James Belushi

Career

From 1977 to 1980 Belushi, like his older brother, John Belushi, worked with the Chicago theater group The Second City. At one point, John called a director at Second City and instructed her that James was not to use any of John's old material. During this period, Belushi made his television debut in the 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). 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 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 (1987), The Principal (1987), Red Heat (1988), Homer and Eddie, K-9 (1989), Dimenticare Palermo (1989), Taking Care of Business (1990), Mr. Destiny (1990), Curly Sue (1991) Wild Palms (1993), Royce (1994), Race the Sun (1996), Retroactive (1997), and Angel's Dance (1999).

His voice work includes The Mighty Ducks, Babes in Toyland, and Hey Arnold!, and the more recent Hoodwinked and The Wild.

On January 4, 2001, Belushi appeared one 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 reemergence in the public eye, and the following year he was cast as the titular role in ABC's According to Jim, which has been panned by critics but has a stable viewer base.

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.

Personal life

Belushi was born in Chicago, Illinois but grew up in nearby Wheaton. He is the third of four children of Adam Belushi, an Albanian immigrant who left his native Qytezi« village in 1934 at the age of 15, and Agnes, who was born in the U.S., and whose parents were also Albanian immigrants. Belushi attended College of DuPage and later Southern Illinois University and earned a degree in Speech and Theater Arts.

Belushi has married three times and has three children. He married his current wife Jennifer Sloan in 1998.

He recently had his first book released, Real Men Don't Apologize.

Belushi often heralds himself as a die-hard fan of the Chicago Cubs and Chicago Bears, however many true fans of those teams doubt Belushi's actual level of knowledge and devotion. It has been said that prior to a live ESPN appearance during a Cubs game in 2003, Belushi was asking fans around him how to pronounce names of prominent Cubs players like Eric Karros.

Trivia

On November 2, 2004 Belushi filed a lawsuit against actress and neighbor Julie Newmar. Belushi claimed that Newmar was trying to drive him from his home by blaring loud music directed at his home, bad-mouthing him to neighbors, and destroying his property. Newmar claimed she was the victim of Belushi and had been suffering for many years, ever since he moved next-door to her. In January 2006, the two announced they have settled their differences out-of-court, and later that year Newmar guest-starred on an episode According to Jim ("The Grumpy Guy") that poked fun at the feud by having Newmar play a neighbor who annoys Belushi's character.

Notes

Pool, Bob. "Fighting Like Cats and Dogs", Los Angeles Times, 2004-11-10, p. B1.
WENN (2006-01-16). Warring Belushi and Newmar Team Up on TV. IMDb Movie/TV News. Retrieved on 2006-07-13.

Jim Belushi also appears in the film Trading Places as a drunk gorilla during a New Year's Eve party.

Recurring Characters on SNL

Hank Rippy (Hello, Trudy!)

man on the street Jesse Donnelly

That White Guy, a stereotypical Caucasian man who can rap

Celebrity Impersonations on SNL

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Babe Ruth

Captain Kangaroo

Hulk Hogan

Joan Collins

Michael Reagan

Pope John Paul II

Rosemary Clooney

Willie Nelson

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Source: Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License