Who is the Oscars 2024 host Jimmy Kimmel? Meet comedian as he prepares to present Academy Awards for a FOURTH time

Jimmy Kimmel is set to host the 96th Academy Awards for the fourth time on Sunday.

The ceremony will be held at the Dolby Theater on March 10, 2024 and will see the late-night talk show host take the reigns again after previously taking on the task in 2017, 2018 and 2023.

Last year the TV host, 56, saw viewership ‘to almost 19 million’ from 16.6 million the year before, when Wanda Sykes, Regina Hall and Amy Schumer host according to New York Times.

In 2021, when the show did not have a host, ratings fell to an all-time low with just 10.4 million viewers.

So who is Jimmy Kimmel and how did he land the coveted gig for the fourth time? Read on to find out more.

Who is Jimmy Kimmel?

Jimmy Kimmel is a television talk show host, television producer, author, and comedian, best known as the host of the late-night television talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live!

He was born in New York City on November 13, 1967.

After his family moved to Las Vegas, Kimmel got his start in radio broadcasting while still in high school and later attended the University of Nevada, Las Vegas for one year and Arizona State University for two years.

Kimmel worked for several radio stations in the following years before landing a role as co-host of the Comedy Central Show Win Ben Stein’s Money in 1997, raising his profile nationally. When he left the television show in 2001, he co-hosted and co-produced The Man Show on the network, while also working to produce other shows such as The Andy Milonakis Show, Sports Show with Norm McDonald and Crank Yankers.

After being hired by ABC, Kimmel debuted his television talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live! in January 2003, which has since become the longest-running late night television talk show in network history.

On his show, Kimmel has often clashed with President Donald Trump politically, congratulating the president for ‘convicting himself’ on Twitter regarding Russia’s alleged meddling in the 2016 US election, while also feuding with the conservative Fox News TV personality . Sean Hannity.

In addition to his politically charged feuds, Kimmel has also found success with a number of recurring segments on his show, including the annual Halloween prank where parents falsely claim to have eaten their children’s candy, as well as segments like Mean Tweets and This Week in Unnecessary Censorship.

During his long career in the entertainment industry, Kimmel has won and been nominated for many notable awards, including Emmy Awards, People’s Choice Awards, Critics’ Choice Awards and many others.

Who is Jimmy Kimmel’s wife?

Jimmy Kimmel has been married to Molly McNearney since 2013.

The couple began dating in 2009 after Jimmy split from his long-term girlfriend, comedian Sarah Silverman, in March of that year.

Kimmel and McNearney married in July 2013 and welcomed daughter Jane in July 2014 and son William in 2017.

McNearney joined the Jimmy Kimmel Live staff in 2003 as an assistant to the executive producer.

She began writing for the show in 2006 before becoming a co-writer in 2008.

McNearney didn’t have a good first impression of her husband-to-be, as she told Glamour: ‘When I first met him, he insulted me! The executive producer brought me into his office and said, “This is Molly; She’s my new assistant.”

#Jimmy barely looked up from his desk before my EP said, “She competes in triathlons,” and then Jimmy looked up at me and said, “That’s really stupid! What a waste of time.”

‘That was probably the first and only thing he said to me the whole first year he worked there.’

Previously, Kimmel was married to Gina Maddy from 1988 to 2002. The couple shares a son, Kevin, born in 1993, Katie, born in 1991,

What is Jimmy Kimmel’s history with the Oscars?

Kimmel has been on stage during some of the Oscars’ most dramatic incidents, including envelope-gate in 2017, when Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway were handed the wrong scorecard.

As a result, the pair announced the award for Best Picture and incorrectly announced La La Land as the winner instead of Moonlight.

Kimmel therefore had to come forward to inform the cast that Moonlight had indeed won, showing the inside of the envelope as proof.

“I knew I was going to screw this up,” Kimmel joked at the time. “I promise never to come back.”

Despite the remark, the star ended up returning as host the following year.

In 2022, after he was selected to host the ceremony in 2023, the father-of-four said that ‘being invited to host the Academy Awards for the third time’ was ‘either a great honor or a trap’.

“Regardless, I’m grateful to the Academy for asking me so soon after all the good ones said no,” he mused.

In addition to having to navigate dwindling ratings, the role became less coveted after comedian Chris Rock was punched on stage by Will Smith during his opening monologue for a joke made at his estranged wife Jada Pinkett Smith’s expense.

Ahead of his latest Oscar hosting gig, he shared The Hollywood Reporter how he would react if someone tried to rush the stage to beat him over a joke.

‘Well, I’m their size and if I’m bigger than they are, I’ll beat the shit out of them on TV. And if it’s the Rock, I’ll run,’ he mused.

He went on to describe the shocking slap as ‘disappointing in many ways’ because it ‘knocked down’ the envelope gate for the second ‘biggest f**k-up’ ever at the Oscars.

‘If you want to be part of f**k-up, it might as well be the biggest f**k-up ever. Being part of the second biggest f**k-up doesn’t carry that much cachet,” he said.

In 2017, Kimmel surprised fans by revealing that he was only paid $15,000 for his first time hosting.

“I think it’s illegal to pay anything,” Kimmel continued KROQ’s Kevin & Bean. ‘I’m not sure I should reveal this. But nobody told me I shouldn’t. I consider this their fault.’