Kyle Gass

Born: July 14 1960
Where: Walnut Creek, USA

The actor is best known for the role of KG opposite Jack Black in the comedy Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny.

The onetime child star of a 7-Up drink commercial, he has also appeared in the features Cradle Will Rock, Evil Woman and Elf.

Gass, who is of German descent, began playing the flute aged eight and then moved on to the saxophone and guitar by the age of twelve.

After graduating from Las Lomas High School, he enrolled at the University College of Los Angeles, where he met Tim Robbins.

He went on to feature in Robbins' Actor's Gang alongside Jack Black, his future partner-in-crime in the risque rock outfit Tenacious D. (He also taught Black to play guitar).

He made his first appearance in a 7-Up TV commercial and his big screen debut in 1990 as the anaesthetist in the horror film Brain Dead.

Gass went on to star in Adrian Lyne's fantasy horror Jacob's Ladder before debuting as the character Tenacious D in the Blue Velvet spoof Bio-Dome in 1996.

Subsequent big screen appearances included small roles in The Cable Guy, Bong Water and Idle Hands.

In 1999, he re-united with Robbins for the drama Cradle Will Rock and then joined Black (as the character KG) in the TV comedy series Tenacious D.

Minor roles followed on the big screen in Saving Silverman, The Zeros, Evolution and alongside Black in the Farrelly Brothers comedy Shallow Hal.

In 2003, he starred alongside Will Ferrell in the family comedy Elf and followed it up with a steady stream of TV work.

Offscreen, Gass also plays guitar and sings vocals in the band Trainwreck, under the pseudonym Klip Calhoun.

Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny saw Black and Gass forming the eponymous band who launch a hunt for a magic guitar pick housed in a rock'n'roll museum.