Early life

Kevin James was born Kevin George Knipfing in Mineola, New York, and was raised from a young age in Stony Brook, both on Long Island. He is the second son of Janet, a homemaker who also worked in a chiropractor's office, and Joseph Valentine Knipfing Jr., who owned an insurance agency. He is of German descent. He has a brother, Gary Joseph Knipfing, known as Gary Valentine, who is also a comedian and actor, and one sister, Leslie Knipfing. Leslie works for James and helped raise money through charity events for retinitis pigmentosa, with which she is afflicted. Kevin James was raised Catholic, and stated in 2012 that he is involved in his faith.

James graduated from Ward Melville High School. While there, he reached the number one spot on the wrestling team, just ahead of friend and WWE star Mick Foley. A season ending back injury resulted in Foley taking over the first string position. James, as well as Foley, went on to study at the State University of New York at Cortland, where he played halfback on the varsity football team until another back injury permanently ended his sporting hopes.

Career

James began doing stand-up comedy in 1989, making his debut at the East Side Comedy Club on Long Island, managed by Richie Minervini. He gained popularity through numerous appearances on various talk shows, including The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Late Show with David Letterman, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Dennis Miller Live, The Late Late Show, The Rosie O'Donnell Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and Live with Regis and Kathie Lee. James was listed at #89 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 Greatest Stand-Up Comedians. James has also done his stand-up routine on Just for Laughs, an annual comedy festival in Montreal, Quebec. Later he was on commercials for Mazzio's Italian Eatery. In 2001, James did his own stand-up special called Kevin James: Sweat the Small Stuff. He has also appeared as a musical guest on Just for Laughs.

Television

James' first television job was in 1991 on The New Candid Camera, where he used his comedy timing and improvisation skills playing the actor that pulled the practical jokes on unsuspecting people. James appeared on television as the announcer for the MTV sports game show SandBlast from 1994 to 1996. James later moved to Los Angeles and befriended Ray Romano, and later guest-starred on a few episodes of Romano's hit CBS sitcom, Everybody Loves Raymond. These appearances led to the development of his own sitcom, The King of Queens, which ran on the same network from September 21, 1998 to May 14, 2007. James played the lead as content working class parcel delivery man Doug Heffernan, whose appeal is somewhat of the warm hearted-hijinxing buffoon type, who works for a company known as IPS and is married to Carrie (Leah Remini), a secretary at a Manhattan law firm who is less content with working-class life in Queens as she desires an upper middle class lifestyle. They live with his father-in-law, Arthur (Jerry Stiller). For his work on the eighth season, James was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series in 2006. In 2007, he was the grand marshal for the Pepsi 400, saying "Gentlemen, start your engines". He did it again in June 2010 with friend and fellow actor Adam Sandler to promote Grown Ups, in 2012 at the fall Talladega race to promote Here Comes the Boom and in July 2013 at the Coke-Zero 400 with co-stars Adam Sandler and Shaquille O'Neal .

Film

James made his film debut in the 2005 romantic comedy Hitch, alongside Will Smith and Eva Mendes. In 2006, he co-starred with his Everybody Loves Raymond colleague Ray Romano in the comedy Grilled, and provided voice work in the animated films Monster House and Barnyard. James co-starred with Adam Sandler in the comedies I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (2007), You Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008), and Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2009). In the latter film, his character patrolled the fictional West Orange Pavilion Mall, filmed at the Burlington Mall in Burlington, Massachusetts, on a Segway PT. The film opened as the #1 film in North America with a weekend gross of $39 million, despite overwhelmingly negative reviews, and eventually grossed $219 million from ticket and home video sales. More recently, James appeared in Grown Ups, which co-starred numerous Saturday Night Live alumni and was even more universally panned, yet was highly successful at the box office. In 2011, he had a lead role with Vince Vaughn in the comedy-drama, The Dilemma, and in Zookeeper, which he wrote and produced. In 2012, James had the lead role in the mixed martial arts comedy film Here Comes the Boom. In 2015, James starred in the movie Pixels.

