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Jack Black's Bio
Early life
Born the son of two rocket scientists, his mother, Judith Cohen, is Jewish, and his father, Thomas Black, converted to Judaism after marrying Judith. He was raised in the Jewish religion. In a last-ditch effort to save their failing marriage, his parents briefly joined a polyamorous group, Family Synergy. They divorced when he was ten. Black moved to Culver City with his father and frequently visited his mother’s home until the end of his first year of college at UCLA when his father’s family moved abroad. As a child, Black appeared in an early Atari Pitfall! commercial, which was later shown during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live and again on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.When he entered high school, his parents suggested that he transfer to the Poseidon School, a private secondary school engineered specifically for students struggling in the traditional school system. Black eagerly accepted the proposition, afraid that he would only be bullied if he remained in public school. He also attended the Crossroads School, where he excelled in drama. Black later attended UCLA but dropped out during his sophomore year to pursue a career in the entertainment business, at which point his father discontinued his financial support. Fellow UCLA veteran Tim Robbins later cast Black in Bob Roberts. He also had recurring roles on the HBO sketch comedy series Mr. Show.
Acting career
Black's acting career began primarily with prime time TV. He played roles on several hit shows; such as The Golden Palace (Taxi Driver), Life Goes On (skinhead), The X-Files and Northern Exposure (Kevin Wilkins, prom king). Black later took on small roles in Airborne, Demolition Man, The Cable Guy, Bob Roberts, Mars Attacks!, Waterworld, The Jackal, Bye Bye Love, Dead Man Walking, Enemy of the State, and I Still Know What You Did Last Summer before a breakthrough role as Barry, the pretentious co-worker to John Cusack's record store owner in High Fidelity. His career soon led to leading roles in films such as Shallow Hal, Orange County, School of Rock, and the Academy Award-winning King Kong. Black starred in two films in 2006: Nacho Libre, where he plays a Mexican friar following his childhood dream of wrestling and pursuing true victory by fighting for the children of an orphanage, and Tenacious D in: The Pick of Destiny, a fictionalized account of the band's formation and their quest to obtain a "supranatural" guitar pick ('Supranatural' being on "a whole 'nother level than" supernatural). Nacho Libre opened on June 16, 2006; Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny was released November 22, 2006. He starred alongside Jude Law, Cameron Diaz, and Kate Winslet in The Holiday, in which he plays Miles, the love interest of Winslet's character. He still occasionally makes TV appearances, including the short-lived animated television program Clone High.Jack Black appeared in a Celebrity Deathmatch episode in a match against Jack White. White beat Black.Black has appeared numerous times on the "untelevised TV network" short film festival Channel101, starring in the shows Computerman, Timebelt, and Laserfart. He also provided an introduction for the unaired sketch comedy, Awesometown, donning a colonial-era military uniform. In the introduction, he claims to be George Washington (and takes credit for the accomplishments of other American Presidents such as Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln) and gives viewers a general idea as to what they should expect from the show. Black has also guest starred in the Adult Swim show Tom Goes to the Mayor as a bear trap store owner.Black appeared in a un-aired pilot episode for a show directed by Ben Stiller called Heat Vision and Jack where he played a super-smart ex-astronaut pursued by actor Ron Silver. He was accompanied by his friend who had merged with a motorcycle, voiced by Owen Wilson.In a Season 3 episode of The X-Files, titled "D.P.O.", Black played Bart 'Zero' Liquori, friend to Darren, a teen who could cause lightning strikes, played by Giovanni Ribisi.Black recently hosted the 2006 Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards on April 1, 2006 and the MTV video music awards on August 31, 2006.Jack is also a member of the famous Frat Pack, which also includes Owen Wilson, Luke Wilson, Ben Stiller, Will Ferrell, Vince Vaughn, and Steve Carell.Jack Black has made five appearances on Saturday Night Live: three times as a host, once as a musical guest (with Kyle Gass as Tenacious D), and another appearance with Tenacious D, not as a host or musical guest.On the website for VH1's upcoming internet video show Acceptable.TV, Jack can be seen in various videos, including the three introduction videos on the main site, as well as all of the tutorial videos.
Music career
Black is the lead singer for the rock comedy band Tenacious D. The D owes much of their popularity to Black's unorthodox, humorous lyrics. Tenacious D's fans often cite his skilled satire of hard rock and metal as much as they do the band's musicianship. Black's singing style is often described as being an odd scat type of music. For example, in the song "Wonderboy", one of his lines is "Rrrigga-gyu-gyu Rrrigga-gyu-gyu", an example of his verbalized guitar solo. This type of singing appears in many Tenacious D songs in place of a melodic or ripping guitar sound. Black has dubbed this form of singing the "ventrili-solo". Black has also performed a two-part scat with bandmate Kyle Gass in the song "Tribute".Tenacious D has, so far, released two albums, the self-titled Tenacious D, and the follow up, The Pick of Destiny. The latter coincides with the movie Tenacious D in: The Pick of Destiny. The film, directed by Tenacious D veteran Liam Lynch, is a culmination of the band. It features recurring characters such as Lee the superfan and Sasquatch. Tim Robbins cameos naturally, as does Dave Grohl as Satan. Ben Stiller also makes an appearance as a worker at Guitar Center.Black was also a guest star on a singing-themed episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show "Ellen the Musical", alongside Broadway star Kristin Chenoweth and teenage singer-actress Olivia Olson. On the show, besides singing, he discussed his then-upcoming film Nacho Libre with the host.Jack Black has also appeared on Dave Grohl's Probot album, providing vocals for the hidden song "I Am The Warlock", and Liam Lynch's Fake Songs album, providing vocals for the song "Rock and Roll Whore".Jack Black performed a cover of Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On" in the last sequence of High Fidelity.Jack lent his musical abilities to the Queens of the Stone Age song "Burn the Witch" with rhythmic stomps and claps, some performed with his eyes closed.
