Dane Cook

He lost his mother, Donna, to cancer in 2006 and father, George, a year later, also to cancer.

Dane Cook was born on March 18, 1972, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Donna Jean and George F. Cook. He along with his elder half-brother, Darryl and five sisters was brought up as Roman Catholics in Arlington, Massachusetts.

After graduating from Arlington High School where he overcame shyness by doing standup comedy, he went to college and studied graphic design, but was keen on taking up comedy as a career.

Dane Cook shifted to New York City and then to Los Angeles and started performing there. His career kick started in 1998, with his appearance on Comedy Central's ‘Premium Blend’.

In 2003, he signed a contract with Comedy Central, and soon released his first CD/DVD, ‘Harmful If Swallowed’, which contains his appearances on Comedy Central Presents, Comics Come Home 5, and Premium Blend.

‘Retaliation’, his second DVD/CD was released in 2005 which garnered great appreciation from the audience and was certified double platinum.

In 2005, ‘Vicious Circle’, a live standup comedy special, written, produced and performed by the comedian was aired by HBO and later released on DVD.

He shot two pilot episodes for his sitcom, ‘Cooked’, in 2005, but the project did not find any takers. The two completed episodes were eventually released on DVD as ‘The Lost Pilot Episodes’.

Dane Cook’s second album, ‘Retaliation’, released by ‘Comedy Central Records’ in 2005, peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard charts, went double platinum and sold 1,264,748 copies in the US alone.

His fourth album, ‘Isolated Incident’, was aired on Comedy Central in May 2009, and then released as CD. The new album did exceedingly well, and debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200.