Jake Epstein is a Canadian actor, singer and writer. He began his acting career in Toronto at the Royal Alexandra Theatre in a production of 'Our Town and then played the Artful Dodger in Cameron Mackintosh's 'Oliver' at the Princess of Wales Theatre. He soon made his way to the small screen landing leading roles in Degrassi: The Next Generation, The Zack Files, as well as several made for TV movies. After graduating from the National Theatre School of Canada, Jake went on to tour the U.S. in the acclaimed musical Spring Awakening and Green Day's American Idiot. Known for his diverse roles in theatre, film and television, he made his Broadway debut in Spiderman as the alternate Peter Parker and most recently finished a year on Broadway originating the role of Gerry Goffin in the Tony nominated Beautiful: The Carole King Musical.
Was guitarist and lead singer in a band called Mind the Gap which he started with four of his best friends. They did a couple of gigs around Toronto.
Has one older sister, Gabi Epstein.
Some of his favorite bands are: Pink Floyd, System of a Down, The Beatles, Radiohead, and the Headstones (lead singer, Hugh Dillon, played his father on Degrassi).
Used to be a brown belt in karate.
He directed his first play in 2003 called "The Dead and the Rooster".
His favorite acting career was playing in the "Oliver" play at the Royal Alex Theatre as the "Artful Dodger". His acting career shot off after that.
He plays drums for a band called Funkasaurus Rex.
Attended Earl Haig Secondary School, the same high school as his "Degassi: The Next Generation" co-star Stefan Brogen.
Appeared with the actor that plays Jimmy's Dad (Conrad Coates) in two different series, first in the "Zack Files" (2000) and in "Degrassi: The Next Generation" (2001).
Parents are Ian Epstein and Kathy Kacer.
Auditioned for a role on Glee (2009).
Plays with his competitive soccer team; the North York Cosmos [March 2003]
Appearing as Melchior in the US Tour of Spring Awakening. [July 2009]
Appearing on Girls vs. Boys Hawaii [August 2004]
Filming season 5 of Degrassi. [May 2005]
He is from an Ashkenazi Jewish family (from Russia, Slovakia, and Panevezys in Lithuania).
He went to Claude Watson School for the Arts with his future Degrassi: The Next Generation (2001) co-star 斯黛西 from Grades Four to Eight.
He worked with Robert Clark in The Zack Files (2000) and his elder brother 丹尼尔·克拉克 in Degrassi: The Next Generation (2001).
His favourite film is 阿甘正传 (1994).
He was born only one day after his The Zack Files (2000) and Degrassi Goes Hollywood (2009) co-star Michael Seater.
He played Craig Manning in Degrassi: The Next Generation (2001) and was born only two days before the premiere of the original series Degrassi High (1987).
His favourite television series are 恶搞之家 (1999) and 绝命毒师 (2008).
As a child, he was a fan of X-Men: The Animated Series (1992) and Spider-Man: The Animated Series (1994).
He was the only one of the three main stars of The Zack Files (2000), the other two being Michael Seater and Robert Clark, who did not subsequently star in Strange Days at Blake Holsey High (2002).