Jim Belushi

James Adam Belushi was born on June 15, 1954, in Wheaton, Illinois, to Adam Anastos Belushi, an Albanian immigrant from Qytezë, Korçë, and Agnes Demetri Samaras, who was born in Ohio to ethnic Albanian parents also from Korçë. He grew up in Wheaton alongside three siblings: older brother John, older sister Marian, and younger brother Billy. After completing his secondary education at Wheaton Central High School in 1972, Belushi enrolled at the College of DuPage before transferring to Southern Illinois University Carbondale, where he earned a bachelor's degree in Speech and Theater Arts in 1978. He is the younger brother of the late comedian John Belushi and the father of actor Robert Belushi.

Belushi began his professional performance career between 1977 and 1980 with The Second City theater group in Chicago, the same ensemble his brother John had worked with. His television debut came in 1978 on Who's Watching the Kids, and he also appeared in a small role in Brian De Palma's The Fury that same year. His first significant film credit was in Michael Mann's Thief in 1981. Following his brother John's death, Belushi joined the cast of Saturday Night Live, where he appeared as a featured player from 1983 to 1985, portraying characters including Hank Rippy and Man on the Street Jesse Donnelly.

His film career expanded through the mid-1980s with supporting roles in The Man with One Red Shoe (1985), Salvador (1986), and Little Shop of Horrors (1986), in which he played Patrick Martin. Lead roles followed in productions including Red Heat (1988), K-9 (1989), and Taking Care of Business (1990). Additional film credits span several decades and include Trading Places (1983), Destiny Turns on the Radio (1995), Angel's Dance (1999), Joe Somebody (2001), Underdog (2007), The Ghost Writer (2010), Wonder Wheel (2017), and Song Sung Blue (2025). Belushi also contributed voice performances to animated projects including The Mighty Ducks, The Pebble and the Penguin, Gargoyles, Hey Arnold!, and Hoodwinked, among others.

On television, Belushi's profile rose considerably when he appeared in a January 2001 episode of ER titled "Piece of Mind," playing a man involved in a car accident with his son in Chicago. That performance contributed to his casting the following year as the title character in ABC's According to Jim, a sitcom that ran from 2001 to 2009. He later appeared in Good Girls Revolt in 2015 and 2016, and in 2010 was cast in the CBS legal drama The Defenders, which premiered on September 22, 2010, and was canceled on May 15, 2011.

Belushi's Broadway career spans from 1981 to 2011. His stage credits include The Pirates of Penzance, Conversations With My Father, and Born Yesterday, in which he played corrupt businessman Harry Brock. Born Yesterday opened on Broadway in late April 2011. In 2003, Belushi and Dan Aykroyd released the album Have Love, Will Travel and undertook an accompanying tour. Belushi also performs as Zee Blues in an updated version of The Blues Brothers at venues across the country.

Outside of performance, Belushi published his first book, Real Men Don't Apologize, in May 2006. He has been married three times: to Sandra Davenport, whom he married on May 17, 1980, and divorced in 1988; to actress Marjorie Bransfield from 1990 to 1992; and to Jennifer Sloan, whom he married on May 2, 1998. He and Sloan share a daughter and a son. Sloan filed for divorce in March 2018, the two later reconciled, and Belushi filed for divorce from Sloan in 2021. His son Robert James was born on October 23, 1980.

Belushi maintains a strong connection to his Albanian heritage and received honorary Albanian citizenship along with the Honor of the Nation decoration from Albanian President Bamir Topi in 2008. He is Eastern Orthodox Christian. In 2015, he built a home in Eagle Point, Oregon, where he grows cannabis on a property that had expanded to 93 acres by 2018. Beginning in August 2020, the Discovery Channel aired a series about his Oregon cannabis farm titled Growing Belushi. He has also been involved in fundraising efforts in Southern Oregon, including the planned rebuilding of the Butte Creek Mill and the restoration of the Holly Theatre in Medford.