Jamie Kennedy

Jamie Kennedy grew up in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, the son of a machinist and a paralegal, and the youngest of six children. He spent his formative years the same way as many children: being abused by nuns in Catholic school, tormenting his parents, and avoiding any thought of long-term goals. But when Jamie's high school guidance counselor informed him that his grades, test scores and personality best suited him to a career of shoeing horses, he decided that the time had come to get serious about the future. Jamie spent his life thus far seeking the limelight, from faking a heart attack at age eight in order to turn the tide of a losing basketball game, to hyperventilating occasionally during boring classes, so he made a logical decision - he would become an actor.

High school graduation came and went. Jamie Kennedy enrolled in Delaware County Community College, where he earned a 4.0 grade point average after the first semester, because he dropped out of every single class except acting. His parents were not too pleased. He realized that the entertainment industry in suburban Pennsylvania was quite limited, and moved out to Los Angeles to start a brilliant career... as an extra. Jamie's plan was well-thought out: after a few years as an extra, he would work his way up to a role as a wacky neighbor on a sitcom and eventually land his own television show - easy as can be. However, Jamie quickly realized that a career highlight for an extra, or as they referred to themselves, "background artists," was being a stand-in for Crocodile Dundee's earlobe close-up shot, and decided to pursue a different avenue toward success - networking with celebrities.

Then - a realization. Every actor and writer in Hollywood loved to complain about their representation, imagining that they could do their agent's job with their eyes closed and their hands tied behind their backs. But Jamie had never been content to simply imagine, well, anything. So he took it a step further: He became his own agent. He created old-school agent Marty Power, choosing the name in the hopes that people would mistake his agent for real power-agent Marty Bauer, and crafted Marty's fictional persona as a melange of characteristics of the Hollywood players he had encountered. So, Jamie Kennedy quit his day job as a telemarketer and utilized the selling skills he had learned there to pose as Marty Power over the phone, complete with a gravelly Bronx accent. Months of pitching himself full-time paid off - agents and managers showed up at his shows, liked what they saw, and vied to sign him. Jamie "segued" from Marty to actual human representation - and all of a sudden, things started going his way.

Almost ten years after alighting in Hollywood, Jamie Kennedy's acting career started to take off. His big break came when he was cast in Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet, and his career took off when he was cast as the articulately cynical geek, Randy Meeks, in Wes Craven's Scream, which broke box office records, spawned a successful renewal of the horror genre, and landed him a Blockbuster Best Supporting Actor Award. Roles followed alongside Steve Martin in Bowfinger and George Clooney in Three Kings. Through a slew of career successes and setbacks, Jamie did what he knew best - persevere.

Five years later, The Jamie Kennedy Experiment (JKX), a television show that can best be described as a combination of Candid Camera and Saturday Night Live, was born. JKX quickly became The WB's highest ranking new show, attracting three million viewers each week.