World-famous actor, comedian and musician Thomas Jacob Black, known professionally as Jack Black, was born on 28 August 1969 in Santa Monica, California. His interest in acting and drama began while he was still in high school, and he landed his first acting job in a television commercial at age 13 for the video game Pitfall! (1982) and after joining the Actors' Gang, a theatre troupe founded by UCLA students including Tim Robbins, secured a series of television roles. He moved onto the big screen and landed roles in Demolition Man (1993), Dead Man Walking (1995), Mars Attacks! (1996), before upping his game in 2000 with his breakout Hollywood role co-starring with John Cusack in High Fidelity. A number of other comedy appearances followed including the career-defining School of Rock in 2003 which earned him a Golden Globe nomination, 2006's Nacho Libre and Tenacious D in the Pick of the Destiny. 2008 saw him voice the title role in Kung Fu Panda, going on to repeat the success in Kung Fu Panda 2 and 3. He picked up his second Golden Globe Award nomination, in the category Best Actor in a Comedy, for his 2011 starring role in Richard Linklater's Bernie, and was cast in the two parts of Jumanji in 2017 and 2019. In parallel to his acting work, Jack Black has forged a successful career as a musician, bringing a heavy dose of humour to his parody duo Tenacious D with guitarist partner Kyle Gass since 1994. 2000 saw the arrival of Tenacious D's debut self-titled album, which was later certified platinum in the US while they soared to number eight with the 2006 follow-up The Pick of Destiny. In 2012, they received a Kerrang! Service to Rock award while the following year picked up a Grammy nomination for Best Comedy Album for their third album Rize of the Fenix, recorded after a brief hiatus. In 2015, their track "The Last in Line," a Dio cover recorded for their 2014 tribute album This Is Your Life, earned the pair the Grammy for Best Metal Performance. Their fourth album Post-Apocalypto arrived in 2018 with single "5 Needs" released in 2020. In 2023, Jack Black voiced the character of Bowser in the animated film The Super Mario Bros. Movie, also performing a solo parody love song, "Peaches," which charted on the Billboard Hot 100 as well as in several other countries including the UK.
