Kevin Hart

Kevin Darnell Hart, born July 6, 1979, is an American comedian and actor who gained fame after winning several stand-up comedy competitions. His first breakthrough came when Judd Apatow cast him in a recurring role on the TV series Undeclared in 2001. He continued to grow his comedic reputation with the release of his first stand-up album, 'I'm a Grown Little Man' in 2009. He has released four more comedy albums since then. Hart has made appearances in films like Paper Soldiers, Scary Movie 3, Soul Plane, In the Mix, Little Fockers, Think Like a Man, Grudge Match, Ride Along, About Last Night, Get Hard, Central Intelligence, The Secret Life of Pets film franchise, Ride Along 2, Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie, the Jumanji film franchise, and Night School. He also created and starred as a fictionalized version of himself in Real Husbands of Hollywood from 2013 to 2016. He was named among Time magazine's annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2015, and launched the Laugh Out Loud Network in 2017, a subscription video streaming service in partnership with Lionsgate.

In his early life, Kevin was raised in a single-parent household in Philadelphia by his mother, who worked as a systems analyst at the University of Pennsylvania. His father, a cocaine addict, was frequently in and out of jail throughout most of Kevin's childhood. This prompted Kevin to use humor as a way to cope with his troubled family life. Kevin initially aspired to be a basketball player and attended a basketball camp with future NBA hall of famer, Kobe Bryant. After graduating from George Washington High School, Hart briefly attended the Community College of Philadelphia before he moved to New York City and started his career as a shoe salesman. His first stand-up performance did not go well, but he stuck with it, and after entering comedy competitions throughout Massachusetts, he finally found his unique comedic style, delving into his insecurities and life experiences for material