice role
2002	One Way Out	Harry Wooltz
2002	K-9: P.I.	Detective Michael Dooley
2003	Easy Six	Elvis
2003	Ozzy & Drix	Captain Quinine	Voice role, episode: "The Conqueror Worm"
2004	DysEnchanted	Doctor (The Shrink)
2004	Less Than Perfect	Eddie Smirkoff
2005	Hoodwinked!	Kirk the Woodsman	Voice role
2006	Casper's Scare School	Alder	Voice role
2006	The Wild	Benny	Voice role
2006	Tugger: The Jeep 4x4 Who Wanted to Fly	Tugger	Voice role
2007	Underdog	Dan Unger
2007	Once Upon a Christmas Village	Santa Claus	Voice role
2008	Scooby-Doo! and the Goblin King	Glob	Voice role
2008	Snow Buddies	Saint Bernie	Voice role
2010	The Ghost Writer	John Maddox
2010	The Defenders	Nick Morelli	18 episodes
2011	Cougars, Inc.	Dan Fox
2011	New Year's Eve	Building Super
2012	The Secret Lives of Dorks	Bronko
2012	Thunderstruck	Coach Amross
2012	Doc McStuffins	Glo-Bo	Voice role, 6 episodes
2014	Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return	Lion	Voice role
2014	Home Sweet Hell	Les
2015	Show Me a Hero	Angelo R. Martinelli	3 episodes
2015	Building Belushi	Himself	6 episodes
2015	Urban Cowboy		Pilot
2016	Undrafted	Jim	Post-production
2016	The Whole Truth	Boone Lassiter	Post-production
2017	Twin Peaks

Characters on Saturday Night Live

• Hank Rippy (Hello, Trudy!)
• Man on the Street Jesse Donnelly
• That White Guy, a stereotypical Caucasian man who can rap

Celebrity impersonations

• Rosemary Clooney
• Joe Cocker
• Joan Collins
• Bob Guccione
• Hulk Hogan
• Pope John Paul II
• Bob Keeshan as Captain Kangaroo
• Josef Mengele
• Willie Nelson
• Thomas Noguchi
• Michael Reagan
• Babe Ruth
• Arnold Schwarzenegger