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Jamie Kennedy

Jamie Kennedy built his career with the persistence of someone who learned early that getting noticed could be a performance in itself. Born May 25, 1970, in Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania, he graduated from Monsignor Bonner High School in 1988 and headed into Hollywood as an extra. When agents and commercial work proved hard to land, Kennedy worked at Red Lobster and as a telemarketer before inventing “Marty Power,” a fictional screen agent he used to pitch himself to real industry representatives. That mixture of hustle, comic nerve and self-awareness became central to Kennedy’s screen persona. He came to prominence in the late 1990s as Randy Meeks in the Scream film series, a role that gave his anxious energy and fast delivery a natural home. His work has since moved between film, television, stand-up, voice acting, writing and producing rather than following one tidy path. Kennedy wrote and starred in Malibu’s Most Wanted, then co-wrote the MTV series Blowin’ Up with Stu Stone. Through the production company Wannabe Producers, formed with Josh Etting, he helped produce projects including The Jamie Kennedy Experiment, The Starlet and Living with Fran. The Jamie Kennedy Experiment brought his sketch and character work to television and became the WB Network’s highest-ranking new show in 2002. His television roles have also shown a broader range. Kennedy played psychology professor Eli James on Ghost Whisperer from 2008 to 2010 and made two appearances on Criminal Minds as a serial killer. As a voice actor, he played Kyle in Fanboy & Chum Chum and a recurring character in The Cleveland Show. Kennedy has also been unusually willing to examine the rougher side of being a performer. After the hostile reception to Son of the Mask, in which he played Tim Avery, he hosted the 2008 documentary Heckler, exploring the conflict between stand-up comics and aggressive audiences. It is a fitting subject for a career shaped not only by comedy and acting, but by the determination to keep working through rejection, criticism and changing formats.