By Michelle Dumas
FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
Thomas Jacob Black (born August 28, 1969) is an American actor, comedian, and musician. He is known for roles in family and comedy films, in addition to his voice work in animated films. His awards include an Emmy Award, a Grammy Award, and nominations for three Golden Globe Awards.
After portraying supporting roles in films including Dead Man Walking (1995), The Cable Guy (1996), Mars Attacks! (1996), and Enemy of the State (1998), Black had his breakout role in the musical film High Fidelity (2000). This led to larger roles in films like Shallow Hal (2001) and Orange County (2002), before he solidified his leading man status with his starring role in School of Rock (2003). He has since starred in King Kong (2005), The Holiday (2006), Nacho Libre (2006), Tropic Thunder (2008), Bernie (2011), Goosebumps (2016), Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017), its sequel Jumanji: The Next Level (2019), and The House with a Clock in Its Walls (2018). He has also voiced Po in the Kung Fu Panda franchise (2008–present) and Bowser in The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023).
Black is the lead vocalist of the band Tenacious D, which he formed in 1994 with long-time friend Kyle Gass. They won the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance for “The Last in Line” in 2015. Since 2018, Black has operated a YouTube channel called Jablinski Games.
TODAY’S ALMANAC
August 28 is the 241st day of the year
125 days remain until the end of the year.
Today is also…..
National Grandparents Day (Mexico)
1023 – Go-Reizei, emperor of Japan (d. 1068)
1749 – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German novelist, poet, playwright, and diplomat (d. 1832)
1774 – Elizabeth Ann Seton, American nun and saint, co-founded the Sisters of Charity Federation in the Vincentian-Setonian Tradition (d. 1821)
1903 – Bruno Bettelheim, Austrian-American psychologist and author (d. 1990)
1913 – Richard Tucker, American tenor and actor (d. 1975)
1915 – Tasha Tudor, American author and illustrator (d. 2008)
1916 – Jack Vance, American author (d. 2013)
1917 – Jack Kirby, American author and illustrator (d. 1994)
1921 – Nancy Kulp, American actress and soldier (d. 1991)
1928 – Vilayat Khan, Indian sitar player and composer (d. 2004)
1930 – Ben Gazzara, American actor (d. 2012)
1940 (Bhe-kiz-iz-we) Joseph Shaba-lala, South African singer, songwriter, founder and musical director of Ladysmith Black Mambazo, born in Ladysmith, South Africa (d. 2020)
1943 – Robert Greenwald, American director and producer
1943 – David Soul, American actor and singer (d. 2024
1957 – Daniel Stern, American actor and director
1958 – Scott Hamilton, American figure skater
1961 – Kim Appleby, English singer-songwriter and actress
1965 – Shania Twain, Canadian singer-songwriter
1969 – Jack Black, American actor and comedian
1982 – LeAnn Rimes, American singer-songwriter and actress
2003 – Quvenzhané Wallis, American actress
(Quah-Venn-Zsa-Neigh)
Also on this day in history
1830 – The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad‘s new Tom Thumb steam locomotive races a horse-drawn car, presaging steam’s role in U.S. railroads.
1833 – The Slavery Abolition Act 1833 receives royal assent, making the purchase or ownership of slaves illegal in the British Empire with exceptions.
1845 – The first issue of Scientific American magazine is published.
1850 – Richard Wagner’s Lohengrin premieres at the Staatskapelle Weimar.
1898 – Caleb Bradham‘s beverage “Brad’s Drink” is renamed “Pepsi-Cola“.
1917 – Ten suffragists, members of the Silent Sentinels, are arrested while picketing the White House in favor of women’s suffrage in the United States.
1937 – Toyota Motors becomes an independent company.
1955 – Black teenager Emmett Till is lynched in Mississippi for whistling at a white woman, galvanizing the nascent civil rights movement.
1963 – March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom: Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gives his I Have a Dream speech.
1968 – Police and protesters clash during 1968 Democratic National Convention protests as protesters chant “The whole world is watching“.
COURTESY WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
