Jack Black

Thomas Jacob "Jack" Black (born August 28, 1969) is an American actor, comedian, and musician. He is known for roles in family and comedy films, in addition to his voice work in animated films. His awards include a Children's and Family Emmy Award, a Grammy Award, and nominations for three Golden Globe Awards. In 2018, he was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

After portraying supporting roles in films including '' Dead Man Walking'' (1995), '' The Cable Guy'' (1996), '' Mars Attacks!'' (1996), and '' Enemy of the State'' (1998), Black had his breakout role in the musical film ''High Fidelity'' (2000). This led to larger roles in films like ''Shallow Hal'' (2001) and '' Orange County'' (2002), before he solidified his leading man status with his starring role in ''School of Rock'' (2003). Black has since starred in ''King Kong'' (2005), '' The Holiday'' (2006), ''Nacho Libre'' (2006), ''Tropic Thunder'' (2008), '' Bernie'' (2011), '' Goosebumps'' (2016), '' Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle'' (2017), its sequel '' Jumanji: The Next Level'' (2019), '' The House with a Clock in Its Walls'' (2018) and '' A Minecraft Movie'' (2025). He has also voiced Po in the '' Kung Fu Panda'' franchise (2008–present) and Bowser in '' The Super Mario Bros. Movie'' (2023).

Outside of acting, Black is the lead vocalist of the duo Tenacious D, which he formed in 1994 with long-time friend Kyle Gass. They won the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance for "The Last in Line" in 2015. Since 2018, Black has run a YouTube channel called Jablinski Games.

Early life

Thomas Jacob BlackArchived a
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine
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 and 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, to a family from Poland and Russia. His father converted to Judaism, and is of German, English, Irish, and Scottish descent. Black was raised Jewish, attending Hebrew school and having a bar mitzvah.

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. 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 second 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''.

Career

1982–1999: Early roles

In 1982, Black's first acting job was in a television commercial at age 13 for the video game '' Pitfall!.'' In 1987, Black joined the Actors' Gang, a theater troupe founded by UCLA students including Tim Robbins, and appeared in a variety of stage productions. 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''. 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. After Tim Robbins cast him in '' Bob Roberts'', Black began appearing in small film roles such as '' Airborne'' (1993), '' Demolition Man'', ''Waterworld'', '' The Fan'', '' The Cable Guy'', '' Mars Attacks!'', '' Dead Man Walking'', '' The Jackal'', '' Crossworlds'', '' Enemy of the State'', and others. He had a small role in '' True Romance'' as a security guard, but the scene was deleted.

2000–2008: Breakthrough and rise to prominence

In 2000, Black co-starred in the film ''High Fidelity'' as a wild employee in a record store run by John Cusack. Black considers his role in ''High Fidelity'' as his breakout into the Hollywood scene. He quickly gained leading roles in films such as '' Saving Silverman'', ''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. 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. He has also had starring voice-overs in animated features, including Zeke in ''Ice Age'' (2002) and Lenny in ''Shark Tale'' (2004). In 2004, Black guest-starred in the first episode of Cartoon Network's Adult Swim show '' Tom Goes to the Mayor''.

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. In 2006, he played the role of King Herod in a one night benefit concert of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's ''Jesus Christ Superstar'' at the Ricardo Montalban Theatre. That same year he starred as the romantic love interest to Kate Winslet in the Nancy Meyers romantic comedy '' The Holiday'' (2006). Also in 2006, he starred in the comedy film ''Nacho Libre'' (2006), which he also produced, and '' Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny'', which he also wrote and produced. In 2007 he took a supporting role in the Noah Baumbach directed comedy-drama film '' Margot at the Wedding'' starring Nicole Kidman and Jennifer Jason Leigh. That same year he made a cameo appearance portraying Paul McCartney in '' Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story'' (2007). 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. The following year he starred in the buddy comedy '' Be Kind Rewind'' (2008) opposite Mos Def and the war satire ''Tropic Thunder'' alongside Ben Stiller and Robert Downey Jr. On December 14, he hosted the 2008 Spike Video Game Awards. Black has hosted the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards and '' Acceptable.TV''.

He voiced the title role in '' Kung Fu Panda'', which grossed 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. In addition to '' Kung Fu Panda'' (2008), He provided the voice of the main character, roadie Eddie Riggs, in the heavy metal–themed action-adventure video game '' Brütal Legend'', for which he won the Best Voice award at the Spike Video Game Awards in 2009.

2009–2014: Box office bombs

In 2009 he appeared in the post-Super Bowl episode of ''The Office'' along with Cloris Leachman and Jessica Alba in a fake movie within the show. He starred in the Harold Ramis directed adventure comedy '' Year One'' (2009) alongside Michael Cera. In April 2009, Black starred in an episode of ''Yo Gabba Gabba!'', in which he vocalized children 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 Original trilogy, ''Star Wars'' original trilogy on YouTube.

