Jesse Ventura
Jesse Ventura
Before he became a popular host of Conspiracy Theory on truTV, Jesse Ventura had a diverse career in the military, as a wrestler, and in politics.
Born James George Janos, Jesse Ventura first came to the public’s attention in 1975 as Jesse “The Body” Ventura, a colorful and popular wrestler in the World Wrestling Entertainment. Ventura remained with the WWE’s until 1986 as a talent in the ring and, later, as a color commentator. He was inducted into the WWE’s Hall of Fame in 2004.
Before he became known as an outspoken conspiracy theorist and host of Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura on truTV, Ventura appeared in such motion pictures as 1987’s Predator in which he fought a killer alien from outer space and snarled at co-star Arnold Schwarzenegger that he “didn’t have time to bleed.” After that hit film, Ventura went on to be featured in numerous films and television shows, including playing a threatening UFO “Man in Black” enforcer in a fan-favorite appearance on The X-Files episode “Jose Chung’s from Outer Space.”
Ventura was born in 1951 in Minneapolis. After graduating from high school, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy, where he joined the Special Forces and served as a UDT/SEAL from 1969 to 1973. After being honorably discharged from the Navy, he returned to Minnesota and, while attending community college, started training to become a professional wrestler.
Ventura entered politics as Mayor of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, from 1991 to 1995. In 1999, he joined the Reform Party and became the thirty-eighth governor of Minnesota, defeating Arne Carlson. He did not seek a second term, and after he left office in 2003 and was succeeded by Tim Pawlenty, Ventura was a visiting fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.
In 2000, he wrote the first of his many bestselling books, Quotations from Chairman Jesse. Among his other titles are Jesse Ventura Tells It Like It Is: Going to the Mat against Political Pawns and Media Jackals (2002); I Ain’t Got Time to Bleed: Reworking the Body Politic from the Bottom Up (2000); Don’t Start the Revolution without Me (2009); 63 Documents the Government Doesn’t Want You to Read (2011); and American Conspiracies: Lies, Lies, and More Dirty Lies that the Government Tells Us (2011).
Regarding his television program Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura, Ventura says on his program’s page on truTV that it is has become his “personal journey, to prove that there is more to these stories than you know about.”
Promotional material for Conspiracy Theory promises that “Ventura and his team of investigators are on a mission to examine some of the most frightening and mysterious conspiracy allegations of our time. They review evidence and meet with experts and eyewitnesses to learn more about such topics as the JFK assassination, Area 51 and a possible plot to kidnap our nation’s water supply.”