Jack Black

Born: April 7 1969
Where: Santa Monica, California, USA

The wild features of the actor, musician, writer and comedian have added spark to a welter of movies including High Fidelity, The School of Rock and King Kong.

Off-screen, his rock band and stand-up routine Tenacious D got the cinema treatment in The Pick of Destiny.

While he was a student at the University of California in LA, Black joined Tim Robbins' acting troupe.

He got his professional start on the stage, appearing in Robbins' production of Carnage at the 1989 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

He collaborated with Robbins again in the political satire, Bob Roberts and later in the 90s with Dead Man Walking and Cradle Will Rock.

Black's prolific small screen work includes guest stints on series such as The X-Files, Picket Fences, The Single Guy, and Touched By an Angel.

While television work kept him busy, it was film work that launched his career with well chosen character parts.

Cameos in Demolition Man, Bye Bye, Love, and Waterworld, helped pave the way for bigger roles in 1996 like The Cable Guy, The Fan, and Mars Attacks!

In 2000, Black had one of his most enthusiastically received screen roles when he played a dorkish record shop assistant in High Fidelity.

The part allowed him to do some of his own singing, a talent that he had exercised during his years with the band Tenacious D.

Black inked his first major deal in 2000, signing on to star with Jason Biggs and Steve Zahn in the offbeat comedy Evil Woman for a reported $1m.

The film was released in the US in 2001 to mixed reviews, but Black's performance and his onscreen rapport with Zahn helped to keep the comedy afloat.

He starred opposite Gwyneth Paltrow in the "fattist" Farrelly brothers comedy Shallow Hal and impressed as the manic brother in the enjoyable Orange County.

Black provided the voice of Zeke in Ice Age and played a teacher who encourages his class to rock in the hit The School of Rock.

In 2003, he starred opposite Ben Stiller in Envy and playing reluctant shark, Lenny, in Shark Tale the following year.

He subsequently shone in the role of slippery film director Carl Denham in Peter Jackson's £130m remake of King Kong.

In 2006, he starred as a slacker musician in Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny and appeared alongside Jude Law and Kate Winslet in the rom-com The Holiday.

Black played a likeable video store worker in the amiable comedy Be King Rewind and also voiced the martial arts cartoon outing Kung Fu Panda.