Kevin George Knipfing, known professionally as Kevin James, was born on April 26, 1965, in Mineola, Long Island, New York. His parents, Janet (Klein) and Joseph Valentine Knipfing, Jr., were an office worker and an insurance agency owner, respectively. James was raised in Stony Brook and attended SUNY Cortland, where he played fullback on the football team while majoring in sports management.
After three years, James realized that sports management wasn't the path for him, and he returned home. To break up the monotony of the summer, he joined a community theater, where he discovered his knack for comedy during a play in which he had a comedic role. He then joined his brother Gary Valentine's improv group and began performing stand-up comedy.
James met Ray Romano on the comedy circuit and appeared on Star Search in 1983. He gained recognition on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in 1992 and his big break came at the 1996 "Just for Laughs" Montreal Comedy Festival. He landed a recurring role on Everybody Loves Raymond, starring Ray Romano, and later starred in his own sitcom, The King of Queens, from 1998 to 2007.
James has also had a successful film career, co-starring in Hitch, I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry, Grown Ups, and Grown Ups 2, and headlining Paul Blart: Mall Cop, Zookeeper, Here Comes the Boom, and Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2.
