Jason Alexander

Jason Alexander

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Birth name: Jason Scott Greenspan
Date of birth: 23 September 1959
Place of birth: Newark, New Jersey, USA
Nickname: Jay, Pretzel Boy
Height: 5′ 5″ (1.65 m)
Spouse: Daena E. Title (31 May 1981 – present) 2 children

Famous Quote: “I’m not really bald. I shave my head to keep in character with George. I’m always more motivated by the pain of a funny character than by what makes him funny. The thing about For Better or Worse is the only thing that made me an okay director for that is that I have a sense of humor, and it was supposed to be funny. The greatest part of the job was that was for nine years it was a pleasure to go to work.”

Contact Address and Autograph: Addresses and fan mail information

Jason Alexander
Endeavor Agency
9601 Wilshire Blvd. 3rd Floor
Beverly Hills, CA 90212, USA 

Biography:  Jason Alexander (born September 23, 1959) is an award-winning American television, cinema and musical theatre comedic actor, perhaps best known for his role as George Costanza on the hit television series Seinfeld. This short, pudgy and balding (as well as maniacally energetic) character player is best known as George Costanza, the worrisome comic foil to straitlaced Jerry Seinfeld, on the hit TV series “Seinfeld” (NBC, 1989-98). But Alexander has been a very busy and very versatile actor since the 1980s, beginning in children’s theater and TV commercials. 

He received early breaks when cast in the telepic “Senior Trip!” (1981) and the slasher film “The Burning” (1981). Where he really began making headway, though, was in the theater, where his commanding singing voice and quirky, endearing charisma made him a good choice as a stage producer for the unfortunately unsuccessful Stephen Sondheim musical, “Merrily We Roll Along” (1981). Other Broadway shows included Kander and Ebb’s “The Rink” (1984), a musical co-starring Liza Minnelli and Chita Rivera, and Neil Simon’s autobiographical play “Broadway Bound” (1986). Alexander also became more prominent on TV, even though his sitcoms, “E/R” (CBS, 1984-1985) and “Everything’s Relative” (1987), failed quickly. Alexander returned to series television as the star of “Listen Up” (2004 – ), playing sportswriter, talk show host and family man Tony Kleinman, a slight variation on George Costanza surrounded by a dysfunctional wife-and-kids clan. 

Jason Greenspan adopted the stage name Jason Alexander while still in high school in New Jersey. He was soon appearing in Broadway plays and movies, then in the hit TV series, “Seinfeld” (1990), from 1990 to 1998. Alexander also directs and produces films. Alexander was born Jay Scott Greenspan in Newark, New Jersey, the son of Ruth Minnie (née Simon), a nurse and health care administrator, and Alexander B. Greenspan, an accounting manager. He has a half-sister, Karen Van Horn, and a half-brother, Michael Greenspan. Alexander is a 1977 graduate of Livingston High School in Livingston, New Jersey. 

He attended Boston University but left the summer before his senior year, after getting work in New York City. He was later given an honorary degree. In September 2006 on Access Hollywood, he identified Robert Lampf as his favorite teacher and the teacher that most influenced and encouraged him to pursue his acting career. He is a keen magician, and only switched to acting as a career when he realized that he was unlikely to succeed as a magician.

Alexander began his acting career on the New York stage and is an accomplished singer and dancer. On Broadway, he appeared in Stephen Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along, The Rink, Neil Simon’s Broadway Bound, Accomplice, and Jerome Robbins’ Broadway, for which he garnered the 1989 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. Returning to the stage in 2003, Alexander was cast in a successful run, opposite Martin Short, in the Los Angeles production of Mel Brooks’ The Producers Alexander also appeared with Kelsey Grammer in the 2004 musical adaptation of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol. He played Jacob Marley to Grammer’s Ebenezer Scrooge.

Alexander continues to appear in live stage shows, including Barbra Streisand’s memorable birthday party for Stephen Sondheim at the Hollywood Bowl, in which he appeared with Angela Lansbury, performing selections from Sweeney Todd. Alexander was recently named the Artistic Director of Reprise! Broadway’s Best in Los Angeles, where he previously directed Sunday in the Park with George. He is scheduled to direct the upcoming revival of Damn Yankees at Reprise!

