The 28-year-old musician and actor will serve as the host of NBC’s competition series “America’s Got Talent” as soon as the show returns for a fourth season this summer, the network announced on Monday. In addition, network chief Ben Silverman explained that the variety show represented only one of the several projects NBC intended to work on together with Mariah Carey’s husband.

 

The multitalented artist gained widespread popularity while playing on the Nickelodeon series “All That” and subsequently starred in his own MTV program, “Nick Cannon Presents Wild’n Out.” He has worked on various musical projects with well-known artists such as Kanye West, Mary J. Blige and Diddy.

 

Nick Cannon also made several appearances on big screen productions including “The Killing Room,” “American Son,” as well as Emilio Estevez’s “Bobby,” for which he was awarded at the Cannes Film Festival with the prize for Breakthrough Actor of the Year.

 

The artist, who tied the knot with 38-year-old Mariah Carey in the Bahamas last April, takes over the show from Jerry Springer, who announced his departure last week. Springer apparently left the program due to other obligations, including a stage play. Nick Cannon is the third host for “America’s Got Talent,” which kicked off in 2006 with Regis Philbin at the helm.

 

Performers of all ages and kinds can join the program in an attempt to win the impressive $1 million prize. Last season’s winner was Neal E. Boyd, an operatic tenor who had been working as an insurance salesman.

 

Auditions for the next season are scheduled to take place during the upcoming weeks.

 

The judging panel of the show, which is produced by FremantleMedia North America and Simon Cowell of “American Idol,” is comprised of Sharon Osbourne, Piers Morgan and David Hasselhoff.