Television Īlexander is best known as one of the key cast members of the award-winning television sitcom Seinfeld, where he played the bumbling George Costanza ( Jerry Seinfeld's character's best friend since childhood).
He also co-starred opposite Sherie Rene Scott in the September 2017 world premiere of John Patrick Shanley's The Portuguese Kid at the Manhattan Theatre Club. In 2015, he replaced Larry David as the lead in David's Broadway play Fish in the Dark.
He was the artistic director of Reprise Theatre Company in Los Angeles, where he previously directed Sunday in the Park with George, and directed its 2007 revival of Damn Yankees. He continues to appear in live stage shows, including Barbra Streisand's memorable birthday party for Sondheim at the Hollywood Bowl, where he performed selections from Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street with Angela Lansbury. He also appeared with Kelsey Grammer in the 2004 musical adaptation of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, as Jacob Marley. In 2003, he was cast opposite Martin Short in the Los Angeles production of Mel Brooks's The Producers. On Broadway he appeared in Stephen Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along, Kander & Ebb's The Rink, Neil Simon's Broadway Bound, Accomplice, and Jerome Robbins' Broadway, for which he garnered the 1989 Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical. The university awarded him an honorary degree in 1995.Īlexander began his acting career on the New York stage and is an accomplished singer and dancer. He wanted to pursue classical acting, but a professor redirected him toward comedy after noticing his physique, remarking, "I know your heart and soul are Hamlet, but you will never play Hamlet." Alexander left Boston University without a degree after his third year to take a full-time acting job in New York City. Īfter high school, he studied theatre at Boston University. He then decided to pursue a theater career. Nothing up there is real" and that theater was "a magic trick". He became interested in theater, eventually realizing, "Wait a minute-the whole thing's an illusion. Interested in magic from an early age, he initially hoped to be a magician, but while attending a magic camp was told that his hands were too small for card magic. Īlexander grew up in Maplewood and Livingston, New Jersey, and is a 1977 graduate of Livingston High School. He has a half-sister, Karen Van Horne, and a half-brother, Michael Greenspan. Greenspan, an accounting manager, whose first name Jason later borrowed to create his stage name. Greenspan was born in Newark, New Jersey, the son of Jewish parents Ruth Minnie (née Simon), a nurse and health care administrator, and Alexander B. He was the artistic director of "Reprise! Broadway's Best in Los Angeles", where he has directed several musicals. He appeared in the Los Angeles production of The Producers. He won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Song in 2020 for "The Bad Guys?" On Brainwashed By Toons.Īlexander has been active on stage, appearing in several Broadway musicals, including Jerome Robbins' Broadway in 1989, for which he won the Tony Award as Best Leading Actor in a Musical. For his role in Dream On, he was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series. He has also made guest appearances on shows such as Dream On (1994), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2001, 2009), and The Marvelous Mrs.
His other well-known roles include Phillip Stuckey in the film Pretty Woman (1990), comic relief gargoyle Hugo in the Disney animated feature The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), and the title character in the animated series Duckman (1994–1997). An Emmy and Tony winner, he is best known for his role as George Costanza in the television series Seinfeld (1989–1998), for which he was nominated for seven consecutive Primetime Emmy Awards and four Golden Globe Awards. Jay Scott Greenspan (born September 23, 1959), known professionally as Jason Alexander, is an American actor, comedian, film director, and television presenter.