Kevin James

Kevin George Knipfing was born in Mineola, New York, on April 26, 1965,^[1] to American office worker Janet Klein and German-American insurance agency owner Joseph Valentine Knipfing Jr.^[1][2][3] He grew up in Stony Brook, New York.^[4] He has a sister named Leslie and an older brother named Gary, the latter of whom also became a comedian and actor under the name Gary Valentine.^[5] The siblings were raised Catholic. James graduated from Ward Melville High School,^[6] where he reached the top position on the wrestling team, one spot above his friend and future professional wrestler Mick Foley. Both wrestled in the Heavyweight weight class. When James suffered a season-ending back injury, Foley took over the first string position.^[7] Both men went on to study at the State University of New York at Cortland, where James played halfback on the varsity football team until another back injury permanently ended his sporting ambitions.^[6][8]

Stand-up

James began doing stand-up comedy in 1989, making his debut at Richie Minervini's East Side Comedy Club on Long Island.^[6] He also started performing comedy with a troupe at the club, during which time he adopted "James" as his stage surname in honor of his favorite school teacher.^[9] He gained popularity through numerous appearances on various talk shows, including The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Late Show with David Letterman, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Dennis Miller Live, The Late Late Show, The Rosie O'Donnell Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and Live with Regis and Kathie Lee. James was listed at No. 76 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 Greatest Stand-Up Comedians. James has also done his stand-up routine on Just for Laughs, an annual comedy festival in Montreal, Quebec. Later he was on commercials for Mazzio's Italian Eatery. In 2001, James did his own stand-up special called Kevin James: Sweat the Small Stuff. He has also appeared as a musical guest on Just for Laughs. In 2018, James released another stand-up special on Netflix called Kevin James: Never Don't Give Up. In 2024, James released his third special on Amazon Prime Video called Kevin James: Irregardless.^[10]

Television

James' first television job was in 1991 on The New Candid Camera, where he used his comedy timing and improvisation skills playing the actor that pulled practical jokes on unsuspecting people. He appeared in A&E's An Evening at the Improv in 1994.^[11] James appeared on television as the announcer for the MTV sports game show SandBlast from 1994 to 1996.

James later moved to Los Angeles and befriended Ray Romano, and he guest-starred on a few episodes of Romano's hit CBS sitcom, Everybody Loves Raymond. These appearances led to the development of his own sitcom, The King of Queens, which ran on the same network from September 21, 1998, to May 14, 2007, James played working class parcel delivery man Doug Heffernan who works for a company known as IPS. He is married to Carrie (Leah Remini), a sharp-tongued, ambitious secretary at a Manhattan law firm who is far less content with working-class life in Queens. Her obsessive, vindictive father, Arthur (Jerry Stiller), who is prone toward bizarre conduct, lives with them. For his work on the eighth season, James was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series in 2006.^[12]

James hosted the 2010 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards on March 27, 2010. He was nominated to be the inaugural member of the "Arm Fart Hall of Fame" in the following year's show, with host Jack Black calling him Kevin "Not-Quite-As-Good-As-Me" James. He and fellow nominee Kaley Cuoco lost in fan voting to Josh Duhamel.^[13][14]

James starred in the sitcom Kevin Can Wait, which premiered on September 19, 2016.^[15][16] The series was renewed for a second season,^[17] before being canceled at the season's end.

In 2021, James released a new show on Netflix called The Crew.^[18] It was canceled after one season.^[19]

Film

After a cameo in 50 First Dates in 2004, James made his starring film debut in the 2005 romantic comedy Hitch, alongside Will Smith and Eva Mendes. In 2006, he co-starred with his Everybody Loves Raymond colleague Ray Romano in the straight-to-video comedy Grilled, and provided voice work in the animated films Monster House and Barnyard. James co-starred with Adam Sandler in the comedies I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry (2007) and You Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008), and starred in the Sandler-produced comedy Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2009). The latter film opened as the No. 1 film in North America with a weekend gross of $39 million, despite overwhelmingly negative reviews,^[20] and eventually grossed $219 million from ticket and home video sales. James also appeared in Grown Ups (2010), which co-starred numerous Saturday Night Live alumni and was even more universally panned, yet was highly successful at the box office^[21] and led to a sequel in 2013.

In 2011, he had a lead role with Vince Vaughn in the comedy-drama The Dilemma and then with Rosario Dawson in Zookeeper, which he wrote and produced. James also had the lead role in the 2012 mixed martial arts comedy film Here Comes the Boom.^[22] He starred as well in the movie Pixels in 2015 and the following year in True Memoirs of an International Assassin, directed by Jeff Wadlow and released by Netflix on November 11, 2016.^[23][24] In 2017, James co-starred with Adam Sandler in another Netflix film, Sandy Wexler.^[25]

James had a lead dramatic role in the 2020 thriller film Becky. He starred as NFL head coach Sean Payton in the 2022 biographical film Home Team. In 2023, James starred in the action-comedy film Guns Up, directed by Edward John Drake.

Other work

In 2007, he was the grand marshal for the Pepsi 400 promoting I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry and saying "Gentlemen, start your engines".^[26] He did it again in June 2010 with friend and fellow actor Adam Sandler to promote Grown Ups, in 2012 at the fall Talladega race to promote Here Comes the Boom,^[27] and in July 2013 at the Coke-Zero 400 with co-stars Sandler and Shaquille O'Neal to promote Grown Ups 2.^[28] Both the 2007 Pepsi 400 command and June 2010 command at Michigan with Sandler have since been voted as two of the best and most memorable NASCAR commands in history by fans.

A web series titled Dusty Peacock produced by James and starring his brother Gary Valentine began streaming on Crackle in July 2009.^[29]

In February 2020, James revived his YouTube channel which he had launched back on November 27, 2017^[30] featuring short films "based on thin premises, like James eagerly waiting for a green light, misreading a hand wave, or spending birthdays by himself, but many carry a sense of melancholy and restraint."^[31] By June 2020, he had over 535,000 subscribers and 28 million total views.^[32]

James met actress Steffiana de la Cruz as part of a blind date, and they were married on June 19, 2004.^[33] They have four children together and reside in California.^[34]

Raised in a Catholic home, James stated in 2012 that he remains a devout Catholic.^[35] In 2019, he hosted a Catholic retreat featuring priest Chad Ripperger and theologian Scott Hahn.^[36]

Film

Television

Teen Choice Awards

Primetime Emmy Awards

Golden Raspberry Awards

People's Choice Awards

A ^ Shared with Will Smith
B ^ Shared with Adam Sandler and Jessica Biel
C ^ Shared with the entire cast

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• Official website
• Kevin James at IMDb