Thomas Jacob "Jack" Black was born on August 28, 1969 in Santa Monica, California to Judith Love Cohen & Thomas William Black, both satellite engineers. He is of Russian Jewish & British-German ancestry. Black attended the University of California at Los Angeles. While at UCLA, he was a member of Tim Robbins' acting troupe & it was through this collaboration that led to his 1992 film debut in Bob Roberts (1992). Although he was just a background voice in his first film, Jack's appearances in such television shows as The X-Files (1993), his breakthrough performance in High Fidelity (2000) & his rock-comedy band, Tenacious D have created an ever-growing cult following. One of the more popular character actors of recent years, Black's acerbic wit and high-energy antics have made him a standard bearer for the Generation X demographic. He became a member of Tim Robbins' Actors Gang, a Los Angeles-based performance troupe that also spawned John Cusack. Black would make his film debut with Robbins and later play opposite Cusack in a highly memorable role.