Jay Leno

His father, Angelo (1910–1994), was an insurance salesman born in New York to immigrants from Flumeri, Campania, Italy.

Leno grew up in Andover, Massachusetts and graduated from Andover High School.

His homemaker mother, Catherine (née Muir; 1911–1993), was born in Greenock, Scotland, and came to the United States at age 11.

His older brother, Patrick (May 12, 1940 – October 6, 2002), was a Vietnam War veteran who became an attorney.

James Douglas Muir Leno (born April 28, 1950) is an American television host, writer and comedian.

Leno was born April 28, 1950, in New Rochelle, New York.

During the 1970s, he had minor roles in several television series and films, first in the 1976 episode "J.J. in Trouble" of Good Times, and the same year in the pilot of Holmes & Yo-Yo.

He obtained a bachelor's degree in speech therapy from Emerson College in Boston, where he started a comedy club in 1973.

Leno made his first appearance on The Tonight Show on March 2, 1977, performing a comedy routine.

After an uncredited appearance in the 1977 film Fun with Dick and Jane, he played more prominent roles in 1978 in American Hot Wax and Silver Bears.

His other film and television appearances from that period include Almost Heaven (1978), "Going Nowhere" (1979) on One Day at a Time, Americathon (1979), Polyester (1981), "The Wild One" (1981) on Alice, and both "Feminine Mistake" (1979) and "Do the Carmine" (1983) on Laverne & Shirley.

He also appeared on three weeks of the short-lived NBC game show Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour in 1983 and 1984.

Starting in 1986, Leno was a regular substitute host for Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show.

In 1988, he received a contract extension with NBC itself.

His only starring film role was the 1989 direct-to-video Collision Course, with Pat Morita.

He also appeared numerous times on Late Night with David Letterman.

After doing stand-up comedy for years, he became the host of NBC's The Tonight Show from 1992 until 2009 when Conan O'Brien took over as host.

In 1992, he replaced Carson as host amid controversy with David Letterman, who had been hosting Late Night with David Letterman since 1982 (which aired after The Tonight Show), and whom many—including Carson himself—expected to be Carson's successor.

The story of this turbulent transition became the basis of a book and a movie.

Leno continued to perform as a stand-up comedian throughout his Tonight Show tenure.

The July 1995 episode of The Tonight Show which featured an interview with Hugh Grant (who had been arrested for receiving oral sex in a public place from a prostitute) saw Leno rate higher than Letterman for the first time.

In 2004, Leno signed a contract extension with NBC to retain him as host of The Tonight Show until 2009.

Later in 2004, Conan O'Brien signed a contract with NBC to become the show's host in 2009, replacing Leno at that time.

During the 2005 trial of Michael Jackson over allegations of child molestation, Leno was one of a few celebrities who appeared as defense witnesses.

In his testimony regarding a phone conversation with the accuser, Leno testified that he was not asked for any money and there did not appear to be any coaching — but the calls seemed unusual and scripted.

As a result, Leno was initially not allowed to tell jokes about Jackson or the case, which had been a fixture of The Tonight Show's opening monologue in particular.

During the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike, Leno was accused of violating WGA guidelines by writing his own monologue for The Tonight Show.

NBC and Leno claimed there were private meetings with the WGA where a secret agreement was reached allowing this; the WGA denied such meetings.

Beginning in September 2009, Leno started a primetime talk show, The Jay Leno Show, which aired weeknights at 10:00p.m. ET, also on NBC.

Leno answered questions in front of the Writers Guild of America, West trial committee in February 2009 and June 2009, and when the WGAW published its list of strikebreakers on August 11, 2009, Leno was not on it.

On April 23, 2009, Leno checked himself into a hospital with an undisclosed illness.

He was released the following day and returned to work on Monday, April 27.

The two subsequently canceled Tonight Show episodes for April 23 and 24 were his first in 17 years as host.

The illness was not initially disclosed, but Leno later told People magazine that it was for exhaustion.

When O'Brien turned down NBC's offer to have Leno host a half hour monologue show before The Tonight Show to boost ratings amid reported viewership diminishing, it led to the 2010 Tonight Show conflict which resulted in Leno returning to hosting the show on March 1, 2010.

He hosted his last episode of his second tenure on February 6, 2014.

That year, he was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame.

From 2014 to 2022, he hosted Jay Leno's Garage, and from 2021 to 2023, hosted the revival of You Bet Your Life.

Leno writes a regular column in Popular Mechanics showcasing his car collection and giving automotive advice.

He also writes occasional "Motormouth" articles for The Sunday Times.