Jimmy Kimmel is a renowned late night talk show host known for his charm, funny wit and the A-list guests on his show. As the host of Jimmy Kimmel Live! On ABC, Jimmy has been serving comedy and funny appearances to television viewers for years. Before getting the Jimmy Kimmel Live! show, he was known more for his several appearances and sketches on Comedy Central. Through his platform, he has not only managed to dive into matters concerning celebrities and life but has also updated his viewers on political discussions like the health care bill that has a direct impact on their lives.

Jimmy Kimmel – Bio, Age

Jimmy Kimmel was born James Christian Kimmel on the 13th of November 1967. He grew up in the Mill Basin neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York and is the eldest of 3 children. His parents, James John Kimmel and Joan Kimmel (née Iacono) worked at American Express and as a homemaker respectively. James was also an IBM executive. Joan is of Italian descent from the volcanic island of Ischia. After the 1883 earthquake, her family migrated to the USA. His father is of German descent, as two of Jimmy Kimmel’s great-great-grandparents were German immigrants. His surname was “Kümmel”, which means caraway in German, generations back.

At the age of 9, Jimmy Kimmel’s family moved to Las Vegas, Nevada where he attended and graduated from Ed W. Clark High School in the Clark County School District. It was at this point that he discovered David Letterman, the man who has remained his idol. For university, Jimmy went to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV)—where he got an honorary degree in 2013—for one year and then on to the Arizona State University for two years. He, however, didn’t get a degree from the latter school.

It was when he was in college that he found his love for show biz, testing out the airwaves at UNLV first and the Arizona State University. At the age of 21, Jimmy Kimmel’s professional radio career began. Funny enough, at the start of his career he was fired from the radio shows he was on in Seattle, Tampa Tucson, and Phoenix. This bouncing around would eventually end when he would find a stable place on the Los Angeles radio station KROQ as ‘Jimmy the Sports Guy’ on The Kevin and Bean Show.

His debut on television was as the host of the Comedy Central game show Win Ben Stein’s Money in 1997. Jimmy Kimmel’s persona offered comic tendencies, a contrast to the show’s eponymous challenger. Together, Jimmy Kimmel and Ben Stein won a 1999 Daytime Emmy award for Best Game Show Host and got a Daytime Emmy nomination in 2001. He went on to co-host (and co-produce) The Man Show, another Comedy Central program. The success from The Man Show enabled Kimmel to start a production company called Jackhole Productions alongside his co-host Adam Carolla and co-producer Daniel Kellison.

With the number of successfully produced shows under his belt, he got the attention of ABC they reached out to him afterward. In 2003 he left The Man Show to begin hosting Jimmy Kimmel Live! on ABC.

Salary and Net Worth

Jimmy Kimmel earns $15million yearly for hosting Jimmy Kimmel Live! Thanks to the show, his net worth is estimated at about $35million. For hosting the 2018 Oscars awards, he was paid $15,000.

Religion

Jimmy Kimmel was born and raised Roman Catholic alongside his younger siblings Jonathan Kimmel and Jill Kimmel. He volunteered as an altar boy for his local Roman Catholic church.

Family – Wife, Sons, Daughters

In 1988, Kimmel married his high school sweetheart Gina Maddy. Together they have two children; Katherine—born 1991, and Kevin—born 1993. However, as Kimmel’s career blossomed, the marriage began to deteriorate. In 2002, Gina Maddy filed for divorce.

From 2002 to 2008 Jimmy Kimmel began dating his Crank Yankers co-star Sarah Silverman. Crank Yankers was a show also produced by Kimmel. In 2009, the couple split, and later the same year he began dating Molly McNearney, a co-head writer for Jimmy Kimmel Live! In August 2012, they announced that they had been engaged, and in July 2013 they got married. Together, they welcomed their first child, their daughter Jane Kimmel on the 10^th of July 2014. On the 21^st of April, their son William ‘Billy’ Kimmel was born.

His son was born with a serious heart condition and had to undergo open heart surgery three hours after his birth. On the 4^th of December, ABC announced that baby Billy had undergone a successful second heart surgery, and Jimmy Kimmel was given time off during the period to be with his family. On the 11^th of December, the comedian returned to the show with his son in his hands, telling the audience his son was “doing great” a week after the surgery. He used the opportunity to thank the doctors at the Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles for doing their best while operating on his son to keep him alive.