Kevin James

Kevin James
James receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, February 1, 2011
Birth name	Kevin George Knipfing
Born	(1965-04-26) April 26, 1965
Medium	Stand-up, film, television
Nationality	American
Years active	1989–present
Genres	Physical comedy, surreal humour, observational comedy, musical comedy
Subject(s)	Everyday life, self-deprecation, body image, family
Spouse	Steffiana de la Cruz (2004-present; 3 children)
Notable works and roles	The King of Queens

Kevin George Knipfing (born April 26, 1965), better known by his stage name Kevin James, is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer. James is widely known for playing Doug Heffernan on the hit CBS sitcom The King of Queens. James is also known for his lead roles in the comedy films I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, Paul Blart: Mall Cop, Grown Ups, Zookeeper, and Here Comes the Boom.

Early life

James was born Kevin George Knipfing in Mineola, New York.^[1][2] He is the second son of Janet, a homemaker who also worked in a chiropractor's office, and Joseph Valentine Knipfing, Jr, who owned an insurance agency.^[2][3] He has German ancestry.^[4] James has two siblings, Gary Joseph Knipfing, known as Gary Valentine, also a comedian, and Leslie Knipfing;^[5] Leslie works for James and helped raise money through charity events for retinitis pigmentosa, with which she is afflicted. James was raised Catholic, and stated in 2012 that he is involved in his faith.^[6] He grew up in the "S-Section" of Stony Brook, New York, and graduated from Ward Melville High School in 1983,^[7] where he was on the football and wrestling teams. One of his wrestling teammates, Mick Foley, eventually became a professional wrestler. James was a student at, but did not graduate from, the State University of New York at Cortland, where he was a member of Pi Lambda Phi Fraternity.

Career

James began doing stand-up comedy in 1989, making his debut at the East Side Comedy Club in Long Island, New York managed by Richie Minervini.^[7] 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 #89 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. 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.

Television

James first appeared on TV 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 later 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 the lead as a middle-class delivery man, Doug, who worked for a company known as IPS and was married to Carrie (Leah Remini). They lived with his father-in-law, played by Jerry Stiller. For his work on the eighth season, James was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series^[8] in 2006. In 2007, he was the grand marshal for saying the most famous line in auto racing "Gentlemen, start your engines" for NASCAR racing in the 2007 Pepsi 400. He did it again in June 2010 with actor/buddy Adam Sandler to promote Grown Ups as well as 2012 at the fall Talladega race.

Film

James on the set of Paul Blart: Mall Cop: Burlington Mall, Burlington, Massachusetts

James made his 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 comedy Grilled and provided voice work in the animated films Monster House and Barnyard. In 2007, James co-starred with Adam Sandler in the widely scorned^[9] comedy I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, You Don't Mess with the Zohan and Paul Blart: Mall Cop, where he patrolled the West Orange Pavilion Mall on a Segway PT, that opened as the #1 film in North America with a weekend gross of $39 million, despite overwhelmingly negative reviews,^[10] and eventually grossed $219 million from ticket and home video sales. More recently, James appeared in Grown Ups, which co-starred numerous Saturday Night Live alumni and was even more universally panned, yet was highly successful at the box office.^[11] In 2011, he had a lead role with Vince Vaughn in the comedy-drama, The Dilemma, and in Zookeeper, which he wrote and produced. In 2012, James had the leading role in the mixed martial arts comedy film Here Comes the Boom.^[12]

Web

A web series titled Dusty Peacock produced by James and starring his brother Gary Valentine began streaming on Crackle in July 2009.^[13]

Award shows

James hosted the 2010 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards on March 27, 2010 on Nick and was a nominee into the Arm Fart Hall of Fames of the next year's show as Kevin "Not-Quite-As-Good-As-Me" James; but lost to Josh Duhamel.

Personal life

On June 19, 2004, James married actress Steffiana de la Cruz.^[14] Their first child, daughter Sienna-Marie, was born in 2005. Their second daughter, Shea Joelle, was born in 2007; she was named after the New York ballpark Shea Stadium.^[15] They welcomed their first son and third child, Kannon Valentine, 2011.^[16] James is the younger brother of comedian Gary Valentine (born Gary Knipfing), who played Doug's cousin Danny Heffernan on King of Queens. He is a close friend of retired MMA fighter Bas Rutten, and trains with him at his school in Thousand Oaks, California. James is also known for being a big sports fan, particularly of the New York Knicks, New York Jets, and the New York Mets, New York Islanders as well as the UFC. James, a Catholic, appeared on Catholic-themed channel EWTN's World Over in 2012.^[17]

Filmography

References

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Kevin James

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kevin James.

• Official website
• Kevin James at the Internet Movie Database
• Kevin James Interview on Jets Insider.com
• Kevin James Interview on PR.com
• Kevin James as Doug Heffernan on CBS
• Kevin James at Emmys.com