By Mark Rhoads
Illinois native actor and Chicago Cubs superfan Jim Belushi is currently the star of According to Jim, a situation comedy now in its fifth season on Tuesday nights on ABC-TV. Jim was born in Chicago on June 15, 1954 and grew up in Wheaton. He was the third of four children born to an immigrant from Albania, Adam Belushi, and his wife Agnes who was born in the US and who had Albanian-born parents. His brother was the late comedic actor John Belushi, who was five years older than Jim. Jim was performing on Broadway in a revival of The Pirates of Penzance when he heard about the loss of his brother in March 1982.
Jim Belushi attended Wheaton grade schools and graduated from Wheaton Central High School in 1972. He later said a high school teacher invited him to act in a school play and he liked the odds because far more girls than boys were in the drama program. He took classes at the College of DuPage and earned a B.A. in Speech and Theater Arts at Southern Illinois University in 1976.
From 1976 until 1980, Jim acted as a resident member of the Second City cast in Chicago. He was seen by writer/producer Garry Marshall in 1979 who invited Jim to Hollywood to audition for a TV series pilot. Paramount cast Jim with Michael Keaton in another short-lived TV series called Working Stiffs. In 1983, Jim joined the cast of Saturday Night Live for two years.
Illinois native-playwright David Mahmet of Flossmoor, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his play Glengarry Glen Ross in 1984, also wrote a play called Sexual Perversity in Chicago that won an Obie Award. Jim Belushi starred in the production of that play in the Chicago Apollo Theater. Jim also played the same role in the film version of the Mahmet play, About Last Night in 1986 with Demi Moore, and won solidly favorable critical attention for his performance. The movie laid the foundation for more work and better roles.
Jim has worked in TV and in two plays on Broadway. He is married with three children. Belushi is one of those rare actors who has enjoyed some success in both TV and films. Jim often visits friends and relatives in Illinois and attends Cubs games at Wrigley Field whenever he can.
For a complete list of his movies and TV shows, see the Jim Belushi page on the Internet Movie Data Base.