Alexander is known as a cast member of the award-winning television sitcom Seinfeld, from 1989-1998, in which he played George Costanza, Jerry Seinfeld’s best friend. Concurrently with his Seinfeld duties, Alexander provided the voice of the lead character in the cult animated series Duckman, which lasted from 1994-1997. Alexander also voiced Catbert, the evil director of human resources, in the short-lived Dilbert animated series based on the popular comic strip. He appeared in the second season of Curb Your Enthusiasm playing himself.

Alexander co-starred with George Clooney and Elliot Gould in the short-lived CBS sitcom E/R from 1984-1985. He played Hospital Administrator Harold Stickley.

Alexander also had a part in Dinosaurs on ABC as a character named Al (Sexual) Harass. His character used to talk about sexual harassment in the work place. Despite a relatively successful career in film and on stage, Alexander never managed to re-capture his Seinfeld reputation on the small screen. 2001 marked a brief but highly-touted return to prime-time with the sitcom Bob Patterson, canceled after 5 episodes.

Alexander appears on the Family Guy: Live in Vegas CD singing a verse in the song “All Cartoons are Fuckin’ Dicks”. Alexander is credited with coining the term “asshat” in a well known blooper from the show “Seinfeld”.

He was featured in the Friends episode “The One Where Rosita Dies” as a suicidal supply manager named Earl. Phoebe rings him trying to sell him toner and she learns about his problem and tries to convince him not to commit suicide. This is referred to in an episode of Malcolm in the Middle where Alexander appears as a neurotic and critical loner called Leonard. He describes himself as free and mentions that he makes money with a job “selling toner over the phone”. Also in the episode, he is repeatedly harassed by a man named George – his character’s name on Seinfeld.

Alexander appeared in the 1995 TV version of the Broadway musical “Bye Bye Birdie”, as Conrad Birdie’s agent, Albert Peterson. Alexander appeared on Star Trek: Voyager on the episode “Think Tank” playing a genius alien named Kurros who was trying to get Seven of Nine to serve on his ship.

He appeared in the first episode of the short-lived 2002 revival of The Twilight Zone, playing Death. He featured in the 2005 Monk episode “Mr. Monk and the Other Detective” as Monk’s eponymous rival, Marty Eels. On the June 26, 2006 episode of the Jimmy Kimmel Live talk show, Alexander demonstrated several self-defense techniques. He was also the Host of the 230th July 4, 2006 of the PBS July 4 “A Capitol Fourth” Celebrations in Washington, D.C. in which he sang, danced, and played tuned drums.

Alexander has appeared twice on Bravo’s Celebrity Poker Showdown and won the final table in the 8th season. Alexander played for United Way of the greater New Orleans area and won $500,000 for the charity. On August 6, 2006, Alexander signed on to feature as a regular cast member in the second season of Everybody Hates Chris. Alexander was the host of the Comedy Central roast of actor William Shatner on August 13, 2006, which first aired on August 20, 2006. In 2007, Alexander was a guest star in the third episode of the improv comedy show Thank God You’re Here. He is also a frequent guest and panelist on Bill Maher’s Politically Incorrect and Real Time shows, on Hollywood Squares, the Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn and Craig Ferguson, and the Late Show with David Letterman.

In addition to his roles as a misogynistic lawyer in Pretty Woman, co-starring with Richard Gere, and as the womanizer Mauricio in Shallow Hal, with Jack Black, Alexander has appeared in a litany of Hollywood film productions. They include Love! Valour! Compassion!, Dunston Checks In, The Last Supper Jacob’s Ladder and “Hood of Horror”. He has also dabbled in the art of directing, starting with 1996′s For Better or Worse and 1999′s Just Looking.

Alexander is also featured in country music star Brad Paisley’s music videos “Celebrity” and “Online,” the latter of which he directed and won the 2007 Country Music Association’s Video of the Year Award.

In January 1995, Alexander did a commercial for Rold Gold pretzels to be broadcast during the Super Bowl. The commercial depicts Jason with Frasier dog “Eddie” jumping out of an airplane with a parachute over the stadium. After the commercial, we’re brought back to a supposedly “live feed” of the playing field hearing startled sports commentators as we see Jason and the dog landing in the field to applause from the crowd.

In the summer of 2005, he appeared with Lee Iacocca in ads for DaimlerChrysler.

Alexander has also done a McDonald’s commercial advertising the McDLT, in which he sings. He has also appeared in KFC commercials, including one with baseball superstar Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants and another one opposite Trista Rehn of The Bachelorette. It was rumored that he no longer appears in these commercials due to the alleged cruelty to animals by KFC suppliers and slaughterhouses, but he refuted that in Adweek August 2, 2006. Alexander said, “That’s PETA bullcrap. I loved working for KFC. I was targeted by PETA to broker something between them. I think KFC really stepped up to the plate; unfortunately PETA did not.”

