Joel Edward McHale was born on November 20, 1971, in Rome. He is an actor, comedian, and TV presenter from the United States. You might know him best for hosting The Soup from 2004 to 2015 and playing Jeff Winger in the NBC sitcom Community from 2009 to 2015. Joel has also been in movies like Spider-Man 2 (2004), Spy Kids: All the Time in the World (2011), Ted (2012), and The Happytime Murders (2018).
He’s been part of TV shows like The Great Indoors (2016–2017) and Stargirl (2020–2022). Joel hosted a special aftershow for the Netflix series Tiger King in 2020 and voiced Johnny Cage in the Mortal Kombat Legends movies. He’s also into video games, lending his voice to characters in Lego Dimensions (2015–2017) and Fortnite (2021–present). Currently, he’s starring in the Fox comedy series Animal Control, which started in 2023.
Joel McHale was born in Rome, and his dad worked at Loyola University. He has Irish and Norwegian roots and grew up in Mercer Island, Washington. Joel went to Mercer Island High School and later studied history at the University of Washington. He even played on the university’s football team.
Joel started his career with improv comedy and got a master’s degree in acting. He moved to Los Angeles and appeared in TV shows like Diagnosis: Murder and CSI: Miami. In 2004, he began hosting The Soup, a funny TV show that talked about the week’s weird and funny moments on television.
Aside from hosting, Joel acted in movies like Ted and TV series like Community. He even hosted big events like the White House Correspondents’ Association annual dinner in 2014. In 2018, he had his own talk show on Netflix called The Joel McHale Show with Joel McHale, but it got canceled after 19 episodes.
Joel also hosted the game show Card Sharks for ABC and started a podcast called The Darkest Timeline in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. He continued hosting various shows like Crime Scene Kitchen and House of Villains.
Outside of his career, Joel McHale got married to Sarah Williams in July 1996, and they have two sons. In a podcast interview, he revealed he’s dyslexic. He supports charities like the Children’s Tumor Foundation and has been involved with organizations like DoSomething.org, Elton John AIDS Foundation, and UNICEF. Joel is known for being supportive of the LGBTQ community and has been involved in political campaigns, making a video in support of Joe Biden in 2020.