Kevin James

Kevin James (birthname: Kevin George Knipfing) has been a fixture in movie and television comedy since his breakthrough TV roles on Everybody Loves Raymond (1996, 1998-1999) and the lead role for CBS’ long-running hit sitcom, The King of Queens (1998-2007), and gradually shifted into big-screen acting with, first, a voice role in the English-language version of director/co-writer/star Robert Benigni’s version of Pinocchio (2002), with fellow voice actors Breckin Meyer, Glenn Close, Eric Idle, David Suchet, John Cleese, Eddie Griffin, Cheech Marin, Topher Grace and Queen Latifah, followed by a small supporting appearance in the Adam Sandler-starring rom com co-starring Drew Barrymore, 50 First Dates (2004), directed by Peter Segal. James had his first major supporting role in the Will Smith-starring rom-com, Hitch (2005), with Eva Mendes, Amber Valletta, Michael Rapaport, and Adam Arkin under Andy Tennant’s direction, which grossed a knockout $371.6 million global gross for Columbia Pictures/Sony Pictures Releasing.

James performed a voice and motion capture role in the animated horror comedy, Monster House (2006), with the voice cast of Steve Buscemi, Nick Cannon, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jon Heder, Jason Lee, Catherine O’Hara, Katherine Turner and Fred Willard under Gil Kenan’s direction, grossing a solid $142 million for Columbia Pictures/Relativity Media/Amblin Entertainment/Sony Pictures Releasing. James delivered another voice role in the lead role of director/writer/producer Steve Oedekerk’s animated comedy for Nickelodeon Movies, Barnyard (2006), with Courteney Cox, Sam Elliott, Danny Glover, Wanda Sykes, Andie MacDowell, and David Koechner, and which delivered a fine $119 million box office return for distributor Paramount Pictures.

Kevin James, as he was winding down his long stint for King of Queens, began to star in big-screen movies, such as I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry (2007), in which he was above-the-title with Adam Sandler (who also produced), with Jessica Biel, Ving Rhames, Steve Buscemi and Dan Aykroyd under Dennis Dugan’s direction, grossing a good $187 million return for Universal Pictures. James was the star/co-writer/producer of his hit comedy series as Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2009), directed by Steve Carr, and the sequel directed by Andy Fickman, Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 (2015), grossing a highly profitable cumulative $290 million gross for lead producers Columbia Pictures and Happy Madison Productions and distributor Sony Pictures Releasing.

Kevin James continued his comedy collaborations with star/co-writer/producer Adam Sandler for the hit comedy series, Grown Ups (2010) and Grown Ups 2 (2013), both directed by Dennis Dugan and co-starring Chris Rock, David Spade, Rob Schneider, Salma Hayek, Maria Bello and Maya Rudolph, and grossing an excellent cumulative $519 global gross for Columbia Pictures/Happy Madison Productions/Sony Pictures Releasing. James broke his string of hits with director/producer Ron Howard’s comedy-drama, co-starring Vince Vaughn, The Dilemma (2011), with Jennifer Connelly, Winona Ryder, Channing Tatum, and Queen Latifah, earning a poor (against estimated costs) $69.7 million for Universal Pictures.

James was co-star/writer/producer of two consecutive comedy movies directed by Frank Coraci and produced via Columbia Pictures and Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison Productions and distributor Sony Pictures Releasing-- Zookeeper (2011), with Rosario Dawson and Leslie Bibb, and grossing a good $170 million, and Here Comes the Boom (2012), with Salma Hayek, Henry Winkler and Joe Rogan, earning a mild $73 million global gross. James’s next franchise series had him performing the voice role of Frankenstein in Columbia Pictures/Sony Pictures Animation’s hits Hotel Transylvania (2012) Hotel Transylvania 2 (2012) Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation (2018), with the voices of Sandler, Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez, Fran Drescher, Steve Buscemi, Molly Shannon, David Spade and CeeLo Green under Gennady Tartakovsky’s direction, and scoring a terrific cumulative gross of $1.36 billion.

Kevin James appeared in one of his few dramatic supporting roles in director/co-writer/producer Alejandro Monteverde’s American Mexican WWII movie, Little Boy (2015), starring Emily Watson, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Michael Rapaport, Ben Chaplin,n and Tom Wilkinson, grossing $17.7 million for distributors Open Road Films (U.S.)/Videocine (Mexico). James then reunited with star-producer Adam Sandler for the Chris Columbus-directed sci-fi action comedy, Pixels (2015), co-starring Michelle Monaghan, Peter Dinklage, Josh Gad, Brian Cox, Sean Bean, and Jane Krakowski, with lead producers Columbia Pictures and Happy Madison Productions, and released by Sony Pictures Releasing to a tune of $245 million.

James portrayed a neo-Nazi in the indie thriller, Becky (2020), co-starring Lulu Wilson and Joel McHale under the co-direction of Jonathan Milott and Cary Murnion, and released by Quiver Distribution. James’s next movie appearance was four years later in the indie horror-adventure, Monster Summer (2024), starring Mason Thames, Lorraine Bracco, Mel Gibson, Julian Lerner, Abby James Witherspoon, and Noah Cottrell under David Henrie’s direction, and released by Pastime Pictures.

Kevin James starred as an ex-cop turned mob enforcer in director/writer/producer Edward Drake’s action comedy, Guns Up (2025), with Christina Ricci, Maximilian Osinski, Luis Guzman, and Melissa Leo, and released to very little business by Vertical, and the.n
James starred in and co-wrote the inindie-comedySolo Mio (2026), with Alyson Hannigan, Nicole Grimaudo, and Kim Coates under the co-direction of Chuck and Dan Kinnane and released widwidely Angel Studios.