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Drew Carey
School period
Gallery of Drew Carey
Carey attended Rhodes High School and, as a trumpet and a cornet player, he was deeply involved in the marching band.
College/University
Gallery of Drew Carey
Carey enrolled in Kent State University in 1975, joined the Delta Tau Delta Fraternity, and became an avid board-game player. However, Carey had difficulty with focus; he couldn’t decide on a major, and still battled depression. By his junior year, Carey had attempted suicide at least once and had been expelled twice from Kent State. He eventually dropped out of college with the aim of pursuing a career as a stand-up comedian.
Career
Gallery of Drew Carey
Carey in his U.S. Marine Corps uniform, with rank insignia of a Corporal.
Carey enrolled in Kent State University in 1975, joined the Delta Tau Delta Fraternity, and became an avid board-game player. However, Carey had difficulty with focus; he couldn’t decide on a major, and still battled depression. By his junior year, Carey had attempted suicide at least once and had been expelled twice from Kent State. He eventually dropped out of college with the aim of pursuing a career as a stand-up comedian.
(The star of ABC-TV's hit comedy The Drew Carey Show prese...)
The star of ABC-TV's hit comedy The Drew Carey Show presents a collection of vignettes based on the people and places he encountered on the way to fame and speaks back to his show's critics.
Drew Carey is an American television actor, game show host, comedian and sports executive. He came to national attention with his hit sitcom 'The Drew Carey Show' before becoming the host of 'The Price Is Right.'
Background
Drew Allison Carey was born on the 23 of May, 1958 in Cleveland, Ohio to the family of an automotive drafter Lewis and a keypunch operator and secretary Beulah Carey. The youngest of three brothers, Carey became especially withdrawn when his father, a draftsman for General Motors, succumbed to a brain tumor in 1966. As a result, Carey asked for psychiatric care; his mother, who was working multiple jobs to support the family, didn't have time to help him seek out therapy.
Since there was a large age gap between Carey and his older brothers, the solitary, depressed boy was often left to his own devices. When the school day was done, he entertained himself with humor books, recordings of comedians and cartoons, and spent time with friends such as David Lawrence.
Education
Carey attended Rhodes High School and, as a trumpet and a cornet player, he was deeply involved in the marching band.
Carey enrolled in Kent State University in 1975, joined the Delta Tau Delta Fraternity, and became an avid board-game player. However, Carey had difficulty with focus; he couldn’t decide on a major, and still battled depression. By his junior year, Carey had attempted suicide at least once and had been expelled twice from Kent State. He eventually dropped out of college with the aim of pursuing a career as a stand-up comedian.
In 1980, while visiting his brother Neal in San Diego, Carey signed himself up for the Marine Corps Reserve, believing the armed forces would provide the structure he had been craving. During his six-year tenure, Carey developed physically and mentally; gained self-assurance and direction; and paid his own way by working as a waiter and taking on odd jobs. He was so defined by this period of his life that it helped to develop his signature look - a military buzz cut and thick, black, standard-issue glasses - as well as his Libertarian leanings.
In 1986, childhood friend, actor, and radio personality David Lawrence contacted Carey. At the time, Lawrence was a morning radio DJ, and he asked Carey to help him write comedy bits for the show. Carey's contributions to the show buoyed his confidence even further, and with Lawrence's encouragement Carey began to make the rounds on the local comedy circuit. By April, he'd won a competition at the Cleveland Comedy Club and began working as their regular emcee. In the following year, he made two notable appearances on TV talent show, Star Search. Over the next few years, he continued perform as much as possible, often shuttling between Ohio and Los Angeles. His persistence paid off, and in 1991 he bolstered his career with a celebrity-making appearance on The Tonight Show. The audience loved Carey, and his performance earned the respect of host Johnny Carson.
After multiple cable specials and a few small film and television roles, ABC gave Carey his shot at an eponymous sitcom. He was cast as the average, amiable, assistant director of personnel at a department store in Cleveland, Ohio. Filled with everyman humor, a likable ensemble cast, and several forays into musical theater, The Drew Carey Show debuted in 1995. By its second season, it was a ratings favorite.
In 1997, Carey published his autobiography, Dirty Jokes and Beer: Stories of the Unrefined.
