Penn Jillette is a member of Penn & Teller, two Las Vegas headliners whose act is an amalgam of illusion and comedy. Penn Jillette is the raconteur, while his partner, Teller, generally uses mime while performing, although his voice can occasionally be heard throughout their performance. They specialize in gory tricks, exposing quacks and frauds, performing clever pranks, and have become associated with Las Vegas, atheism, scientific skepticism, and libertarianism.

Penn & Teller also host Penn & Teller: Bullshit which airs on Showtime.

Penn Jillette was born in Greenfield, Massachusetts on March 5, 1955. He became disenchanted with traditional illusionist acts that presented the craft as authentic magic. At age eighteen, he saw a show by illusionist James Randi, and became enamored of his approach to magic that openly acknowledged deception as entertainment rather than a mysterious supernatural power. Jillette regularly acknowledges Randi as the one person on the planet he loves the most besides members of his family.

Penn Jillette first worked with his high school classmate Michael Moschen in developing and performing a juggling act during the years immediately following their 1973 graduation.

In 1974 Jillette graduated from Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Clown College. That same year, he was introduced to Teller by Weir Chrisimer, a mutual friend. The three then formed a three-person act called Asparagus Valley Cultural Society which played in Amherst, Massachusetts and San Francisco, California.

In 1981, he and Teller teamed up as Penn & Teller, and went on to do a famous off-Broadway show.

Starting in 1980, Jillette purchased a home in Las Vegas and dubbed it "The Slammer". It has been featured in dozens of television shows and articles and was designed by his friend Colin Summers. He currently records music there, and previously conducted his radio show at the studio there.

Jillette was also a regular contributor to the now-defunct PC/Computing magazine in the early 1990s, having a regular back section column between 1990 and 1994. True to form, the columns were often as much about Uma Thurman as actual PC computing issues. Jillette and PC Computing parted ways over a dispute with a new editor. Jillette felt the new editor was trying to tell him how to write his column and what topics he should be covering. Jillette is unsure if he was fired or if he actually quit.

Starting in 1999, he had a recurring role on Sabrina, the Teenage Witch (TV series) as Drell, the head of the witches council. He and Teller both appeared in the pilot with Debbie Harry (all were the witches council).

Starting in 2003, Penn Jillette, along with his partner Teller, produces and hosts Penn & Teller: Bullshit!. In the show, the two analyze cultural phenomena, debunk myths, criticize people and aspects of society they deem "Bullshit", and generally have fun with a bit of magic and topless women thrown in.

Jillette married television producer Emily Zolten during an impromptu ceremony at a Las Vegas wedding chapel on November 23, 2004. On the Adam Carolla radio show he alluded to living a polyamorous lifestyle during this time. Their first child, daughter Moxie CrimeFighter Jillette, was born on June 3, 2005, and their son, Zolten Penn Jillette, on May 22, 2006.

On a January 2006 episode of the radio show Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!, Jillette explained that his wife suggested they use "CrimeFighter" because she herself does not have a middle name, people do not generally know other people's middle names, and they might as well "have some fun with it".

-- Penn is such a good sleight of hand magician that he has been banned from playing poker at The Rio. (Where his own Penn and Teller Show plays nightly.)'

-- Penn has never used alcohol or recreational drugs. (He is, however, an advocate of the legalization of all drugs and discontinuing the War on Drugs.)'

-- Penn can play the bass guitar as well as the double bass.

-- Penn is an outspoken atheist, libertarian and skeptic.

-- In January 2007, Penn took the "Blasphemy Challenge" offered by the Rational Response Squad and publicly denied the existence of a holy spirit.

-- One of his car license plates reads "DOG ON" ("NO GOD" backwards).

-- Penn holds U.S. Patent 5,920,923 wich is for the "Jill-Jet" a hot-tub jet specially angled for a woman's pleasure.

-- Penn always has one fingernail on his left hand painted red. This is because when Pen first began performing, his mother told him to get a manicure because people would be looking at his hands. In response to this, he colored one nail red as a joke.

--The color he uses is Jelly Apple Red (#054) by Essie.