In 2010, Black made a guest appearance on ''Community (TV series), Community'' and also guest-starred on Nickelodeon's ''iCarly'' in an episode titled, "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 British Empire, 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. His next film, ''The Big Year'', a competitive birdwatching comedy co-starring Owen Wilson, Steve Martin, and JoBeth Williams, was released in October 2011. Black 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.'' He played 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." He presented the tribute to Led Zeppelin when the band was 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. In 2018, Black appeared in the music video for Gorillaz song "Humility (song), Humility".

2015–present: Career resurgence

In 2015, Black played a fictional version of real-life author R. L. Stine for '' Goosebumps'', and provided the voices of two of Stine's creations, Slappy the Dummy and The Invisible Boy. He reprised the Stine role in the film's 2018 sequel, ''Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween''. He also voiced himself and many other additional characters on the animated YouTube series "Tenacious D in Post-Apocalypto", which he also co-directed and co-wrote, along with his Tenacious D partner Kyle Gass. In 2017 he portrayed a teenage girl inhabiting the body of Professor Sheldon "Shelly" Oberon in the action adventure comedy film '' Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle''. He starred alongside Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart and Karen Gillan. The film received positive reviews and was a financial success.

The following year he took a supporting dramatic turn in the Gus Van Sant drama ''Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot'' (2018). The film received critical acclaim and starred Joaquin Phoenix, Rooney Mara and Jonah Hill. He reprised his role in ''Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle'''s sequel, '' Jumanji: The Next Level'' (2019), which like its predecessor was also a box-office success, becoming 2019 in film, one of the highest-grossing films of 2019. That year, he starred in the children's fantasy film '' The House with a Clock in Its Walls'' (2019) alongside Cate Blanchett and Renée Elise Goldsberry. In 2022, he lent his voice to the Richard Linklater animated coming of age film ''Apollo 10 1⁄2: A Space Age Childhood''. Also that year, he portrayed disc jockey Wolfman Jack in the Roku biographical parody film ''Weird: The Al Yankovic Story'' (2022). Starting in 2022 he reprised the role of Po in the Netflix animated series ''Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight''. He also guest starred on the Paramount+ series ''Big Nate (TV series), Big Nate'' and the Adult Swim series ''Rick and Morty''.

The next year, Black voiced Bowser in Illumination (company), Illumination's animated feature film '' The Super Mario Bros. Movie'' based on the Mario (franchise), Nintendo games. The film was released in April 2023 and was an international box office success ranking as 2023 in film#Highest-grossing films, one of the highest-grossing films of 2023. That same year, he also took roles as Joseph Stalin in the Mel Brooks Hulu comedy series ''History of the World, Part II'' and Captain Bombardier in the Disney+ series ''The Mandalorian''. Black then reprised his role as Po in ''Kung Fu Panda 4'', voiced Claptrap in ''Borderlands (film), Borderlands'' (both 2024), and most recently, portrayed Steve (Minecraft), Steve in '' A Minecraft Movie'' (2025).

Other ventures

Musical career

Black is the lead singer and guitarist for the comedy rock/hard rock duo Tenacious D along with Kyle Gass. They have released five albums, a Tenacious D (album), self-titled debut, ''The Pick of Destiny'', ''Rize of the Fenix'', and ''Post-Apocalypto''. 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 '' Brütal Legend''. "Rock Your Socks", from the album ''Tenacious D'', was played in the music video game ''Rock Band Unplugged'' as well. "Master Exploder" from ''The Pick Of Destiny'' went on to be used in music video games ''Guitar Hero Van Halen'', ''Rock Band 2'', and ''Brütal Legend'', along with their song "Tribute" from ''Tenacious D''. "Master Exploder" and "The Metal" featured in the comedy film '' Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny''. The film, directed by Tenacious D veteran Liam Lynch (musician), 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 Cameo appearance, cameos as does Dave Grohl as Satan. Ben Stiller also makes an appearance as a worker at a Guitar Center, even having a role in the music video for "Tribute (song), Tribute".

Tenacious D helped the United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation 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, 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 Liam Lynch (musician), 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. 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's "Sexx Laws"; Foo Fighters' "Learn to Fly", "Low (Foo Fighters song), Low", and "The One (Foo Fighters song), The One"; The Eagles of Death Metal's "I Want You So Hard (Boy's Bad News)"; Sum 41's "Things I Want"; Dio (band), Dio's "Push"; Weezer's "Photograph (Weezer song), Photograph"; The Mooney Suzuki's "In a Young Man's Mind"; "Weird Al" Yankovic's "Tacky (song), Tacky", and Die Antwoord's "Ugly Boy". 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 appeared on the Dethklok soundtrack album ''The Doomstar Requiem''. He sings the parts for Dethklok's original band manager as well as a blogger. Black, as a member of Tenacious D, won the award for Best Metal Performance at the 57th Grammy Awards. The song "The Last in Line" won the award, a cover of the song of the same name by Dio (band), Dio that appeared on the tribute album ''Ronnie James Dio – This Is Your Life, This Is Your Life''.

