Jack Black

Jack Black’s biography

Jack Black is the Hollywood creator of a new, democratic style in comedy, the most beautiful girl Bethany from Jake Kasdan’s Jumanji: Welcome the Jungle family adventure film. An actor and screenwriter, composer and musician, electric guitarist of the Tenacious D rock band, a charismatic and memorable personality. He became popular after the release of John Cusack's High Fidelity.

In the photo: Jack Black

Childhood: Hermosa Beach, California

Born at the very end of the summer of 1969 in a Californian family of specialists in artificial earth satellites, the boy was named Thomas Jacob. Mother Judith, а Jewish and father Tom, a Scot who had accepted the Jewish faith, gave their son, in addition to his double name, an explosive mixture of genes and upbringing in the Judaism traditions.

Thomas Jacob (abbreviated as Jack), in his own words, grew up quite a brutal child, adoring books about Frankenstein and Dracula, and if any horror film was shown on TV, one could not drag him away from the screen.

Jack Black in youth

Jack overcame his parents’ separation at the age of ten and began living with his father in Culver City, visiting his mother on the weekends. He was never tired of cursing in front of the mirror, imagining himself a monster, creating the most unimaginable images in his fantasies and dreaming of becoming a great actor like Gary Oldman.

Black admitted in his interviews that in childhood he looked like his cartoon character Panda Po (in 2008 Jack voiced the main character in the Kung Fu Panda animation film both externally and internally. As a fourteen-year-old teenager he ended up in The Fall Guy TV picture for an episodic role and then in a commercial for Atari.

Youth: Los Angeles - France

When his father was transferred to work in France the teenager departed with him. If not the love of the play, he would have had all the chances of going to jail, since he often took part in street fights and easily went breaking bad.

Young Jack Black

Yielding to the persuasions of relatives, after school Jack entered the faculty of psychology at the University of California. He was very soon disgusted by the classes and the young man, leaving the university, joined Tim Robbins’s magnificent Band of actors. The stage gave him such satisfaction that Black decided with his former enemy, then his best friend Kyle Gass, to create the Tenacious D comedy rock duo.

Tenacious D - Tribute

The band totally declared itself in the series of the same name and later the Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny full-length comedy film was released.

In an interview, Black told how at first he and his friend played a great rock and roll team, but soon they realized that their show lacked the most important ingredient - humor. As soon as it appeared, popularity increased by several times, and Tenacious D became a regular participant in comedy television shows.

One of its fans, actor and director John Cusack played a key role in Jack’s life.

Career: Movie roles and School of Rock

In the nineties Black often starred in amateur films and small episodic roles. This went on until, on Cusack’s recommendation, who had got the lead role, he was invited to shoot in Stephen Frears’s picture. In the High Fidelity Jack met Catherine Zeta-Jones and Iben Hjejle, and was also pleased to meet Tim Robbins again. And, undoubtedly, he graced the comedy melodrama with his musical talent and sparkling humor.

A shot from the High Fidelity

His Barry was so much appreciated by film directors Farrelly brothers that they right away invited the actor to play the main role in the Shallow Hal drama comedy. Jack's partner on the set was Gwyneth Paltrow. For his talented job Black received a fee of three million dollars.

Jack Black in the Shallow Hal

According to him, after the High Fidelity he believed in the lucky star of a rock musician, because soon, while parodying the Spiderman, he received an invitation from director Richard Linklater to play a rock guitarist in his School of Rock comedy melodrama.

School of Rock - Trailer

This is where Jack was given the opportunity to appear in his best! For playing Dewey, Black could receive a 2004 Golden Globe, but he was bypassed by famous Bill Murray with his Lost in Translation. But the MTV award for the best comic musical role went to him by right.

