Jim Nelson is the current editor-in-chief of the magazine GQ. Nelson began his journalism career in television, first working as a producer and writer at CNN

CNN

Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...

 and later moving to Hollywood where he worked briefly as a writer's assistant on television sitcoms. He made the shift to magazines at age thirty, starting with an internship at Harper's Magazine

Harper's Magazine

Harper's Magazine is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts, with a generally left-wing perspective. It is the second-oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. . The current editor is Ellen Rosenbush, who replaced Roger Hodge in January 2010...

, under Lewis Lapham

Lewis H. Lapham

Lewis H. Lapham is an American writer. He was the editor of the American monthly Harper's Magazine from 1976 until 1981, and from 1983 until 2006. He also is the founder of the eponymous publication about history and literature entitled Lapham's Quarterly. He has written numerous books on...

, and moved to GQ shortly thereafter to work as an editor. After working under Art Cooper as an executive editor, Nelson was appointed by Condé Nast

Condé Nast Publications

Condé Nast, a division of Advance Publications, is a magazine publisher. In the U.S., it produces 18 consumer magazines, including Architectural Digest, Bon Appétit, GQ, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, and Vogue, as well as four business-to-business publications, 27 websites, and more than 50 apps...

to replace him as editor-in-chief in 2003.

Nelson lives with his boyfriend, John Mario Sevilla, a dancer and choreographer.