Personal life
Black dated actress and comedian Laura Kightlinger from 1997 until 2005. In January 2006, he became engaged to Tanya Haden (daughter of the famous jazz double bassist Charlie Haden). Haden herself is an accomplished cellist. Both attended Crossroads school, but met again, 15 years after graduating, at a friend's birthday party. Black proposed marriage around Christmas time 2005 with a $220,000 Neil Lane ring. On March 14, 2006, in Big Sur, California, they were married. They had a son whom they named Samuel Jason on June 10, 2006.
Kyle Gass Bio
Early life
Gass was born and raised in grayslake, Illinois. Kyle's father, Steve Hrobuchak, turned him on to a guitar player from the 1930s. Hrobuchak also influenced Gass to smoke marijuana because he used it daily. At the age of twelve, he began playing his first instrument, the flute. Soon after, he began playing the saxophone. By the age of fourteen, Gass began playing an old nylon-stringed guitar that was lying around the house and stealing most of his musical ideas from neighbor Curtis Corlew.While appearing on Late Night with Conan O'Brien on November 15, 2006, Gass claimed to have been the youngest graduate of the Juilliard School of Music with a degree in classical guitar studies at the age of thirteen. Earlier, in an article in the Sunday Times on October 29, 2006, Jack Black stated that Gass was the youngest graduate of Juilliard.
Career
Much like his musical career, Kyle's acting career also started at a young age. His first acting gig was a 7Up Gold commercial. Upon graduating from Fox High School in 1979, Kyle went on to attend UCLA. While in UCLA, Kyle met singer Tim Robbins, who recruited him into the Actor's Gang. Kyle soon graduated from UCLA in 1986. In 1984, a sixteen-year-old named Jack Black was one of the new recruits in the Actor's Gang, and it was because of this that the two had met. According to Kyle, he actually did not like Jack a whole lot at first, but the two eventually settled their differences and soon became good friends. Kyle even taught Jack how to play the guitar, and the two soon formed a band, the likes of which had never been seen, and they called themselves Tenacious D.He was also featured in several episodes of the television show Fear of a Punk Planet, which has since been released on DVD. Kyle has also made an appearance in the Good Charlotte video for "Lifestyles of the Rich And Famous" as a lawyer who is questioning a dog.He appeared in an episode of Friends as a hobo, Lowell, a friend of Phoebe's from the streets and in the comedy Elf as a would-be children's author. Gass also made a cameo appearance as a hotdog stand owner in the Seinfeld episode, "The Abstinence".He also appeared on several episodes of the short-lived Judd Apatow TV show, Undeclared, available on DVD.He has appeared with small parts in multiple Jack Black films (Shallow Hal, Saving Silverman, The Cable Guy, etc.) He also has been part of most of Kung Fu Records' movies, Kung Fu Films, which includes Fear of a Punk Planet and Cake Boy.He has also appeared in Jacob's Ladder with Tim Robbins, playing the character of Tony.He has a cameo as a singing karaoke cowboy in the 2007 movie Wild Hogs starring John Travolta, Tim Allen, Martin Lawrence, and William H. Macy. Gass sings a Pussycat Dolls song, in addition to a few others.Gass recently auditioned for a demon part in The Reaper pilot to be directed by Kevin Smith, but wasn't hired to Smith's disappointment.
Trainwreck
Gass also plays guitar and sings vocals in the band Trainwreck, under the pseudonym Klip Calhoun. As of 2005, the band consists of:Klip Calhoun — guitar and vocals Daryl Lee Donald — vocals and percussion Lance Branson — keyboard and vocals John Bartholomew Shredman — electric guitar Boy Johnny — bass and vocals Dallas St Bernard — drums The band started playing live in 2005 and recorded a live album in Los Angeles in 2004 with Gass and John King of the Dust Brothers producing. The album was released in December 2004 through Sony Music. Trainwreck has toured America supporting the Reverend Horton Heat and the Supersuckers.The band is recording its first studio album with King and Gass coproducing. It is also negotiating with television networks to record a pilot TV show.
Why we made this, you ask?
Because Barnsey and Sarah have too much time on their hands and LOVE Tenacious D!