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James Belushi
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James Adam "Jim" Belushi (born June 15, 1954) is an American actor, comedian and musician, best known for being the younger brother of late comedian John Belushi. He currently stars in the sitcom According to Jim.
shi was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Agnes B. (née Samaras), a first-generation Albanian-American who worked as a goat farmer, and Adam Belushi, an Albanian immigrant and restaurant operator who left his native village, Qyteza, in 1934 at the age of fifteen.
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Encyclopedia
James Adam "Jim" Belushi (born June 15, 1954) is an American actor, comedian and musician, best known for being the younger brother of late comedian John Belushi. He currently stars in the sitcom According to Jim.
Biography
Early life
Belushi was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Agnes B. (née Samaras), a first-generation Albanian-American who worked as a goat farmer, and Adam Belushi, an Albanian immigrant and restaurant operator who left his native village, Qyteza, in 1934 at the age of fifteen. After graduating from Wheaton Central High School, Belushi attended the College of DuPage and graduated from Southern Illinois University with a degree in Speech and Theater Arts.
Career
From 1977 to 1980, Belushi, like his older brother, John Belushi, who died in 1982, worked with the Chicago theater group The Second City. During this period, Belushi made his television debut in 1978's Who's Watching the Kids and also had a small part in Brian De Palma's The Fury. His first significant role was in Michael Mann's Thief (1981). After his elder brother John's death, from 1983 to 1985, he appeared on Saturday Night Live; he portrayed characters such as Hank Rippy from "Hello, Trudy!", and "That White Guy". Belushi also appeared in the film Trading Places as a drunk man in a gorilla suit during a New Year's Eve party. Jim made a guest appearance in Faerie Tale Theatre's third season episode Pinocchio, starring Paul Reubens as the titular puppet.
Belushi rose to greater prominence with his supporting roles in About Last Night..., Salvador and Little Shop of Horrors (as Patrick Martin) (all 1986), which opened up opportunities for lead roles. He has starred in films including Real Men, The Principal, Red Heat, Homer and Eddie, K-9, Dimenticare Palermo, Taking Care of Business, Mr. Destiny, Only the Lonely, Curly Sue, Once Upon A Crime, Wild Palms, Royce, Race the Sun, Separate Lives, Retroactive, Gang Related, Angel's Dance and Joe Somebody (2001). K-9 produced two sequels that were released straight to video, K-911, featuring Mac, Sonto & Reno as "Jerry Lee", K-9: P.I., featuring King as "Jerry Lee", and The George Lopez Show as the building inspector in [George's Extrememakeover: Holmes Edition]]
His voice work includes The Mighty Ducks, Babes in Toyland, Gargoyles and Hey Arnold!, and the more recent Hoodwinked and The Wild. He also lent his vocal talents for 9: The Last Resort (a PC game released in 1995), in which he portrayed "Salty", a coarse yet helpful character. On January 4, 2001, Belushi appeared on the ER episode "Piece of Mind". The episode focused on both Dr. Mark Greene's life-or-death brain surgery in New York and Belushi's character, who had been in a car accident with his son in Chicago. Belushi's performance contributed to his re-emergence in the public eye, and the following year he was cast as the titular role in ABC's According to Jim. His first animation voice-over was as a pimple on Krum's head in Aaahh!!! Real Monsters on Nickelodeon. That performance led him to be cast in the continuing role as Simon, the Monster Hunter, in that series, where he ad-libbed much of his own dialogue.
In 2003, Belushi and Dan Aykroyd released the album Have Love, Will Travel, and participated in an accompanying tour. He also performs at various venues nationwide as Zee Blues in an updated version of The Blues Brothers. He released his first book, Real Men Don't Apologize, in May 2006.
Recently, Belushi was a narrator of an NFL offensive linemen commercial. Belushi also introduced the starting lineups for the University of Illinois football team during ABC's telecast of the 2008 Rose Bowl.
During his visit in Albania on November 11, 2008, Belushi received the order Honor of the Nation from the President of Albania, H.E. Bamir Topi.
Jim also appeared in MC Hammer's video Too Legit to Quit in 1991 (in the extended full-length version). He also hosted a celebration rally for the Chicago Cubs playoff series in Chicago prior to the 2008 World Series.
Personal life
Belushi has been married three times and has three children. He married Sandra Davenport on May 17, 1980 and had a son, Robert (born 1981), with her before they divorced. He married Marjorie Bransfield for a very brief period, from 1990 to 1992. He has been married to Jennifer Sloan since May 2, 1998, with whom he has a daughter, Jamison (born 1999), and a son, Jared (born 2002).
Filmography
Characters on Saturday Night Live
- Hank Rippy (Hello, Trudy!)
- Man on the Street Jesse Donnelly
- That White Guy, a stereotypical Caucasian man who can rap
Celebrity impersonations
Video games
James Belushi starred as the Masked Mutant in the 1997 video game adaptation of the Goosebumps novel "Attack of the Mutant".
External links
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