Kevin Hart
Kevin Darnell Hart is an American comedian and actor. The accolades he has received include the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor and nominations for two Grammy Awards and four Primetime Emmy Awards.
After winning several stand-up comedy competitions, Hart had his first breakthrough when Judd Apatow cast him in a recurring role on the TV series Undeclared. Hart's comedic reputation continued to grow with the release of his first stand-up album I'm a Grown Little Man. He has since released four more comedy albums: Seriously Funny, Laugh at My Pain, Let Me Explain, and What Now?.
He has since had roles in films such as 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. In 2015, Time magazine named him on its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. In 2017, he launched the Laugh Out Loud Network, a subscription video streaming service in partnership with Lionsgate.
Early life
Kevin Darnell Hart was born in Philadelphia on July 6, 1979, to Nancy Hart and Henry Robert Witherspoon. He has an older brother named Robert. He was raised in a single-parent household by his mother, who worked as a systems analyst for the Office of Student Registration and Financial Services at the University of Pennsylvania. His father was a cocaine addict who was in and out of jail throughout most of Hart's childhood, prompting Hart to use humor as a way to cope with his troubled family life. His relationship with his father improved after his father recovered from his addiction. He would also later talk about his mother in his stand-up routine, portraying her as a loving yet intimidating woman.As a teenager, Hart had aspirations of becoming a basketball player. He was a participant at the La Salle basketball camp with future National Basketball Association hall of famer Kobe Bryant and future political commentator and activist Marc Lamont Hill.
After graduating from George Washington High School, Hart briefly attended the Community College of Philadelphia before dropping out and moving to New York City. He spent some time working as a shoe salesman.
Career
Stand-up
Hart's first stand-up performance took place at The Laff House in his native Philadelphia under the name of Lil Kev, which did not go well. His career suffered a slow start and he was booed offstage several times, once even having a piece of chicken thrown at him. After those initial unsuccessful shows, he began entering comedy competitions throughout Massachusetts, with audience receptions eventually improving. It took time for Hart to develop a unique comedic style. After an early period of attempting to imitate comedians like Chris Tucker, he found his own rhythm by delving into his insecurities and life experiences. He said, "Because of what I do, it has to be an open book. But right now this is a book that is being written."Hart's comedy tours began in 2009 with his act titled I'm a Grown Little Man, followed by Seriously Funny in 2010, Laugh at My Pain in 2011, and Let Me Explain in 2013, the last two of which were also released as features in theaters. Hart grossed over $15 million from "Laugh at My Pain", making it one of the year's top-selling comedy tours. Hart also has a game app available through iTunes called "Little Jumpman". His Facebook page, Twitter account, and YouTube channel are all connected to and accessible through this app. Most overseas fans of Hart discovered him on YouTube, as well.
On April 9, 2015, Hart embarked on a comedy world tour titled the What Now? Tour at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, which concluded on August 7, 2016, at the Columbus Civic Center in Columbus, Georgia. On July 16, 2015, Universal Pictures announced that Kevin Hart: What Now?, a stand-up comedy film featuring a performance of Hart's What Now? Tour, would be theatrically released in the United States on October 14, 2016. The show was filmed live on August 30, 2015, in front of 53,000 people, at Philadelphia's Lincoln Financial Field.
In 2025, Hart performed as a headliner in Saudi Arabia's Riyadh Comedy Festival, an event taking place from September 26th to October 9th. The comedy festival overlaps with the seventh anniversary of the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi, prompting Joey Shea, Saudi Arabia researcher at Human Rights Watch, to say in a statement that the Saudi government is using the comedy festival to whitewash its human rights abuses. Hart has performed in the region before, the first time taking place in January, 2023.
