James Belushi was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Agnes B. (née Samaras), a first-generation Albanian American who worked as a cashier, and Adam Belushi, an Albanian immigrant and restaurant operator who left his native village, Qytezë, in 1934 at the age of fifteen. After graduating from Wheaton Central High School, Belushi attended the College of Dupage and graduated from Southern Illinois University with a degree in Speech and Theater Arts.
From 1977 to 1980 Belushi, like his older brother, John Belushi, worked with the Chicago theater group The Second City. During this period, Belushi made his television debut in the 1978's Who's Watching the Kids and also had a small part in Brian De Palma's The Fury. His first significant role was in Michael Mann's Thief (1981). After his elder brother John's death, from 1983 to 1985, he appeared on Saturday Night Live; he portrayed characters such as Hank Rippy from "Hello, Trudy!", and "That White Guy". Belushi also appears in the film Trading Places as a drunk man in a gorilla suit during a New Year's Eve party.
Belushi rose to greater prominence with his supporting roles in About Last Night..., Salvador, and Little Shop of Horrors (as Patrick Martin) (all 1986) which opened up opportunities for lead roles. He has starred in films including Real Men (1987), The Principal (1987), Red Heat (1988), Homer and Eddie, K-9 (1989), Dimenticare Palermo (1989), Taking Care of Business (1990), Mr. Destiny (1990), Curly Sue (1991), Wild Palms (1993), Royce (1994), Race the Sun (1996), Retroactive (1997), Gang Related (1997), and Angel's Dance (1999).
His voice work includes The Mighty Ducks, Babes in Toyland, and Hey Arnold!, and the more recent Hoodwinked and The Wild. He also lended his vocal talents for 9: The Last Resort (a PC game released in 1995), in which he portrayed 'Salty' a coarse yet helpful character. On January 4, 2001, Belushi appeared on the ER episode "Piece of Mind". The episode focused on both Dr. Mark Greene's life-or-death brain surgery in New York and Belushi's character, who had been in a car accident with his son in Chicago. Belushi's performance contributed to his reemergence in the public eye, and the following year he was cast as the titular role in ABC's According to Jim. His first animation voice-over was as a pimple on Krum's head in "Ahhhh! Real Monsters" on Nickelodeon. That performance led him to be cast in the continuing role as Simon, the Monster Hunter, in that series where he ad-libbed much of his dialogue.
In 2003, Belushi and Dan Aykroyd released the album Have Love, Will Travel, and participated in an accompanying tour. He also performs at various venues nationwide as Zee Blues in an updated version of The Blues Brothers. He had his first book released, Real Men Don't Apologize, Real Women Don't Sass Back, in May, 2006.
Recently, Belushi was a narrator of an NFL offensive linemen commercial.
Belushi has married three times and has three children. He married Sandra Davenport on May 17, 1980 and had a son, Robert (born 1981), with her. He later married Marjorie Bransfield on September 22, 1990, but divorced in April 1992. He is currently married to Jennifer Sloan, since May 2, 1998. Together they have a daughter, Jamison Bess (born 1999), and son, Jared James (born 2002). Belushi is an Albanian Orthodox Christian.
On November 2, 2004 Belushi filed a lawsuit against actress and neighbor Julie Newmar. Belushi claimed that Newmar was trying to drive him from his home by blaring loud music directed at his house, bad-mouthing him to neighbors, and destroying his property. Newmar claimed she was the victim of Belushi and had been suffering for many years, ever since he moved next door to her. In January 2006, the two announced they had settled their differences out-of-court, and later that year Newmar guest-starred on an episode of According to Jim ("The Grumpy Guy") that poked fun at the feud by having Newmar play a neighbor who annoys Belushi's character.
Belushi is a die hard Chicago Cubs fan and also is a dedicated fan of home town football team the Chicago Bears. Jim has more recently confessed to also being a fan of the Chicago Fire. He drops in for big games at home games of those teams when in his native Chicago. Belushi appeared in Santo's documentary, This Old Cub.
(read less)
