Born Jason (“Jay”) Scott Greenspan to Ruth and Alex on September 23,1959 in Newark, New Jersey; raised in Livingston, New Jersey. Although best known as the neurotic George Costanza in the hit TV sitcom, Seinfeld (1990-1998), Alexander has enjoyed an extensive and varied career on the Broadway stage and in films.
As a youth with an eye always toward the stage, Alexander connived his parents into giving him voice lessons so that he could “train for his bar mitzvah.” His first tentative acting steps were taken in school plays, and byage 15, he had adopted his professional name, Jason Alexander.
Despite being granted a full scholarship to the School of Fine Arts at Boston University, he left after two years to act in a “B” film, The Burning (1981), and a made-for-TV movie, Senior Trip. His big break came when he landed the lead role in the Broadway production of the Stephen Sondheim/George Furth musical, Merrily We RollAlong. Unfortunately for Alexander, the play closed after just two weeks, but it gave him important visibility.
Alexander’s stage reputation grew as he portrayed Tevye in a Broadway revival of Fiddler on the Roof and Pseudolus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. In 1989, his proudest moment came when he was awarded a Tony for “Best Performance as a leading actor in a musical” for Jerome Robbins’ Broadway.
In films, Alexander played supporting roles in Peter Weir’s Mosquito Coast (1986), in Adrian Lyne’s chilling Jacob’s Ladder (1990)and the Julia Roberts star vehicle, Pretty Woman (1990). On TV, hehad small parts in a few ill-fated sitcoms and in an NBC miniseries,Favorite Son (1988). He also sang and danced the praises of McDLT sandwiches in a 1985 McDonalds commercial.
After winning his Tony, Alexander moved to Los Angeles, where he co-starred in a sitcom pilot, Seinfeld Chronicles, featuring a relatively unknown comedian, Jerry Seinfeld. The show, renamed Seinfeld,started slowly but soon gained a cult following. It catapulted to lead the ratings, winning multiple Emmys and remaining on top for years until Jerry Seinfeld decided to call it quits in May, 1998.
While working on Seinfeld, Alexander pursued a sideline as a voice-over actor, lending his voice to the ABC puppet show, Dinosaurs (1991);as Duckman in the animated private eye on the USA cable network(1994); as Abis Mal in the TV series Aladdin (1993); and as Hugo in the animated feature, The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996).
Alexander seems to be focusing his post-Seinfeld career in feature films and the theater, with a variety of projects in the works.
Married to screenwriter Daena E. Title, the couple has two children:Gabriel, born in August, 1991, and Noah, born in February, 1996.
