Nicholas Scott "Nick" Cannon (born October 8, 1980) was the host of Season 4, Season 5, Season 6, Season 7, Season 8, Season 9, Season 10, and Season 11 of America's Got Talent.
Background[]
Chosen by People magazine as one of the Top 10 Most Successful Young People in Hollywood, by Black Enterprise for their 40 Under 40 list and featured on the covers of magazines such as Complex, the 35- year-old Cannon is a successful, multi-faceted entertainer: film star, comedian, TV and radio host, musician, writer, director, executive producer and philanthropist.
A San Diego native, Cannon began performing at age eight after his grandfather left him several instruments as a gift. Through what Cannon recalls as "a lot of trial and failure," he recorded his first song at home on his boom box. Shortly after, Cannon took the stage to perform his music along with stand-up comedy. Cannon headed for Hollywood at age 15 and landed gigs at world-renowned comedy venues, including the Improv, Laugh Factory and Comedy Store. He went on to share the stage with the likes of Chris Tucker, Dave Chappelle and Chris Rock before landing his first television gig as an audience warm-up for the long-running Nickelodeon hit show "All That."
Producers quickly recognized Cannon's calling was in front of the camera, and he became a regular on the show as well as a writer, making him the youngest staff writer in television history at age 17. This path culminated in the creation of "The Nick Cannon Show," in which he starred, directed and executive produced, earning him his first Kids Choice Award.
While he enjoyed tremendous success on Nickelodeon, Cannon's career catapulted on to the big screen when he made an appearance alongside Will Smith in "Men in Black II" before landing a leading role in the feature film "Drumline." In 2005, MTV debuted "Nick Cannon Presents: Wild 'N Out," an improv comedy show with musical performances that Cannon created, produced and hosted, which eventually became one of MTV's highest-rated shows in the network's history, airing new episodes for four consecutive seasons. Due to popular demand, Cannon brought the hit show back with a new cast of talent, which premiered in 2013 on MTV2. Now in its sixth season, "Wild 'N Out" has ranked as the highest-rated series in MTV2 history.
In 2006, Cannon was featured in the Emilio Estevez film "Bobby," which earned him a 2007 SAG Award nomination and made him the first African-American actor to be honored at the world-renowned Cannes Film Festival with the Breakthrough Actor of the Year Award.
Returning to his roots as a stand-up comedian, Cannon produced his own Showtime stand-up comedy special, "Mr. Showbiz," in 2011. In the same year, Cannon also starred on the Lorne Michaels-produced NBC scripted comedy show "Up All Night," earning a 2012 NAACP Image Award. Cannon most recently joined the Golden Globe-winning series "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" in a recurring role.
When he is not in front of the camera or a live audience, Cannon is busy running his highly successful ulti-media company, Ncredible Entertainment, producing TV and film projects including Nickelodeon's annual "HALO Awards," "TeenNick Top 10," new series "React to That" and "Wild 'N Out." He also has projects at Syfy, Oxygen, MTV2 and Sundance Channel in various stages of production.
On the film side, Cannon most recently wrote, directed and produced his first studio film, "School Dance" for Lionsgate in 2014. Cannon and Ncredible also produced the sequel to "Drumline," titled "Drumline: A New Beat," which aired on VH1 in 2014 to 2.4 million viewers. He also inked a multi-year first-look production deal with NBCUniversal to develop scripted and unscripted fare. Cannon and Ncredible are currently in production on the reboot of "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" for 2015 on NBC.
Noted by The New York Times as "one of the most recognizable personalities in teen media," Cannon also actively serves as the CEO of teen magazine Celebrity High as well as chairman of TeenNick, Nickelodeon's television network aimed at the teen audience.
NCredible Entertainment has successfully ventured into the world of consumer products with a line of Ncredible headphones in partnership with Monster Cable, Ncredible backpacks sold exclusively through Office Depot, a line of Nick Cannon ties sold exclusively at Macy's, and the Ncredible Tablet, launched in 2014 in partnership with QVC.
While his professional body of work keeps him extremely busy, Cannon has always made time to use his resources and his voice to give back to the community and those in need by working with nationally recognized organizations such as Feeding America, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Do Something, Toys for Tots, STOMP Out Bullying, Lupus Foundation of America and the National Kidney Foundation, to name a few, in addition to running his own Nicholas Scott Cannon Foundation. [1]
On February 13, 2017, Nick Cannon announced he would not return as host for the twelfth season, citing creative differences between him and executives at NBC. The resignation comes in the wake of news that the network considered firing Cannon after he made disparaging remarks about NBC in his recent Showtime comedy special, Stand Up, Don't Shoot. Cannon, however, was technically under contract to host and could potentially have been sued by NBC for breach of contract, though this was later considered unlikely. NBC executives did not accept his resignation and had expected Cannon to return, but ultimately began the search for a new host.
He is currently the host of the Fox series The Masked Singer. The first season proved to be a smash hit, resulting in the series being renewed for seasons 2 and 3 and later 2 more. He missed the first few episodes of season 5 due to testing positive for COVID-19 and Niecy Nash stepped in to substitute. But in a shocking twist during the Group B finals episode in the 5th week, he entered the competition as a wildcard contestant known as the Bulldog and was unmasked by Nash, marking his return to host the remainder of the season.
Other Appearances[]
Trivia[]
- Of all the hosts, Nick Cannon has hosted the most seasons: eight.
- An AGT Instagram post showed the lineup of Season 12 judges and host which featured him. However in February 2017, NBC forced him to quit the show and he did.
- Nick was very supportive of all the acts, regardless of the quality. For example, when JC Starbright presented his piece which the judges all X-ed, he came out and convinced him to perform his act again. Also, when Dustin's Dojo was facing a tie with the judges, Nick was among the people chanting "Put them through!".
- Nick Cannon was allowed to put an act through by pressing the Golden Buzzer. The first (and only) time he used the Buzzer was in Season 11 when he put dancer Dorothy Williams through to the Live Shows.
- Out of all five hosts, Nick shared a season with nearly every judge who has participated in America's Got Talent, except for five: Brandy Norwood, Julianne Hough, Gabrielle Union, Alesha Dixon and Sofia Vergara. Nick has aswell shared a season with every male judge.
- Nick is the show's first African-American host. The second being Tyra Banks and the third being Terry Crews.
- Golden Buzzer: Dorothy Williams (11)
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