Jimmy Kimmel

Kimmel was born in Brooklyn, New York and grew up in the neighborhood of Mill Basin. He is the eldest of three children of Joan (Iacono) and James John Kimmel, who worked at American Express and was an IBM executive.

He was raised Catholic and as a child, was an altar boy. Kimmel's mother is of Italian descent; her grandparents migrated to the United States from Ischia, Naples after the 1883 earthquake. Two of his paternal great-great-grandparents were German immigrants. His family's surname was "Kümmel" ("caraway" in German) several generations back. According to a DNA test, Kimmel is also of partial Albanian descent.

The family moved to Las Vegas when he was nine years old. He graduated from Ed W. Clark High School and attended University of Nevada, Las Vegas for one year before transferring to Arizona State University. He received an honorary degree from UNLV in 2013.

Kimmel's uncle, Frank Potenza ("Uncle Frank"), appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! as a regular from 2003 until his death in 2011. His cousin Sal Iacono performed Kimmel's former co-hosting duties during the last season of Win Ben Stein's Money and then became a writer and sketch performer on Jimmy Kimmel Live! His Aunt Chippy (Concetta Potenza) is also a featured part of the show. His brother Jonathan works on the show as a director. His sister, Jill, is a comedian.