Jimmy Kimmel Bio

Growing Up

This Jimmy Kimmel bio begins in Brooklyn, New York. Kimmel lived in New York until he was nine. At that time, his family relocated to Las Vegas, Nevada. When Kimmel was growing up, he wanted to be an artist - so you would think that his childhood idols would be somewhere along the lines of Matisse, VanGogh or Dali. This was not the case. Kimmel's boyhood idol was none other than David Letterman. In fact, Kimmel idolized Letterman so much that he had David Letterman themed parties when he was a teenager.

Taking the often natural course of things, after graduation, Kimmel enrolled at UNLV. During the course of his one-year stint, he worked at the university's radio station. After leaving UNLV, Kimmel enrolled at Arizona State University but dropped out before completing his degree.

Early Career

During his stay in Arizona, Kimmel would call in to a popular afternoon radio show and soon found himself working alongside one of the hosts, Kent Voss. The pair began working together in 1989, christening their show The Me and Him Show and making their home base Seattle, Washington. It wasn't long before Kimmel was fired, but not for his jokes. He was fired because the station was changing formats and The Me and Him Show didn't have a place in the new format.

After leaving Seattle, Kimmel and Voss made the move to Tampa, only to get fired again when that station too changed formats. From Florida, he moved to California and then again, back to Arizona working with old friend Mike Elliot on a morning radio show. They were both fired from that station and Kimmel decided to give up on the radio business for, among other things, lack of job security. Since the comedian always wanted to be on television, he decided to pursue that avenue of entertainment instead (not that television gives anyone job security either).

Transitioning from Radio to Television

While pursuing his TV dream, Kimmel picked up a job at a Los Angeles based station, but it wasn't long before he landed the gig of "Jimmy the Sports Guy" on the locally aired Kevin and Bean Morning Show. Jimmy stayed on at the show for five years and it was there where he met soon-to-be business partner and co-host of The Man Show, Adam Corolla. At the time, Corolla was working on Loveline with Dr. Drew. Before the successful show featuring, among other things, scantily clad women jumping around on trampolines hit the airwaves, Kimmel found his big break into TV as the host of Win Ben Stein's Money.

What Do Kimmel and Oprah have in Common?

You don't really expect to read the words "Jimmy Kimmel bio" and then see the name Oprah in the article, but the two do have something pretty big in common…a Daytime Emmy Award. Win Ben Stein's Money was such a hit among fans and critics that Kimmel won the award for his hosting duties in 1999. With an Emmy under his belt and a good amount of success on The Man Show, Kimmel parlayed his talents, struck a production deal with Comedy Central, and named it Jackhole Industries. After signing his deal with Comedy Central, Kimmel jumped right in and served as executive producer for the show Crank Yankers. Kimmel's long time girlfriend Sarah Silverman often voices a few of the characters on the show.

Continuing to ride his wave of success, Kimmel finally realized his life long dream of following in the footsteps of his childhood idol David Letterman and debuted his talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live in 2003.

Personal Life

Kimmel and Sarah Silverman began dating in 2003. Rumors buzzed that the two began dating before his divorce from his wife Gina was finalized. Kimmel has two children from his marriage with Gina, a daughter Katie and a son Kevin.