Jack Black (actor)

Jack Black (born Thomas Black, Jr., August 28, 1969), is an American actor and musician. Black and Kyle Gass are the comedy/rock duo Tenacious D. He is considered a core member of the Frat Pack, a group of comedians active in today's Hollywood films. Black has made cameos in several Foo Fighters music videos, as well as a video for Eagles of Death Metal and Queens of the Stone Age.

Biography

Early life

Black was born in Redondo Beach, California, to Jewish parents, Thomas William Black and Judith Love Cohen. He grew up in Hermosa Beach in a tumultuous home environment where his parents’ constant battling left him scarred. In a last-ditch effort to save the marriage, his parents briefly joined a polyamorous group, Family Synergy. They divorced when he was ten; both parents eventually remarried. As a child, Black appeared in an early Atari Pitfall commercial, which was later shown during an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Jack moved to Culver City with his father but frequently visited his mother’s home until the end of his first year of college when his father’s family moved abroad. Black started taking drugs in an attempt to fit in and stole money from his mother to buy cocaine, but realized he had a problem and started therapy soon after.

At the beginning of his freshman year in high school, Black eagerly accepted his parents' suggestion to attend the Poseidon School, a private academy. His reasoning included a fear of bullies in the public school and a need to deal with his drug problem. Black also attended Crossroads School, where he excelled in drama. When Jack dropped out of UCLA in his sophomore year to pursue a career in the entertainment business, Black’s father discontinued financial support. Fellow UCLA veteran Tim Robbins later cast Jack in Bob Roberts, his first film role. Black also had recurring roles on the HBO sketch comedy series Mr. Show.

Acting career

Black took on small roles in The Cable Guy, Bob Roberts, Waterworld, The Jackal, Bye, Bye Love and Enemy of the State before a breakthrough role as Barry, the pretentious co-worker to John Cusack's record store owner in High Fidelity. His career soon led to leading roles in films such as School of Rock, Shallow Hal and King Kong. Black's most recent film is Nacho Libre, where he plays a Mexican friar following his childhood dream of wrestling and pursuing true victory by fighting for the children of an orphanage. The movie opened on June 16, 2006.

Black has appeared numerous times on the "untelevised TV network" short film festival Channel101, 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) and gives viewers a general idea as to what they should expect from the show. Black has also guest starred in the Adult Swim show Tom Goes to the Mayor as a bear trap store owner.

In Season 3 Episode 3 of the X-Files, titled "D.P.O.", he played Zero, friend to Darin, a teen who could cause lightning strikes, played by Giovanni Ribisi.

Black recently hosted the 2006 Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards on April 1, 2006.

Music career

Black is the lead singer for the folk-rock comedy band Tenacious D, which perhaps owes much of their popularity to Black's unorthodox, humorous lyrics. Tenacious D's fans often cite his skilled satire of hard rock and metal as much as they do the band's musicianship. Black's singing style is often described as being an odd scat type of music. For example, in the song "Wonderboy", one of his lines is "Rrrigga-gyu-gyu Rrrigga-gyu-gyu", an example of his verbalized guitar solo. This type of singing appears in many Tenacious D songs in place of a melodic or ripping guitar sound. Black has dubbed this form of singing the "ventrili-solo." Black has also performed a two-part scat with bandmate Kyle Gass in the song "Tribute". Tenacious D has only released one album, the self-titled Tenacious D.

Jack Black has also appeared on Dave Grohl's PROBOT album, providing vocals for the hidden song "I Am The Warlock".

Personal life

Black dated actress and comedian Laura Kightlinger from 1997 until 2005. In January 2006, he became engaged to his current wife Tanya Haden (daughter of the famous jazz double bassist Charlie Haden), whom he began dating after his split from Kightlinger in 2005. Haden and Black eloped in March 2006; Black spent US$220,000 on a ring for her.Total Film magazine, page 19; "News by Numbers". Printed April 2006. Their first child, son Samuel Jason, was born on June 10, 2006.

Black has admitted to using ecstasy during the filming of King Kong with another member of the crew whose identity he refuses to reveal. He has clarified that it does not reflect on his overall behavior during filming. Black supports the legalization of marijuana and referred to those who wished to keep it banned as "old fucking shrivs" in the Tenacious D song, "City Hall". He was also a supporter of John Kerry during the 2004 U.S. presidential elections.

Selected filmography

Year	Title	Role	Other notes
2008	Kung Fu Panda	Po	Voice only
2007	Be Kind Rewind	Jerry
2007	Them	Unknown
2006	Master of Space and Time	Unknown
	The Holiday	Miles
	The Pick of Destiny	Himself
	Nacho Libre	Nacho
2005	King Kong	Carl Denham
2004	Shark Tale	Lenny	Voice only
2004	Envy	Nick Vanderpark
2003	School of Rock	Dewey Finn
2002	Orange County	Lance Brumder
2002	Ice Age	Zeke	Voice only
2001	Shallow Hal	Hal Larson
2001	Saving Silverman	J.D. McNugent
2000	High Fidelity	Barry
1999	Jesus' Son	George
1999	Cradle Will Rock	Sid
1998	Enemy of the State	Fiedler
1997	The Jackal	Ian Lamont
1996	Mars Attacks!	Bobby
1996	The Cable Guy	Rick
1995	Waterworld	Floatplane Pilot
1995	Dead Man Walking	Craig Poncelet
1994	The NeverEnding Story III	Slip
1992	Bob Roberts	Roger Davis

Jack Black and School of Rock were referenced in The 40-Year-Old Virgin, via a pornography spoof titled "School of Cock" starring "Jack Blackcock."
Before he was a big star, in 2000 he was referenced in the spoof film Scary Movie. Characters in the film talk about how annoying his Jamaican stoner character in I Still Know What You Did Last Summer is. Shawn Wayans' character (Ray) comments, "Ohh, I want to kill that motherfucker."

Salaries

$2,000,000 - Orange County (2002)
$2,000,000 - Shallow Hal (2001)
$1,000,000 - Saving Silverman (2001) IMDB URL last accessed 20 May 2006

Guest appearances

In addition to those of Tenacious D, Black has appeared in the following music videos:

Beck, "Sexx Laws"
Dio, "Push"
Foo Fighters, "Learn To Fly"
Foo Fighters, "Low"
Foo Fighters, "The One"
The Eagles of Death Metal, "I Want You So Hard (Boy's Bad News)"
Foo Fighters, cover of AC/DC's song "Back in Black" at MTV New Year's Eve Party 2003
Queens Of The Stone Age, "Burn The Witch"

External links

Interviews

Kansas City Star interview (February 28, 2006)
The Observer interview (November 2005)
Ugo.com interview (October, 2003)
Brant Publications interview (October, 2002)
The Onion AV Club interview (October 31, 2001)
The Believer Magazine interview

References

Gourt Home::Gourt :: Jack Black (actor)