Jimmy Fallon

James Thomas "Jimmy" Fallon (born September 19, 1974) is an American actor, comedian, singer, musician and television host. He currently hosts Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, a late-night talk show that airs on NBC. Prior to that he appeared in several films, and was best known as a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1998 to 2004. On April 3, 2013, NBC announced that Fallon would replace Jay Leno as host of The Tonight Show at the conclusion of the 2014 Winter Olympics. --- Fallon was born in Brooklyn, New York, and is the son of Gloria and James W. Fallon, who is a Vietnam War veteran. His family settled in Saugerties, New York, while his father worked at IBM in nearby Kingston, New York. He is of Irish descent. As a child, he and his older sister, Gloria, would reenact the “clean parts” of Saturday Night Live that his parents had taped for him. Fallon was such a fan that he made a weekly event of watching the show in his dormitory during college. In his teens, he impressed his parents with different impersonations, the first being of James Cagney. He was also musically inclined, and started playing guitar at age 13. He would go on to perform comedy and music in contests and shows. Fallon attended St. Mary of the Snow, a Roman Catholic elementary school in Saugerties, and later graduated from Saugerties High School in 1992. He then attended The College of Saint Rose in Albany, New York. He was a Computer Science major, but switched to Communication in his senior year, dropping out a semester shy of a degree. "I was a Computer Science major. I got out once it got really hard. I made it up to C++. Then I couldn't do the math – it got really confusing. I switched to Communications, which is a ridiculous major – let's be honest," he recalls. On May 9, 2009, Fallon received a B.A. in Communication and an honorary degree from The College of Saint Rose after presenting college officials with his portfolio which satisfied all requisites for his degree. In addition to receiving a BA, Fallon spoke at the school's 86th commencement. That night, he held up his diploma during the closing of Saturday Night Live. Fallon gives credit to troll dolls for his big break. He was given a "troll doll" with a graduation cap in his senior year of high school. His mother heard about an impression contest at Bananas Comedy Club in Poughkeepsie, NY. Fallon came up with a stand-up routine that was a commercial for troll dolls. He would impersonate various celebrities auditioning to be the spokesperson. He won the contest and after college he began to do stand-up tours across the country. When he was in Los Angeles, he took improv classes with The Groundlings. --- Fallon married Nancy Juvonen on December 22, 2007. Juvonen and Drew Barrymore own the production company Flower Films. He has also dated Tara Subkoff and Winona Ryder in the past. Fallon has a dog named Gary Frick, who often appears on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.