James Rees, better known under the stage name Jimmy Giggle, is an Australian children's entertainer. Rees is known for the role of Jimmy Giggle on ABC Kids' flagship programGiggle and Hoot – a role he has played since 2009. Rees competed in Network Ten's Dancing with the Stars in 2019, but withdrew from the competition several weeks before the grand finale when one of his twin sons suffered complications during a routine medical procedure.
Personal life
Rees was born in Frankston, Victoria and grew up in Mount Eliza, Victoria and moved to the Central Coast, New South Wales at age 22 to star as "Jimmy Giggle" in the ABC children's programme Giggle and Hoot. Rees married his long term partner Tori in 2013 and they have three sons named Lenny, Mack and Vinny and live in the Central Coast.
Career
Rees has been the host of the Australian ABC children's programme Giggle and Hoot since 2009. In the programme, Jimmy Giggle is shown to enjoy mending objects, although he relies on a "problematic magic button" that never works. He is portrayed as having a brilliant talent in creating new things out of regular items. He also plays several musical instruments in the programme, including the ukulele, double bass, baritone saxophone, piano and guitar. It was reported that Rees beat out 5,000 other actors to win the role, and moved to Central Coast from his home town in Victoria for the role. Rees competed in the 16th season of the Australian version of Dancing with the Stars, partnered with Alexandra Vladimirov. Rees made the top 5 of the contest before having to withdraw due to medical issues with his infant son Mack. During the Dancing with the Stars competition Rees scored best dancer in his renditions of the Foxtrot and Salsa performed to "Hold My Girl" – George Ezra and "I Know You Want Me " – Pitbull respectively, and won the second week of the competition with his rendition of the Jive performed to "Don't Stop Me Now" – Queen. Rees was also a member of the winning team "La La Land" of the group dance with fellow competitors Courtney Act, Jett Kenny and Michelle Bridges. Rees has also starred in a number of pantomimestage productions. He has performed in Bonnie Lythgoe productions including Snow White Winter Family Musical in 2014 and Cinderella in 2016. In July 2019 Rees is scheduled to appeared in a production of Jack and the beanstalk as "Silly Billy", alongside fellow Australian actors Peter Rowsthorn and Luke Joslin. Rees has also made appearance on a number of Australia TV programmes including JuicedTV in 2015 and Whovians in 2017 In 2018, Rees was crowned King of Moomba. In November 2019, Rees announced that he had decided to end his ten-year stint with Giggle and Hoot. He was quoted as saying that he had decided to move on to a different phase of his life. The show's "gruelling schedule", involving shooting for 47 weeks a year, had made it difficult for his growing family of three young children.