The following year, Carey began hosting the American version of the wildly popular British improv show, Whose Line Is It Anyway?, which featured comedic luminaries like Ryan Stiles, Colin Mochrie and Wayne Brady. Carey took members of this talented collective on the road in 2001, billing the group as "The Improv All Stars." In addition to these cabaret performances, his hosting duties, and multiple big-screen appearances, Carey was chosen as the host for the 2002 White House Correspondents Dinner, a prestigious and much-envied post.
When The Drew Carey Show wrapped in 2004, and Carey's tenure with Whose Line Is It Anyway? ended in 2006, the comedian took time to develop a passion for sports photography - specifically, soccer. He didn't stray far from the small screen, however. In 2007, he was tapped to helm the CBS game show, The Power of 10, and handpicked to replace Bob Barker as the host of the long-running The Price is Right.
Drew Carey has made himself a name for himself in stand-up comedy, Carey eventually gained popularity starring in his own sitcom, The Drew Carey Show, and serving as host of the U.S. version of the improv comedy show Whose Line Is It Anyway?, both of which aired on ABC. He is a winner of multiple television awards.
In recent years, Carey has become even more outspoken in his Libertarian views. An active supporter of personal freedoms, including gun rights and the legalization of medical marijuana, Carey is slated to star in multiple videos for the Reason Foundation, a like-minded non-profit group.
Views
Carey is a supporter of libraries, crediting them for beginning his successful comedy career. On May 2, 2000, in a celebrity edition of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, he selected the Ohio Library Foundation to receive his $500,000 winnings. He later went on to win an additional $32,000 on the second celebrity Millionaire, making him one of the biggest winning contestants on Millionaire who did not win the top prize. Carey also has played on the World Poker Tour in the Hollywood Home games for the Cleveland Public Library charity.
Another of Carey's offers to contribute in helping others came in September 2014 when he promised $10,000 to help find the perpetrators of a faked "ice bucket challenge" involving an autistic 14-year-old Ohio boy who, instead of being doused in ice cubes and water, received a shower of feces, urine, tobacco spit, and cigarette butts. Shortly thereafter, celebrities Donnie Wahlberg, Jenny McCarthy and Montel Williams matched Carey's offer.
Quotations:
“I believe the answers to all the problems we face as a society won’t come from Washington, it will come from us. So the way we decide to live and our decisions about what we buy or don’t are much more important than who we vote for.”
Membership
Carey sits as a member of the board of trustees.
Reason Foundation
,
United States
Personality
Drew Carey adopted his crew cut hair style while serving in the United States Marine Corps. Carey resides in Los Angeles and New York City.
Physical Characteristics:
Carey has had refractive surgery to correct his vision and therefore did not really require glasses (any glasses he wore in public were merely props to help the audience recognize him). However, while this was true for several years, on the May 17, 2006 episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! he revealed that when he turned 40, he actually developed a need for bifocals.
After suffering chest pains while filming The Drew Carey Show in August 2001, Carey went to the hospital where he underwent a coronary angioplasty. Although his weight was a comedic topic throughout his sitcom and improv shows, in 2010 he began a diet and exercise plan, resulting in an extensive weight loss (similar to former TPIR announcer Rod Roddy). He also claimed that he cured his Type 2 diabetes.
Interests
Sport & Clubs
U.S. National Soccer Team, Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Cavaliers, Cleveland Indians, Columbus Blue Jackets, FC Barcelona, Rangers, soccer
Connections
Carey is a father figure to Connor, the son of his ex-fiancée Nicole Jaracz from a previous relationship. They have no children together. Nicole and Connor have appeared alongside Carey on The Price Is Right several times. Although he proposed to Jaracz in 2007, the pair never wed as the engagement was called off in January 2012. Carey announced his engagement to family and marriage therapist Amie Harwick in January 2018.
Father:
Lewis Carey
Mother:
Beulah Carey
fiancee:
Amie Harwick
Brother:
Neil Carey
Brother:
Roger Carey
ex-fiancée:
Nicole Jaracz
References
Contemporary Authors, Vol. 166
This volume of Contemporary Authors contains biographical information on approximately 300 modern writers.
