Rahm Emanuel, who turns 49 this month, grew up in the upscale Chicago suburb of Wilmette, son of an Israeli physician who moved to the U.S.
His brother Ari is a Hollywood agent and the inspiration for Ari Gold, the Type A superagent on the HBO series Entourage.
Emanuel has been cited as an inspiration for presidential aide Josh Lyman on the drama The West Wing.
His start in politics came after college, when he worked for Paul Simon's 1984 Senate campaign and Richard Daley's run for Chicago mayor in 1989.
He made his strongest mark under Clinton by pressing the centrist portions of the president's agenda, including welfare reform, tough-on-crime measures and the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Midway through Clinton's second term, Emanuel left for Chicago to work in investment banking. The firm he joined was soon sold, and Emanuel made millions, giving him the financial security to get back into politics.
Clinton appointed Emanuel to mortgage giant Freddie Mac's board, a post that paid him at least $292,774 in director's fees, according to a financial-disclosure report Emanuel filed in 2002 when he ran for Congress. Emanuel served on the board when Freddie Mac misstated its earnings by $5 billion for 2000-02.
He was vice chairman of the Chicago Housing Authority and also served on the boards of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, beautyjungle.com and Slim-Fast, whose founder, S. Daniel Abraham, is a major Democratic donor.
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