Late-night host and comic Jimmy Fallon was born in New York in 1974. Fallon first started performing stand-up comedy in high school and later dropped out of college to pursue a comedy career.
In 1998, Fallon auditioned for Saturday Night Live. After meeting with co-creator and producer Lorne Michaels, Fallon impressed him with an Adam Sandler impression and joined the SNL cast.
“I had no other plan. I didn’t have friends, I didn’t have a girlfriend, I didn’t have anything going on. I had my career, that was it,” he once said.
During the show, Fallon became known for his impressions of famous people, such as Robert De Niro, John Lennon, and Mick Jagger.
Fallon was on “SNL” from 1998 to 2004. During that time, he co-hosted “Weekend Update” with Tina Fey.
Fallon left SNL to pursue a movie career; his first attempts were the comedy Taxi and the romantic comedy Fever Pitch. Fallon also had parts in Factory Girl and Whip It. However, it wasn’t a real success, so he turned his focus to television.
Around that time, producer Lorne Michaels contacted him about taking over as host of Late Night.
“Would you ever want to do a talk show? I go, ‘I don’t think so. … In six years, ask me, and if I’m around I’ll think about it.’” Years later, Michaels actually followed up with Fallon. “So, I call Lorne, and I go, ‘I’m in. I’d love to do it. He goes, ‘Great. NBC doesn’t really want you. But we have to talk to them.’ I’m not even on their list, by the way,” he said.
At the time, NBC was hesitant to offer him the position because he was still trying to get his career to take off after his days on SNL.
In March 2009, Fallon replaced talk show host Conan O’Brien on NBC’s Late Night. Then in 2013, Fallon became the new host of The Tonight Show, with the show moving its production from Los Angeles to New York.
In June 2018, Fallon faced a heavy backlash over his 2016 interview where he playfully messed up Donald Trump’s hair. “I did not do it to ‘normalize’ him or to say I believe in his political beliefs or any of that stuff,” he said after responding to Trump’s tweet, “Be a man Jimmy!”
Fallon also released two comedy albums, The Bathroom Wall and Blow Your Pants Off, and hosted the MTV Movie Awards, the Emmys and the Golden Globes.
Fallon married Hollywood producer Nancy Juvonen in 2007, and they have two kids. After NBC suspended The Tonight Show because of the coronavirus, Fallon began filming mini episodes from home, with his wife’s help.
“My wife said, ‘We’re all quarantined in the house together; this is the time. You have to put something out there. Let’s do a show from here. I’ll be the camera operator. Winnie will do the graphics, and Franny will do the music. So many charitable causes need money, so it’s a good way to get the word out, ” he said.
Jimmy Fallon continues to host The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on NBC, which is contracted to run through 2028.
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