Jeff Dunham, born Jeffrey “Jeff” Dunham on 18th April 1962 in Dallas, Texas, USA, has been a U.S. comedian and ventriloquist. He has also acted in several TV shows that include Comedy Central Presents, Late Show with David Letterman, Sony With a Chance, and The Tonight Show. He has been called “America’s favourite comedian” by Slate.com, and is said to have revived ventriloquism. By November 2009, the sale of his DVDs crossed 4 million. He has also over 3 million hits on YouTube by October 2009.

Personal Life

He was adopted when he was barely three years old by one Howard Dunham, a real estate appraiser, and his wife, Joyce, a home maker. He had been raised as the only child in an affluent family. He spent his early life in a devout Presbyterian household. He began to learn ventriloquism when he was just eight years old, and performed extensively in the Dallas community. As for his education, he joined Baylor University after finishing high school.

However, he had to discontinue his studies as he had busy schedules of travelling and performing. When he was in the 4th grade, he decided to become a professional ventriloquist. He started practicing ventriloquism for hours together before a mirror. He realised that anyone with normal voice could become a ventriloquist, and it did not require any special skill.

When at sixth grade, he attended Vent Haven ConVENTion in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky. This convention has been an annual international meet of the ventriloquists. It was during this convention that he met Jimmy Nelson, the famous ventriloquist.

He has married Audrey Mudrick who has been a competition bodybuilder, personal trainer and nutritionist. They began dating each other in 2009, and were engaged on 25th December 2011. They, finally, married on 12th October 2012. They have together twin sons namely James Jeffrey and Jack Stevens. Previously, he had married Paige Brown in May 1994, and divorced her in 2008.

Career

He began his career as a ventriloquist at an early age. Then, he appeared for Broadway Show named “Sugar Babies”, and such events as “Westbury Music Fair”. It was in 1988 that he relocated at Los Angeles, and began to act in TV shows. He appeared for the first time in a solo comedy show named “Comedy Central Presents” which was broadcast in 2003 by Comedy Central television network.

Next, he produced his comedy DVD called “Jeff Dunham: Arguing with Myself” which was aired by the Comedy Central in 2006. The show was a grand success which had over 2 million viewers. Another DVD “Spark of Insanity” was released the next year, and it, too, had great success.

On YouTube, it attracted over 140 million hits. Next in 2008, he brought out another DVD called “A Very Special Christmas Special” which was also immensely successful. Later, he acted in his comedies named “Jeff Dunham: Controlled Chaos” in 2011, in “Minding the Monsters” in 2012, and in “All Over the Map” in 2014. As per his biography, his net worth is estimated at $45 million.