When Kennedy first arrived in Los Angeles, he became a professional Hollywood extra.
After a few years of struggling, Kennedy was unable to find an agent and worked as a host at Red Lobster. He auditioned for over 80 commercials and could not book one. He then took a job as a telemarketer and learned that he had a talent for selling things. Kennedy then thought that if he could sell anything, "why not sell myself?", becoming his own agent.[citation needed]
Kennedy created a false persona, screen agent "Marty Power", to attract the attention of real agents and managers over the phone, who would later book his performances. He came to prominence in the late 1990s for playing Randy Meeks in the Scream film series.[4] His lead role as Tim Avery in Son of the Mask earned him a Golden Raspberry Award nomination for Worst Actor, he would later voice his experiences with the film on his YouTube channel years after the film's release.[5] The film would also go on to inspire Kennedy to host the 2007 documentary Heckler after feeling hurt by the film's poor reception in which some reviewers attacked him personally.
Kennedy lent his voice to the videogame ESPN NFL 2K5 as a celebrity adversary with his own football team, the Upper Darby Cheesesteaks. He is also unlockable as a free agent tight end in season mode. His stint as Activision's emcee at Electronic Entertainment Expo 2007, however, drew much criticism not only for his ignorance of the industry, but also for appearing to perform drunk as he insulted the audience.[6] In a video uploaded to YouTube on June 14, 2021, Kennedy claimed that Activision had scrapped his script at the last minute and he was ad-libbing his jokes while suffering from burnout.[7]
While working on his film Malibu's Most Wanted, Kennedy wrote an autobiography titled, Wannabe: A Hollywood Experiment. The book chronicles his life in Hollywood as he attempts to become a star. It gives background on his life and family and quickly dives into his adventures. It tells of such things as Kennedy's living conditions in the Hollywood slums, his dilapidated car, and his kidney issues.[citation needed]
A performer of stand-up comedy, he is also known for his sketch performances on his television reality show, The Jamie Kennedy Experiment, which became the WB Network's highest-ranking new show in 2002, but which was cancelled in April 2004 due to falling viewership.[8] In 2006, Jizzy Entertainment released Unwashed: The Stand-Up Special. In 2008, Kennedy released the documentary Heckler, about the plight of stand-up comics versus their often-aggressive audiences.[9] In 2007 and 2017, he made two appearances in Criminal Minds as a cannibal satanist serial killer.
From 2008 to 2010, Kennedy played psychology professor Eli James in the CBS drama Ghost Whisperer. From 2009 to 2013, he was in the TV series, The Cleveland Show, playing Roberta Tubbs' boyfriend.[10]
He also stars in Nicktoons' Fanboy & Chum Chum as Kyle, an insecure boy wizard who loathes the fun-loving Fanboy and Chum Chum, but who secretly yearns for their friendship. In April 2010, sources reported that Kennedy would very likely return to the Scream franchise to star in the fourth installment;[11] however, according to Scream screenwriter Kevin Williamson, plans were never made for him to rejoin the franchise, attributing the misinformation to a fabrication by Kennedy.[12]
Kennedy in 2012
On December 31, 2012, Kennedy hosted and produced First Night 2013 with Jamie Kennedy, a New Year's Eve television special widely considered one of the worst shows of all time. His film Lost & Found in Armenia, in which he plays an American tourist who ends up in an Armenian village, accused of being a Turkish spy, later opened to select theatres on June 7, 2013. His film Buddy Hutchins, in which Kennedy plays a down-on-his-luck recovering alcoholic, was released in 2015.[13] In 2015, he portrayed Frump in the Colton Tran adventure mystery film Gloom and Beach Patrolman Alex in Allegra Pictures' horror film The Sand.[14] In 2015, he also starred as Travis Welker in Tremors 5: Bloodlines[15] and as Rob in Rivers 9.[16]
Kennedy played NARAL Pro-Choice America founder Larry Lader in the 2020 film Roe v. Wade, which stars a predominantly conservativeensemble cast.[17] In an interview with The Daily Beast, which noted the film depicts Lader as "a shady figure pulling strings from behind the scenes who treats abortions as a money-making operation," Kennedy said he personally supports abortion rights and appeared in the film to perform in a dramatic role that he is not normally offered, and that, "it’s also not fair for people to think that because I’m in a project with them that I’m like that, or that I believe in this stuff."[18]