Jack Black in the School of Rock

Then, the main roles of Nick from the Envy, Miles from The Holiday, Nacho from the Nacho Libre, Jerry from the Be Kind Rewind, Zed from the Year One appeared in Jack Black’s filmography. In 2010 the actor reincarnated into Gulliver in the Gulliver's Travels and in 2011 he played mortician Bernie Tiede in the Bernie black comedy by Richard Linklater.

Top 10 pictures starring Jack Black

Later Black had only main roles in the Big Year, the Sex Tape and the Goosebumps. The actor also starred along with Pablo Schreiber and Tim Robbins in The Brink political satire-comedy, where the trio must prevent the World War III.

Jack Black in the Goosebumps

But Jack's movie career really turned upside down in the Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle science fiction. Four teenagers, among whom was the first beauty of the school Bethany, turn into the characters of the game, which must be passed in order to survive and return home. So actor Dwayne Johnson is shy Spencer (aka Dr. Smolder), Karen Gillan is clumsy Martha (aka Ruby Roundhouse), Kevin Hart is sturdy Fridge (aka Mouse Finbar). And only Jack Black is a girl called Bethany (aka Professor Shelly Oberon).

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle - Trailer

The actor gladly recalls the work on the picture. In order to understand what’s the girl feeling inside, he got interested in the young actress’s musical and cinematic addictions, listened to John Mayer and watched TV shows about teenagers. In addition, he nostalgically re-watched the original film, where his favorite comedian Robin Williams played.

Jack Black’s personal life

Black met emancipated Laura Kightlinger, an actress, screenwriter and producer on the set of the Will and Grace TV series. Over the course of the eight-year affair, the couple participated in many projects together, but the lovers never reached the altar, friendly parting in 2005.

Jack Black with Laura Kightlinger

The reason for separation was Jack’s meeting with school friend Tanya Haden at a party in Santa Monica, where the Tenacious D band performed at an old friend’s. The actor's dream came true: he finally found a woman with whom he would spend his whole life.

Jack Black and Tanya Haden

Tanya, who is also a musician, the daughter of world famous jazz bassist Charlie Haden, managed to turn their relationship with Jack into some kind of fairy-tale adventure that the actor loved so much. One of the main adventures was her pregnancy, about which she told Black, insisting neither on marriage, nor on living together and raising the future baby. But the man who hated official ceremonies immediately made her a proposal. In spring 2006 the couple married in a small town called Big Sur, having climbed into a quiet house on top of a cliff.

Jack Black with his wife and children

Three months later, the happy father gently held his first child in his arms, who was named Samuel Jason Haden Black. And two years later, the second boy, Thomas David appeared in the family.

Feeling responsible for the boys and his wife, Jack decided to stop smoking and started fighting overweight, which is much harder for him, since Black is a big fan of fast food.

Jack Black nowadays

The actor ended 2018 with the main role of good wizard Jonathan Barnavelt in Eli Roth's fantastic comedy thriller The House with a Clock in Its Walls - the screening of the eponymous novel by John Bellairs. The role of the powerful (but also good) witch Florence Zimmerman, who fought with the pumpkins was stunningly played by Cate Blanchett.

The House with a Clock in Its Walls - Trailer

The Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween picture, where Jack received the role of writer Bob Stine, as well as the Desperate Measures comedy with the main role of Matt Pryor, a man who lost everything, whom Black also plays, seek to complete in a full swing. The mass audience watched movie in 2019.

Jack Black won’t stop shooting in comedies

Along with the replenishment of his filmography, Jack, as a member of the Tenacious D duet (by the way, in 2015 the band won the Grammy Award for the best song in the genre of metal), is preparing to release a new album called Post-Apocalypto. The group, as in previous years, will take part in international festivals.

Tenacious D - Post-Apocalypto

Despite his popularity, Jack Black is sure: he will never get an Oscar and will never stop acting in comedies. But the actor would better be equal to Bob Hope, who hasn’t received a single cinema academy award, than Mr. What was his name, whose statuette is covered with dust on the shelf, and his phone is silent.

In 2019 "Jumanji The Next Level" came to a big screen.