Jay holds a BFA in Acting from NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Experimental Theatre Wing.

 

Since 2011, Jay has worked in film (Amazon Studios, Magnolia Pictures), television (ABC, Showtime), and theaters as large as Radio City Music Hall and as small as your living room. He launched his acting career Off-Broadway (Atlantic Theater Company, the GYM at Judson, La MaMa ETC, Ars Nova, The Public) and has since been called "one of the most iconic local voices" of the Twin Cities regional theatre scene (Mixed Blood, Theater Latte Da, Penumbra Theater, the Jungle Theater, Pillsbury House + Theatre, Open Eye Figure Theater, and many more).

 

Jay has been a proud member of Actors' Equity Association since 2016. He was one of the first actors to join the union as an out transgender man, and he has been an integral part of making dozens of professional theaters across the country more welcoming for transgender actors.

 

He has been immensely lucky to have had the opportunity to work and play with some of his favorite contemporary theatre-makers and collectives, to whom he owes his love of bold, collaborative, groundbreaking theatre. These include 600HIGHWAYMEN, Liz Swados, Talvin Wilks, Lear DeBessonet, Leigh Silverman, Mashuq Mushtaq Deen, Mark Rylance, Claire Van Kampen, Will Davis, Richard Foreman, and Taylor Mac, among many others.

 

In addition to his work as an actor, Jay also brings a keen dramaturgical eye to developmental processes for works-in-progress, and he has been a frequent workshop collaborator with New York Theatre Workshop, the Playwrights' Center, the Lark, Bushwick Starr, and more.

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Alongside collaborator Shelby Richardson, Jay co-founded WeAreMarried (WAM), a trans-led, for-profit experimental performance company that creates and produces original clown shows, and contributes to a healthy, vibrant artist economy by paying artists thriving wages. To learn more about WAM, visit www.wearemarried.org.

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