J.D. Roth

Born James David Weinroth in Cherry Hill, NJ to a lawyer father and interior decorator mother, Roth's interest in television performance emerged at a young age. He started working at the age of ten, and has recalled how he booked himself into a nightclub children's show audition at the age of eleven while recovering from a bout of pneumonia, eventually winning the part in a show which also featured a young Sarah Jessica Parker, Ricki Lake and Ricky Schroder. In his first year in the business he performed in twenty-two commercials, going on to appear in around two hundred and fifty during his teenage years. In an attempt to keep him grounded, his father insisted he always take out the garbage and funded him with one thousand dollars with which he could pursue his ambitions, and after it ran out the implication was that Roth was expected to give up show business and follow a more down to earth career pattern. Yet his entrepreneurial skills were sharp from a young age, and the money never did dry up. Before he left high school and in addition to the commercial work, Roth had also appeared in low-budget crime movie "Death Mask" (1984) and the television series "The Equalizer" (CBS 1985-89), the revival of "The Twilight Zone" (CBS 1985-89) and the syndicated horror anthology "Tales from the Darkside" (1984-88). His first major job following graduation was "Fun House" (Syndicated 1988-1990 / Fox 1990-91) at the age of 19, which went on to run for four hundred episodes and become the number one children's show in America, making Roth a recognisable face to a generation. He created his own production company first to take a live version of "Fun House" around the country, playing in seventy cities and to more than one million viewers. Although "Double Up" (NBC 1992) wasn't a success with viewers, this career milestone saw its creator, host and executive producer become the youngest executive producer of any NBC show in history at that point. Prior to 3Ball's formation by Roth and business partner Todd Nelson in March 2001, Roth's onscreen career continued with a couple of guest appearances in soap opera "Melrose Place" (Fox 1992-99), his voice role on "The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest" (Cartoon 1996-99) and kids shows such as Animal Planet's "ZooVenture" (1997-2000), which spun off a huge live tour to seven countries and a hundred and twenty-five US cities. Among 3Ball's successes were kids "Survivor" equivalent "Endurance" (Discovery Kids 2002-08), which he also presented, "Beauty and the Geek" (The CW 2005-08) and "Extreme Weight Loss" (ABC 2011-), although "The Biggest Loser" (NBC 2004-) remained his greatest success as a producer.