James Christian Kimmel (born November 13, 1967)[1] is an American actor, television host, comedian, writer, producer.

[3] He is the eldest of the three children of Joan (née Iacono) and James John Kimmel, who worked at American Express and was an IBM executive.

[8][9] Kimmel's mother is of Italian descent; her grandparents migrated to the United States from Ischia, Naples after the 1883 earthquake.

In 1989, Kimmel landed his first paying job alongside Voss as morning drive co-host of The Me and Him Show at KZOK-FM in Seattle, Washington.

Kimmel went on to host his own show at KCMJ in Palm Springs, California, where he recruited as his intern Carson Daly, who had been a family friend since his childhood.

He declined several offers for television shows from producer Michael Davies, being uninterested in the projects, until he was offered a place as the comedic counterpart to Ben Stein on the game show Win Ben Stein's Money, which began airing on Comedy Central in 1997.

His quick wit and "everyman" personality were counterpoints to Stein's monotonous vocal style and faux-patrician demeanor.

[21] In 1999, during his time on Win Ben Stein's Money, Kimmel co-hosted (with Adam Carolla) and co-produced (with Daniel Kellison), Comedy Central's The Man Show.

The Man Show's success allowed Kimmel, Carolla, and Kellison to create and produce, under the banner Jackhole Productions, Crank Yankers for Comedy Central (on which Kimmel plays the characters "Elmer Higgins", "Terrence Catheter", "The Nudge", "Karl Malone" and himself) and later The Andy Milonakis Show for MTV2.

Officials with Detroit's ABC affiliate, WXYZ-TV, immediately announced that that night's show would not air on the station.

[28] In February 2008, Kimmel showed a mock music video with a panoply of stars called "I'm Fucking Ben Affleck",[29] as "revenge" after his then-girlfriend Sarah Silverman and Damon recorded a similar video titled "I'm Fucking Matt Damon".

[30] 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: Brad Pitt, Don Cheadle, Cameron Diaz, Robin Williams, Harrison Ford, Dominic Monaghan, Benji Madden and Joel Madden from Good Charlotte, Lance Bass, Macy Gray, Josh Groban, Huey Lewis, Perry Farrell, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Pete Wentz, Meat Loaf, Rebecca Romijn, Christina Applegate, Dom Joly, Mike Shinoda, Lauren Conrad, and Joan Jett, among others.

At the end of the skit, Kimmel has a door slammed in his face by Damon, who says they have run out of time and laughs sinisterly.

In October 2013, a new segment of the show, "Kids Table", showcased five- and six-year-olds discussing the U.S. government shutdown and U.S. debts.

When one of the children suggested "killing all the people in China" as a way of resolving the U.S. debt, Kimmel responded that that was "an interesting idea" and soon jokingly asked a followup: "Should we allow the Chinese to live?

"[31][32] More than a hundred people took to the streets in San Francisco on October 28 to protest the show and demand "a more elaborate apology" and that Kimmel be fired.

[34] The Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus denounced the incident and demanded a formal apology from ABC.

Kimmel said ABC execs were right in their apprehension, as he estimates he lost around half of his audience due to Trump jokes.

On July 8, 2007, Kimmel managed the National League in the 2007 Taco Bell All-Star Legends and Celebrity Softball Game in San Francisco.

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.

In the process, he broke the Guinness World Record for the longest distance (22,406 miles (36,059 km)) traveled in one work week.

His voice appeared in Garfield: The Movie and Road Trip, and he portrayed Death's Dog in the Family Guy episode "Mr. Saturday Knight"; Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane later presented Kimmel with a figurine of his character on Jimmy Kimmel Live!

[41][42] With the presidential election only weeks away, Kimmel pointed out the role Mark Burnett played in the rise of Trump.

Kimmel accepted and the game (known as the Blobfish Basketball Classic) was scheduled to take place at Texas Southern University on June 16, with the loser donating $5,000 to the non-political charity of the winner's choice.

[50] Kimmel was the host and co-executive producer of a celebrity edition of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, which premiered for the show's 20th anniversary in 2020.

[53] On August 30, 2023, Kimmel began hosting the comedy podcast Strike Force Five with Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, Stephen Colbert, and John Oliver to support their staff members out of work due to the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike.

Kimmel wrote a piece for Time about his love for Letterman, saying:As I write this, there are only ten shows left before the funniest, most inventive and smartest man who ever wore an Alka Seltzer suit goes fishing for good.

[72] He was born with a rare congenital heart defect,[73] tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) with pulmonary atresia,[74][75] which was first detected when he had a purplish appearance at three hours after birth.

[76][77] The first guests Kimmel had when his show returned following his son's birth were cardiac surgeon Mehmet Oz, who explained the condition,[78] and snowboarder Shaun White, who was born with TOF.

[80][81][82] In 2020, Kimmel learned that he and Martha Stewart are cousins through a genealogy report on the TV show Finding Your Roots.