Jesse Ventura

Jesse Ventura (born James George Janos; July 15, 1951) is an American politician, actor, and retired professional wrestler.

Ventura was born James George Janos on July 15, 1951, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the son of George William Janos and his wife, Bernice Martha (née Lenz).

Both his parents were World War II veterans.

His mother was a nurse and father worked for the Minneapolis Street Department.

Ventura has an older brother who served in the Vietnam War.

Ventura has described himself as Slovak since his father's parents were from Slovakia; his mother was of German descent.

Ventura was raised as a Lutheran.

Born in South Minneapolis "by the Lake Street bridge", he attended Cooper Elementary School, Sanford Junior High School, and graduated from Roosevelt High School in 1969.

Ventura served in the United States Navy from December 1, 1969, to September 10, 1975, during the Vietnam War, but did not see combat.

He graduated in BUD/S class 58 in December 1970 and was part of Underwater Demolition Team 12.

Ventura has frequently referred to his military career in public statements and debates.

In the fall of 1974, Ventura left the bike club to return to the Twin Cities.

Shortly after that, the Mongols entered into open warfare with their biker rivals, the Hells Angels.

After leaving the military, he embarked on a professional wrestling career from 1975 to 1986, taking the ring name "Jesse 'the Body' Ventura".

Ventura entered politics in 1991 when he was elected mayor of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, a position he held until 1995.

He was the Reform Party candidate in the 1998 Minnesota gubernatorial election, running a low-budget campaign centered on grassroots events and unusual ads that urged citizens not to "vote for politics as usual".

In a major upset, Ventura defeated both the Democratic and Republican nominees.

Amid internal fights for control over the party, Ventura left the Reform Party a year after taking office and served the remainder of his term as governor as a member of the Independence Party of Minnesota.

Since holding public office, Ventura has called himself a "statesman" rather than a politician.

As governor, Ventura oversaw reforms of Minnesota's property tax as well as the state's first sales tax rebate.

Other initiatives he took included construction of the METRO Blue Line light rail in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area and income tax cuts.

Ventura did not run for reelection.

After achieving fame in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE), he served as the 38th governor of Minnesota from 1999 to 2003.

He was elected governor with the Reform Party and is the party's only candidate to win a major government office.

Ventura was a member of the United States Navy Underwater Demolition Team during the Vietnam War.

He was criticized by hunters and conservationists for saying in a 2001 interview with the Minneapolis Star Tribune, "Until you have hunted men, you haven't hunted yet."

Near the end of his Navy service, Ventura began to spend time with the "South Bay" chapter of the Mongols Motorcycle Club in San Diego.

He would ride onto Naval Base Coronado on his Harley-Davidson wearing his Mongol "colors".

According to Ventura, he was a "full-patch" member of the club and third-in-command of his chapter, but never had any problems with the authorities.

His biker nickname was "Superman".

After leaving office in 2003, he became a visiting fellow at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.

He has since hosted a number of political television shows on RT America and Ora TV, and written several books.

Ventura has been a prominent figure in third-party politics, having repeatedly floated the idea of running for President of the United States as an independent candidate.

He had a lengthy tenure in the WWF/WWE as a performer and color commentator and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2004.

In addition to wrestling, Ventura pursued an acting career, appearing in films such as Predator and The Running Man.

Roosevelt High School inducted Ventura into its first hall of fame in September 2014.

In late April 2020, Ventura endorsed the Green Party in the 2020 presidential election and showed interest in running for its nomination.

He officially joined the Green Party of Minnesota on May 2.

On May 7, he confirmed he would not run.

The Alaskan division of the Green Party nominated Ventura without his involvement, causing the national party to disown it for abandoning its nominee, Howie Hawkins.