Profile: Jamie Kennedy

Jamie Kennedy is a comic loved by some and loathed by others. Some people that used to think he was funny at one point have become offended by his more vulgar jokes and comments as of late. I still think he's funny, do you?

He was born James Harvey Kennedy on May 25, 1970 in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia. He was the youngest of five siblings: one brother, and four sisters. As a young teenager he dreamed of acting and appearing on the big screen. After several failed attempts as a youngster, even though he was accepted into Elyse Marshall School for Acting and Modeling, Jamie almost gives up his dreams. He was cast as an extra in Dead Poet's Society in 1989. As years pass he finds little success with his acting career and hits rock bottom, and his lived in his car and also in vacant houses as a squatter.

He then decided to try his luck at comedy venues by joking and telling about some of his own misfortunes, and, after several years gets lucky. He created a fake agent (Marty Bower) and pretended to be Marty on the phone when talking over potential projects for Jamie. He first makes it pretty big for his role as Randy Meeks in Scream, Scream 2, and Scream 3. He even won an award for "Best Supporting Actor in a Horror Movie" for Scream 2. In my opinion, that movie was okay but highly overrated. As far as movies, he was also featured in Three Kings, Enemy of the State, Bait, Boiler Room, and quite a few others. He also starred in and co-wrote Malibu's Most Wanted. He's starred in television's Ghost Whisperer as well.

I did thoroughly enjoy the Jamie Kennedy Experiment. This was a basically a television prank show, or hidden-camera show, that Jamie Kennedy hosted and starred in. It ran for three seasons on the WB. He often tried to disguise his appearance but still look realistic, such as wearing wigs or a larger nose. In one segment he pretends to be a lifeguard and tells everyone in the pool that the pool will be closed for five minutes. He goes on to explain it's closed because he has to use the restroom and will be right back. He proceeds to enter the pool and relieve himself... Check some out on YouTube:

Fake Show
Virginia Makes Germy Sandwich
Hire and Fire
Country Club DIsagreement

You can see other segments there as well, but please note that some comments other users left include profanity.

Aside from the aforementioned movies and television shows, his voice has been included in video games (ESPN NFL 2K5), done tons of stand-up comedy shows, has appeared in commercials to promote California tourism with Arnold Schwarzenegger, and has written his own book, Wannabe: A Hollywood Experiment. This book is basically an autiobiography relating his path to show business and stardom.

Jamie now lives in Los Angeles and is said to be dating Jennifer Love Hewitt (as of March 2009). I have not personally watched any of his recent work, but I have heard other people comment that his stand-up routine has gotten a bit vulgar and raunchy. I would love to see more episodes of the Jamie Kennedy Experiment. It was one of my favorite hidden-camera shows, and it would be awesome if they brought it back! Who knows? Maybe?

Sources:

http://www.jamiekennedyworld.com/about-me/
http://comedians.comedycentral.com/jamie-kennedy
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005085/bio
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wannabe:_A_Hollywood_Experiment