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  Howie Mandel

  as Host

  Howie Mandel

  as Host

  • Actor
  • Character

  Howie Mandel has remained a constant force in show business for over 30 years. This past summer, he embarked on his latest endeavor as a judge on the talent competition series "America's Got Talent" alongside Sharon Osbourne and Piers Morgan. Mandel recently received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Reality/Competition Host for "Deal or No Deal" and a Daytime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Game Show Host for the syndicated version of the show.

  From his work on the Emmy Award-winning "St. Elsewhere" to the international animated children's series "Bobby's World," Mandel has become a mainstay of the American comedy scene. In 2009, he released his frank, funny, no-holds-barred memoir, "Here's the Deal: Don't Touch Me," which revealed his ongoing struggle with OCD and ADHD and how it has shaped his life and career. The book made The New York Times Bestseller List on its first week of release and remained there for several weeks.

  Mandel's career began on a dare during a trip to Los Angeles in 1979. He was at the legendary Comedy Store on amateur night and was coaxed by his friends to get up and try his luck. As fate would have it, there was a producer in the crowd who immediately hired him to appear on the comedy game show "Make Me Laugh." His appearance on the show led to talk show appearances, a stint as Diana Ross' opening act and eventually to the award-winning television series "St. Elsewhere," where he spent six seasons as "Dr. Wayne Fiscus."

  His Emmy Award-nominated animated children series, "Bobby's World," ran for eight seasons on FOX and now appears in syndication six days a week in 65 countries. As the series' creator and executive producer, Mandel was closely involved in the writing, and he provided the voice of Bobby, Bobby's dad and other characters. He attributes the show's success to drawing the story lines from real life.

  Mandel has done countless comedy specials both on cable and network television; has hosted his own syndicated talk show, "The Howie Mandel Show"; and continues to be a mainstay on the talk-show circuit. He frequently appears on "The Tonight Show" to perform his signature hidden-camera bits, and he is one of the first people Regis Philbin calls to fill in for him on "Live with Regis and Kelly." He also continues to perform as many as 200 concerts a year throughout the U.S. and Canada.

  Born in a suburb of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Mike attended the University of Illinois, where he played baseball, drank beer, and (luckily for him) fell under the sway of the enchanting future Mrs. Lisa Reilly. Mike and Lisa met the first week of college, and have been together ever since - with the exception of a brief period in their sophomore year when Mike declared that he needed to "focus on his studies" -that lasted two weeks.

  Mike, a lawyer, likes sports, small-batch bourbon, flat-front khakis and being right - a constant source of amusement to his best friends, Adam and Ethan, because he rarely is.

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