Web

A web series titled Dusty Peacock produced by James and starring his brother Gary Valentine began streaming on Crackle in July 2009.

Award shows

James hosted the 2010 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards on March 27, 2010 and was a nominee into the Arm Fart Hall of Fames of the next year's show as Kevin "Not-Quite-As-Good-As-Me" James; but lost to Josh Duhamel.

Personal life

In 2004, James married actress Steffiana de la Cruz in California. They have four children: daughters Sienna-Marie (b. 2005), Shea Joelle (b. 2007), son Kannon Valentine (b. 2011), and daughter Sistine Sabella (b. 2015). James is the younger brother of comedian Gary Valentine (born Gary Knipfing), who played Doug's cousin Danny Heffernan on King of Queens. He is a close friend of retired MMA fighter Bas Rutten, and trains with him at his school in Thousand Oaks, California. James is also known for being a big sports fan, particularly of the New York Knicks, New York Jets, New York Mets, and New York Islanders, as well as the UFC. James attended high school with former professional wrestler Mick Foley. Both wrestled in high school. James was varsity, while Foley was JV. James, a Catholic, appeared on Catholic-themed channel EWTN's The World Over Live in 2012.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2002	Pinocchio	Mangiafuoco	Voice: English version
2004	50 First Dates	Fireman	Cameo
2005	Hitch	Albert Brennaman	Co-star
2006	Monster House	Officer Landers	Voice
	Grilled	Dave
	Barnyard	Otis the Cow	Voice
2007	I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry	Larry Valentine	Co-star
2008	You Don't Mess with the Zohan	Hacky Sack Tournament Celebrity Judge	Uncredited
2009	Paul Blart: Mall Cop	Paul Blart	Lead role, writer and producer
2010	Grown Ups	Eric Lamonsoff
2011	The Dilemma	Nick Brannen	Co-star
	Zookeeper	Griffin Keyes	Lead role, writer and producer
2012	Hotel Transylvania	Frank	Voice
	Here Comes the Boom	Scott Voss	Lead role, writer and producer
2013	Grown Ups 2	Eric Lamonsoff
2015	Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2	Paul Blart	Lead role, writer and producer
	Little Boy	Dr. Fox
	Pixels	William Cooper	Co-star
	Hotel Transylvania 2	Frank	Voice
2016	The True Memoirs of an International Assassin	Joe	Lead role
TBA	44	Joey Williams	Lead role

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996, 1998-99	Everybody Loves Raymond	Kevin Daniels, Doug Heffernan	8 episodes (1996, 1998-99)
1998-2007	The King of Queens	Doug Heffernan	Lead role; 207 episodes
1998	Cosby	Doug Heffernan	Episode: Judgment Day
1999	Becker		Episode: "Drive, They Said"
	Martial Law	Dallas Hampton	Episode: "Nitro Man"
2001	Arli$$	Kevin	Episode: Like No Business I Know
2007	Elmo's Christmas Countdown	Santa Claus
2015	Liv & Maddie	Mr. Clodfelter	Guest star
2016	Kevin Can Wait	Kevin	Upcoming TV series

Awards and nominations

Golden Raspberry Awards

Year	Recipient/Nominated work	Award	Result	Ref(s)
2007	I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry	Worst Supporting Actor	Nominated
		Worst Screen Couple
2013	Grown Ups 2	Worst Screen Combo	Nominated
2015	Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2	Worst Actor	Nominated
		Worst Picture
		Worst Screenplay
	Pixels	Worst Supporting Actor	Nominated

Primetime Emmy Awards

Year	Recipient/Nominated work	Award	Result	Ref(s)
2006	The King of Queens (Episode: "Pole Lox")	Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series	Nominated

Teen Choice Awards

Year	Recipient/Nominated work	Award	Result	Ref(s)
2005	Hitch	Choice Movie: Dance Scene	Nominated
		Choice Movie: Liplock
2015	Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2	Choice Movie Actor: Comedy	Nominated

Charities

Kevin James supports the following charitable cause: Autism.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]