Biography of Jimmy Kimmel

He was born to a German father and an Italian mother, but grew up primarily in Las Vegas, Nevada to a devoutly Catholic mother who made sure he served as an altar boy. He suffers from a mild form of narcolepsy.

He started doing comedy on radio, particularly on the popular Kevin and Bean morning show at Los Angeles radio icon KROQ. He began his TV career as the co-host of the game show Win Ben Stein's Money on Comedy Central in 1997 when he left and was replaced by his cousin, Sal Iacono, and served as the co-host and co-creator (with Adam Carolla and Daniel Ellison) of The Man Show from 1999 until 2003, when they left and were briefly replaced by 2 other comedians who did not fare very well, and the show was ultimately cancelled. Kimmel and Carolla's success with The Man Show allowed them to produce another TV show named Crank Yankers for the Comedy Central cable network.

In January 2003, Kimmel made the leap to his own five-night-a-week talk show on a broadcast network: Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC, which airs following Ted Koppel's Nightline. One of Kimmel's regular guests on the show, besides his uncle Frank and his cousin Sal, was Andy Milonakis, who now has his own show on MTV, that is sketched by Kimmel.

He is divorced from his first wife, Gina, a Polish-American, who bore him two children, and also made numerous appearances on the first season of The Man Show. His current girlfriend is NY-based comedian Sarah Silverman, who once was on Saturday Night Live.