Famous talk show host Jay Leno was born James Douglas Muir Leno on April 28, 1950 in New Rochelle, New York. He's been married to wife Mavis Leno since 1980. The couple has no children by mutual agreement.
Leno showed his comedic skills since he was a student in grade school that his teacher once wrote on report card comments, "if Jay spent as much time studying as he does trying to be a comedian, he'd be a big star." Little did the teacher know that Leno would become big star in the future, acting in films and TVs in addition to hosting.
Young Leno began performing stand-up comedy in local night clubs as well as emceeing talent shows after graduating from college. He, additionally, also wrote for the television show "Good Times", a job that paved his ways to appear on "The Tonight Show" in 1977. In late 1980s, he began hosting his first comedy special "Jay Leno and the American Dream" while at the same time made numerous appearances on late-night TV, including "Late Night with David Letterman".
Initially signed by NBC as one of two permanent guest hosts of "The Tonight Show", Leno was picked by the network in 1992 to replace Johnny Carson and thus began hosting "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno". The show turned out to be a smash with growing audience and he remained as its host until 2009. After that he switched to host the primetime talk show "The Jay Leno Show", which unfortunately was canceled in 2010 due to low ratings. He then returned to "The Tonight Show". In early 2013, he announced plans to retire from the show by the time his contract ended in 2014. He was replaced by Jimmy Fallon, to whom he said, "Congratulations, Jimmy. I hope you're as lucky as me and hold on to the job until you're the old guy."