On July 14, 2024, Tenacious D celebrated Gass' birthday during their performance at the International Convention Centre Sydney, ICC Sydney Theater. A birthday cake was brought out and Black encouraged Gass to make a wish. Gass responded, "Don't miss Trump next time," referring to the Attempted assassination of Donald Trump in Pennsylvania, attempted assassination of Donald Trump the day before. Two days later, Black wrote on social media that he was "blindsided" by Gass' comment and that he did not condone hate speech or political violence "in any form". Tenacious D canceled the rest of their world tour, and Black said their "creative plans are on hold". Gass apologized on social media, calling his comment "highly inappropriate, dangerous and a terrible mistake". Gass deleted his apology later that week.

In 2025, "Steve's Lava Chicken", Black's song in ''A Minecraft Movie'', became the shortest song in history to land on the Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. The song is 34 seconds long. The previous record holder was "Beautiful Trip" by Kid Cudi, which is 37 seconds long.

YouTube channel

On December 21, 2018, Black created a YouTube channel called ''Jablinski Games''. Within one week of its launch, it had amassed over 1 million subscribers. The videos published on the channel are typically either candid vlogs involving Black and his two sons, or gaming content. Black created the channel largely to bond with his son, who serves as videographer and Video editing, editor of the channel. On July 21, 2019, Black took part in a Minecraft stream with popular YouTuber PewDiePie to raise money for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), in the wake of the suicide of Etika in June 2019. After two days of streaming, they raised $30,479 with the stream being broadcast live both on YouTube and on the streaming platform DLive. As of June 2023, Jablinski Games has 5.04 million subscribers and 216 million video views.

Production company

In August 2006, Black registered his own production company, Electric Dynamite Productions, Inc. The company's first work produced was the 2009 mockumentary ''Branson'', which was a co-production with BranMo Productions and Perfect Weekend. In 2011, the company would produce two TV-movies, My Life As an Experiment and Shredd. In 2013, the company notably produced TV series ''Ghost Ghirls'' for the now-defunct Yahoo! Screen, as well as obtained the rights to adapt the UK mockumentary ''Wizard's Way'' into Wizard's Way, a feature film. The company would also be a producer credit on ''The D Train'' (2015) and ''The Polka King'' (2017), both of which featured Black in the starring role. The company produced ''The Aquabats! RadVentures!'' in 2018, the dark-comedy film ''Happily (film), Happily'' in 2021.

Filmography

Discography

Soundtrack albums

Charted songs

Awards and nominations

Black has been nominated for three Golden Globe Awards. On September 18, 2018, Black was inducted into Hollywood's Walk of Fame.

Accolades

Personal life

At age 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 HIV/AIDS, AIDS in 1991 at age 36. His oldest brother, Neil Siegel, 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 15 years after graduating they met again 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 Atheism, atheist, Black identifies as Jewish atheism, nominally Jewish, and fatherhood influenced his decision to raise his children in the Jewish faith.

Black endorsed Barack Obama's Barack Obama 2012 presidential campaign, 2012 re-election campaign. In 2015, he visited Kampala as part of Comic Relief USA's Red Nose Day. Black is an outspoken critic of Donald Trump. On the day of First inauguration of Donald Trump, Trump's 2017 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 it for years, because it just never felt appropriate—but now, we're happy to unleash the beast. The government totally sucks." Before the 2022 election, Black hosted a letter and text writing party to rally VoteRiders volunteers engaged in educating eligible voters about voter ID requirements in their states. Of the 2022 midterms, he said, "[S]o much is on the ballot this cycle. We've got a woman's right to choose. The environment is on the ballot, environmental protections. And not to mention democracy is on the ballot. There's so, there's so many divides in this country right now." Black said he viewed a potential reelection bid by Trump as a threat that is "always lurking in the background."

Notes

References

External links

*
*
*
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Black, Jack
1969 births
20th-century American comedians
20th-century American guitarists
20th-century American Jews
20th-century American male actors
20th-century American male musicians
20th-century American male writers
20th-century American screenwriters
21st-century American comedians
21st-century American guitarists
21st-century American Jews
21st-century American male actors
21st-century American male musicians
21st-century American male writers
21st-century American screenwriters
American atheists
American comedy musicians
American male child actors
American male comedians
American male film actors
American male guitarists
American male screenwriters
American male singer-songwriters
American male television actors
American male television writers
American male voice actors
American people of English descent
American people of German descent
American people of Irish descent
American people of Polish-Jewish descent
American people of Russian-Jewish descent
American people of Scottish descent
American rhythm guitarists
American rock musicians
American rock singers
American rock songwriters
American sketch comedians
Articles containing video clips
Children's and Family Emmy Award winners
Comedians from California
Crossroads School alumni
Film producers from California
Frat Pack
Grammy Award winners
Guitarists from California
Jewish American atheists
Jewish American comedians
Jewish American male actors
Jewish American musicians
Jewish American screenwriters
Jewish American singers
Jewish male comedians
Jews from California
Living people
Male actors from Santa Monica, California
Musicians from Santa Monica, California
Rock musicians from California
Singer-songwriters from California
Television producers from California
Television writers from California
Tenacious D members
UCLA Film School alumni
Writers from Santa Monica, California
YouTube channels launched in 2018
YouTubers from California