Howie Mandel

About

Howard Michael Mandel (born November 29, 1955) is a Canadian comedian, television personality, actor, and producer. Mandel is known for voicing Gizmo in the 1984 film Gremlins and the 1990 sequel Gremlins 2: The New Batch; playing rowdy emergency room resident Dr. Wayne Fiscus on the NBC medical drama St. Elsewhere; and creating and starring in the Fox children’s cartoon Bobby’s World. He has also been a judge on NBC’s America’s Got Talent since 2010, and Citytv’s Canada’s Got Talent since 2022. He hosted the American NBC and later CNBC game show Deal or No Deal, as well as the show’s daytime and Canadian-English counterparts.

Mandel was born on November 29, 1955, in Toronto. He grew up in the Bathurst Manor neighbourhood of the city. His ancestors were Romanian Jews and Polish Jews. Mandel is a distant cousin of Israeli violinist Itzhak Perlman. His father was a lighting manufacturer and a real estate magnate. Mandel attended William Lyon Mackenzie Collegiate Institute, where he was expelled for impersonating a school official and hiring a construction company to build an addition to the school. Afterwards, Mandel worked as a carpet salesman. He was a…