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Best known for his political satire on the Emmy winning Daily Show, Stewart began life as Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz. Born to parents Donald and Marian Leibowitz on November 28, 1962, Stewart was raised in Lawrence Township, New Jersey. After graduating third in his class from Lawrence High School, Stewart attended the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. During his years at William and Mary, he majored in psychology and was an avid soccer player, and would often coach at the local Gloucester High School.

Upon his graduation in 1984, Stewart could not find steady work and held numerous jobs. These included construction work, shelf stocking, and bartending. However, in 1986 Stewart wanted to try his hand in comedy and moved to New York City to do so. His first stand up act was at The Bitter End, and later became a regular at the Comedy Cellar. During this time, Stewart began to use his middle name 'Stuart' as his last, as people found it too difficult to pronounce Leibowitz. In the early 90's, Stewart hooked up with MTV in the creation of his own television show. In 1994 the Jon Stewart Show was the second highest rated MTV show, next to Bevis and Butthead. Stewart however, lost his ratings when the company moved his show to a very early timeslot. As ratings plummeted, the show was canceled in 1995.

In 1999, Stewart began to host the Daily Show on Comedy Central after Craig Kilborn left the show to replace Tom Snyder on The Late Late Show. The Daily Show has won a total of nine Emmys, and delivers the hypocricy of the real world to the masses.

During that time, Stewart married his long time girlfriend Tracey McShane in Novemeber of 2000. The couple had their first child, Nathan Thomas Stewart on 3 July 2004, and their second child, Maggie Rose Stewart, on 4 February 2006.

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