1. Jacob Lee Epstein was born on January 16,1987 and is a Canadian actor and singer.
22 Facts About Jake Epstein
1. 2.
Jake Epstein is known for playing Craig Manning, a musician with bipolar disorder, on Degrassi: The Next Generation.
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Jake Epstein has had recurring roles in the television series Designated Survivor and The Hardy Boys.
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On Broadway, Jake Epstein originated the role of Gerry Goffin in Beautiful: The Carole King Musical.
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Jake Epstein has starred as Melchior in the national tour of Spring Awakening and played Will in the national tour of American Idiot.
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Jake Epstein's mother, Kathy Kacer, is a Norma Fleck Award-winning writer of children's stories about the Holocaust, and his father is a lawyer.
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Jake Epstein has an older sister, Gabi, who is an actress and jazz singer.
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Jake Epstein made his professional stage debut in a production of Our Town, which played at the Royal Alexandra Theatre in 1999.
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Later that year, Jake Epstein joined the first national tour Spring Awakening, where he replaced Kyle Riabko as Melchior Gabor.
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In July 2011, Jake Epstein joined the original Canadian production of Billy Elliot the Musical.
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Jake Epstein played the role of Tony Elliot, Billy's older brother, in the production which played at the Canon Theatre in Toronto.
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In 2012, Jake Epstein made his Broadway debut in Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, which played at the Foxwoods Theatre.
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Jake Epstein was cast as Gerry Goffin in Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, opposite Jessie Mueller.
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Jake Epstein then originated the role when it transferred to Broadway, where it began performances at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre on November 12,2013.
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Jake Epstein later shared that playing Carole's ex-husband was uniquely challenging because Carole encouraged him to not portray Gerry as the villain, even though the script changes increasingly presented him that way.
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Jake Epstein left the show in 2014 after a year of performances, citing vocal problems and fatigue of playing a real person being portrayed as brooding and villainous.
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However, Jake Epstein temporarily returned to the show in 2016, where he reprised his role opposite fellow Canadian actor Chilina Kennedy, who starred as Carole.
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In 2016, Jake Epstein starred as a closeted gay man in the off-Broadway show Straight.
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At the 2019 Toronto Fringe Festival, Jake Epstein premiered his solo cabaret show Boy Falls From the Sky.
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Jake Epstein has since performed the show across Canada, including in Hamilton, Barrie, and in Quebec at the Segal Centre for Performing Arts.
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Jake Epstein left Degrassi during the fifth season to attend the National Theatre School of Canada in Montreal and made theater his new focus.
22.
Jake Epstein played "geeky FBI computer nerd" Chuck Russink in the American TV show Designated Survivor.