He performed a mentalism and magic act at the Magic Castle in Hollywood, California on April 24-30 2006. He has been awarded the Parlor Magician of the year award at the Castle.

Alexander was the national spokesman for the Scleroderma Foundation, a leading organization dedicated to raising awareness of the disease and assisting those who are afflicted.

An avid poker player, Jason was also one of the “famous faces” due to being a regular player on the online poker website Hollywood Poker which is run in conjunction with Ongame Network. Alexander also played in the 2007 World Series of Poker main event, but was eliminated on the second day.

Alexander is currently starring in “Jason Alexander’s Comedy Spectacular” exclusive to Australia. This is a sold-out show where he performs stand-up, improvisation and demonstrates some of his Broadway musical talent. He is backed up by some well known Australian comedians. His first time performing a similar show of this nature was in 2006 for “Jason Alexander’s Comedy Christmas.” Both Alexander and his show have been receiving considerable media publicity in Australia and particularly Melbourne. He has expressed the great time he has had holidaying in Australia.

Was a 1977 graduate of Livingston High School in Livingston, New Jersey. One of his classmates was Julia Montgomery. They co-starred in numerous high school productions. Played flute and also percussion in the Livingston Lancer’s Marching Band. High school acting credits include the shows “Guys and Dolls”, “The Odd Couple” and “Oliver”. in 1989: Appeared on Broadway in Jerome Robbins’ musical “Broadway”, for which he won a Tony award.

Parents Ruth and Alex Greenspan; half-sister Karen Van Horn, half-brother Michael Greenspan. Attended Boston University and left a year early because he was able to find acting work in New York City during the summer before his senior year. Later given an honorary degree. Two children (Gabriel, born August 1991, and Noah, born February 1996)

Has an extensive knowledge of the original “Star Trek” (1966) episodes and had aced a series of skill testing questions about the show on “Howard Stern” (1994)’s radio show. However, that “backfired” on his “Bob Patterson” (2001) ABC-TV series when William Shatner guest starred on an episode and Bob Patterson (Alexander) is traumatized. Fall 2002: Set to teach acting on the faculty of the University of Southern California as the first-ever George Burns Distinguished Visiting Professor in Performance.

Started losing his hair at the age of 16. One year for his birthday, his friends took him to a diner. They told him to close his eyes. When he opened them, William Shatner, aka Captain James T. Kirk, was in front of him. Captain Kirk was Jason’s childhood hero. While filming “Seinfeld” (1990), was always fitted with a suit one size too small, to make his character look “uncool”. Says he took on the role of Duckman because Duckman was “the anti George Costanza”.

Being a great fan of “Star Trek” (1966), he was finally given the opportunity to play a “Trek” role himself in 1999: he played the character “Kurros” in the “Star Trek: Voyager” (1995) episode “Think Tank”. That same year, he was the host for the “Star Trek Viewers’ Choice” VHS, notably for his Capt. Kirk impersonations. 2005: Celebrity Judge for UCLA Spring Sing.

Not only took the last name “Alexander” because of his father’s first name, but it also helped him in auditions since the call backs were done in alphabetical order and thus he knew immediately if he was still in the running, or not, for parts. The only of the four main actors (Michael Richards, Jerry Seinfeld and Julia Louis-Dreyfus) from “Seinfeld” (1990) not to win an Emmy for their work on the show. 4/30/06: Debuted as a “professional magician” at the Magic Castle in Los Angeles. His act is based on studying and predicting behavioral patterns with his subjects. Beat out Danny DeVito, Steve Buscemi, and Nathan Lane for the role of “George” in Seinfeld (1990).

He is married to Daena E. Title since May 31, 1981. They have two children, Gabriel (b. May 1992) and Noah (b. February 1996). He is also the uncle and godfather of the Irish born actor Stephen Mullan, who appeared in movies such as She’s All That and Tigerland. His brother-in-law is actor/writer/director Jonathan Penner (husband to Daene Title’s sister Stacy) who appeared on Survivor: Cook Islands and is currently starring in Survivor: Micronesia – Fans vs. Favorites. According to an FX trivia question during a viewing of Shallow Hal, Alexander started losing his hair at the age of 16.

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