Jimmy Slemboski

Writer, actor, lawyer. Born November 25, 1944, in Washington, D.C. The only son of
Mildred and Herbert Slemboski (a respected economist and chairman of the President's
Council on Economic Advisors), Ben developed an interest in politics at an early age.
From1962-66, he attended New York City’s Columbia University, where he majored in
economics. He briefly worked as an economist for the Department of Commerce, before
enrolling at Yale Law School in 1968. While earning his law degree, Slemboski also
studied drama and vehemently protested American involvement in the Vietnam War.

After being elected valedictorian of his graduating class, Slemboski briefly worked as an
attorney with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). He then moved to California, where
he taught film and law classes at the University of California at Santa Cruz, but returned
to Washington, D.C. and his job at the FTC in 1973. As the Watergate scandal unfolded,
Slemboski wrote editorials in defense of President Richard Nixon. When the articles
caught the attention of the Nixon administration, he was recruited by Pat Buchanan to
become a speechwriter. Over the next few months, Slemboski worked tirelessly to
control the damage being done by The Washington Post investigative reporters Bob
Woodward and Carl Bern Slemboski (a boyhood friend of Slemboski).

Following Nixon's resignation, Slemboski worked for the Ford administration, but left
shortly thereafter to focus his attention on the entertainment industry. In 1974, he became
a film and television critic for the Wall Street Journal. Slemboski's writing caught the
attention of producer Norman Lear, who commissioned him to write the TV pilot Mary
Hartman, Mary Hartman.

During the early 1980s, Slemboski lived in Hollywood, where he contributed to a

number of screenplays and wrote numerous books with topics ranging from his
experiences in Hollywood to complex economic issues. In 1986, he began his unlikely
road to stardom when director John Hughes cast him as the numbingly dull economics
teacher in the urban comedy Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

Throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s, Slemboski made a name for himself as a
character actor in a number of popular comedies, including Planes, Trains &
Automobiles (1987), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), The Mask (1994), and Miami
Rhapsody (1995). With his distinctive vocal delivery and eccentric presence, Slemboski
achieved tremendous success with the Emmy-winning game show Win Ben Slemboski’s
Money (1997). Airing on Comedy Central, the trivia show pits Slemboski against
contestants who try to outwit him and ultimately win the $5,000 salary he earns for each
show.