Jack Black Trivia: 23 fascinating facts about the actor!

Jack Black is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, musician and singer.

Let’s find out some fun facts about him!

1. Thomas Jacob “Jack” Black was born August 28, 1969 in Santa Monica, California, and raised in Hermosa Beach, California.

2. He is the son of two satellite engineers, Judith Love (née Cohen), who worked on the Hubble Space Telescope and is also a writer, and Thomas William Black.

3. His mother was born Jewish, while his father converted to Judaism.

4. Black was raised in the Jewish faith, attending Hebrew school and celebrating a Bar Mitzvah.

5. On a guest appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, he said his surname may have come from the occupational name of blacksmith.

6. Black’s parents divorced when he was 10; Black moved to Culver City with his father and frequently visited his mother’s home.

7. As a child, Black appeared in a commercial for the Activision game Pitfall! in 1982.

8. This was shown during his later appearances as an adult actor on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and again on The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien.

9. For high school, Black’s parents enrolled him at the Poseidon School, a private secondary school designed specifically for students struggling in the traditional school system.

10. Black also attended the Crossroads School, where he excelled in drama.

11. He later attended UCLA but dropped out during his sophomore year to pursue a career in entertainment. Fellow UCLA student, Tim Robbins, later cast Black in Bob Roberts.

12. Black gained recurring roles on the HBO sketch comedy series, Mr. Show.

13. His acting career has been extensive, starring primarily in comedy films.

14. He is best known for his roles in Shallow Hal (2001), School of Rock (2003), King Kong (2005), The Holiday (2006), the Kung Fu Panda franchise (2008-16), Tropic Thunder (2008) and Bernie (2011).

15. He has been nominated for two Golden Globe Awards. Black is the lead vocalist of the comedic rock group Tenacious D which he formed in 1994 with friend Kyle Gass.

16. They have released the albums Tenacious D, The Pick of Destiny and Rize of the Fenix.

17. At the age of 14, Black struggled with drugs, saying “I was having a lot of troubles with cocaine… I was hanging out with some pretty rough characters. I was scared to go to school (because) one of them wanted to kill me. I wanted to get out of there.”[35]

18. His 31 year old brother Howard died of AIDS in 1989.

19. In January 2006, Black became engaged to Tanya Haden, daughter of jazz double bassist Charlie Haden. Both attended Crossroads School and met again 15 years after graduating, at a friend’s birthday party. Black proposed around Christmas 2005, and they married on March 14, 2006, in Big Sur, California.

20. Black’s first son, Samuel Jason “Sammy” Black, was born on June 10, 2006, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.[38] On May 23, 2008, Black and his wife had their second son, Thomas David Black.

21. Black described himself as an atheist; but now that he is a father, he has decided to raise his children in the Jewish faith and has also started going to a synagogue with them.

22. Black endorsed Barack Obama’s re-election campaign in 2012.

23. In 2015, Black visited Kampala in Uganda, Africa as part of Comic Relief USA’s Red Nose Day.