Film and television roles
Hart had a guest appearance in the 2002 sitcom, Undeclared. He made his film debut in the 2002 film Paper Soldiers. Hart then had other film roles such as the Scary Movie franchise, Soul Plane, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Death at a Funeral and Little Fockers. He turned down a role in the 2008 film Tropic Thunder because the character is gay, citing his own "insecurities".He played Doug in the film The Five-Year Engagement and appeared in Think Like a Man which was a box office success. He also appeared in the sequel. He had a cameo as himself in This Is the End. In 2013, Hart played a boxing promoter in Grudge Match and appeared in Exit Strategy as Mannequin Head Man. He also appeared in 35 and Ticking. In 2013, Hart co-created Real Husbands of Hollywood with Chris Spencer. The show follows Hart along with other married celebrities within the series including: Boris Kodjoe, Nelly, Duane Martin, J.B. Smoove, Nick Cannon and Robin Thicke. Thicke did not return for the second season due to his music career, though Hart has stated that the door is open for him to return. The series is filmed in a style similar to Bravo's The Real Housewives. Episodes often hinge on the "real" Hart's desperately unsuccessful attempts to climb Hollywood's celebrity social ladder, and the character's barely-hidden envy of his more successful celebrity friends. A sneak peek was shown as a segment during the 2012 BET Awards and the official promo was released in October 2012.
In 2014, Hart starred as Ben in Ride Along, opposite Ice Cube. The film received generally negative reviews from critics, but was a major box office success. Hart returned in the sequel, Ride Along 2, which was released in 2016. In 2015, Hart starred in the films Get Hard with Will Ferrell and The Wedding Ringer. In 2016, he starred in Central Intelligence with Dwayne Johnson and the animated The Secret Life of Pets. In 2017, he starred in Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie, and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle with Jack Black, Karen Gillan, and reteaming again with Johnson. He earned an estimated $32.5 million in 2017. In 2018, he produced his first film under his production company HartBeat Productions, Night School. In October 2018, his production company announced that he signed a first-look deal with Nickelodeon. Under the deal, Hart and his HartBeat Productions banner will develop and produce live-action, scripted kids content for the network. Hart also has a first-look film deal with Universal Studios. In 2019, Hart's film The Upside, his first headlining role in a drama, was theatrically released. It also starred Bryan Cranston and Nicole Kidman. Hart also reprised his role of Snowball in the sequel The Secret Life of Pets 2, and Franklin Finbar in Jumanji: The Next Level. In 2021, Hart starred in Fatherhood, a drama about a man whose wife dies shortly after childbirth, leaving him to raise their daughter on his own. It premiered on Netflix on June 18, 2021.
In July 2020, his series Die Hart premiered on Quibi on July 20 and had a strong first weekend. In March 2023, Roku and Hart's multi-platform comedy brand Laugh Out Loud debuted the series' second season on The Roku Channel. In addition to returning to his starring role, Hart executive produced the second season; Laugh Out Loud CEO and Hart's longtime business partner, Jeff Clanagan, served as a producer on the project. Hart signed a first look deal with Netflix in January 2021. He later played Arnold Drummond in the Diff'rent Strokes portion of the third edition of Live in Front of a Studio Audience. In 2022, Hart starred alongside Mark Wahlberg in the comedy film, Me Time. The film shows how Sonny experiences a wild journey with his friend after finding a much-longed-for free weekend. In January 2024, Hart starred as a master thief in the Netflix comedy heist film Lift, directed by F. Gary Gray. A month later, he competed in season eleven of The Masked Singer as "Book". He purposely unmasked himself in the season eleven premiere as part of a prank on host Nick Cannon.
Upcoming projects
In 2019, Hart signed on to star in and produce Monopoly., Monopoly is still in development.Laugh Out Loud Productions
In 2017, Hart founded Laugh Out Loud, a global media and production company to provide opportunities for top comedic talent of all ethnicities worldwide. Originally partnered with Lionsgate, Hart became majority owner in 2019 after buying out most of Lionsgate's stake. LOL spans the full range of media channels, including digital, audio, linear and experiential, with four divisions: LOL Network, LOL Studios, LOL Audio and LOL X!Hart has aggressively expanded LOL's reach since its founding, securing partnership deals with PlutoTV, Roku, Snap, Facebook, Peacock, and YouTube. In 2020, he extended his company's agreement with Sirius XM. LOL has won numerous accolades, including nominations and awards from the Producers Guild of America, Critics' Choice Movie Awards, Realscreen, Streamy, and Webby.
Known for content such as Cold As Balls, What the Fit, Die Hart, and more, LOL has amassed more than 1 billion video views across its digital platforms, and has worked with brand partners such as AT&T, Headspace, Lyft, Old Spice, P&G, and Viacom.
LOL and production company Hartbeat Productions merged in April 2022, creating Hartbeat, which includes Hartbeat Studios, Hartbeat Media and Hartbeat Pulse.