After years of steady work in film and television, and approaching 150 credits on his IMDB page, actor and comedian Jason Stuart has achieved a pinnacle of success many actors only dream of. "For the last few years, people have started to approach me and say, 'You're that guy,'" he explains with his characteristic gravelly laugh. Indeed, with guest-starring and supporting credits in everything from Judd Apatow's "Love" to "My Wife and Kids" to "Tangerine" and "The Birth of a Nation," Stuart has now established himself as one of those all-too-familiar faces who might just pop up anywhere, in any kind of role.
It's just the latest remarkable but true chapter in the career of Stuart, a longtime veteran of stand-up comedy, born in the Bronx and raised in the Fairfax district of Los Angeles. A self-described insecure Jewish kid who turned to theatre and performing to mask his emerging sexual identity - he jokes about going to see Barbra Streisand in "Funny Girl" as a youth and falling in love with Omar Sharif. His talent and determination got him some early professional work in films like "Kindergarten Cop," "Vegas Vacation," and TV shows like "Murder, She Wrote" and "The Drew Carey Show." But by the early-90s, frustrated by years of living in the closet, Stuart chose to come out publicly on an episode of Geraldo Rivera's talk show focused on "Unconventional Comedians."
That led to a wave of interest in Stuart as a "gay comedian," giving his act new material and energy, and a purpose (his sexuality, as a Los Angeles Times article from 1995 states, is "a full-time job"). Today, Stuart marvels at how much has changed about the visibility of sexually diverse actors and celebrities, having experienced the transition from "closeted" to "gay" to "queer." "That was such a negative word, 'queer,'" he says. "It was a word 'they' would call you and it still takes some getting used to, but I can see how things are changing. And of course, I'm not just gay or queer, it's just a part of who I am: I'm also a Jew, a man of a certain age, a lover, a friend and a son. But it's always a part of who I am."
Just as his identity as a gay man has not fully defined his career, Stuart is also proud of how he has kept his reputation as a comedian while still flourishing as an actor. "I've always thought about myself as an actor first, comedian second," he says. "When I think of what I want to do with the next phase of my career, I think about being a great character actor. I revered the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, his ability to always disappear into his characters, no matter the role. He was a character actor who happened to be a movie star."
A look at Stuart's most recent work underscores this, notably playing a similar part - a detective in a crime drama - in two wildly different ways. In Prince Bagdasarian's "Abducted," he plays a police sidekick - "My version of J. K. Simmons or Paul Giamatti," he explains citing two more character actor role models. "I played him like my brother, who has been slightly irritated his entire life." On the other side of the coin is the private detective character Stuart creates in Jon Dabach's "Immortal," a new thriller co-starring Samm Levine and Dylan Baker. "He's much more powerful and intimidating."
For Stuart, one of the most significant moments in his recent career was being cast as Joseph Randall, one of the villainous plantation owners at the wrong end of a rebellion in Nate Parker's searing historical drama, "The Birth of a Nation." Being cast by Parker was a sign for Stuart that he had turned the corner from funny gay comic to established character actor. "I remember Nate saying to me that part of what he wanted was my activism," he recalls. "He wanted advocates for different communities, and he knew that I'd represented not just the LGBTQ community, but I've worked on behalf of Black Lives Matter, the homeless, youth, and Jewish causes."
At the same time, taking on the role of an empowered racist in 1831 Virginia also allowed Stuart to reflect on his own evolving complex identity. "How can I be gay and Jewish and have white privilege?" he found himself wondering through working on Parker's film. "It helped me establish this new part of my career, and it changed me as an actor and a human being," he says of the experience. "To tell the history of this man, Nat Turner, who had the audacity, tenaciousness and self-esteem as a black man, in 1831, to stand up against his slave owners knowing he would be murdered. Is he mentally ill? A martyr? Touched by God? To be part of that story, to work with talented people like Nate Parker and Armie Hammer, was exactly what I wanted my career to be about."
These days, Stuart keeps his comedy chops polished through stand-up gigs all over the country and his new weekly radio gig with Dash Radio ("Riffing with Jason Stuart"). He continues to serve as the National Co-Chairman of the SAG-AFTRA lgbtq Committee, and has a memoir about to be published from CCB Publishing ("Shut Up, I'm Talking!") He's also just completed a number of projects, including a new comedy web series "Smothered," co-created with Mitch Hara; the Sundance hit "The Infiltrators" from directors Alex Rivera and Cristina Ibarra; and the high school comedy "Divios!" with Marissa Jaret Winokur and Nicole Sullivan. He also just starred in the short "Hank" from director Hongyu Li and co-starring Jay Disney, about a gay couple who consider an open relationship, which continues to earn praise at numerous festivals, including winning the Best lgbtq Short at this year's Los Angeles International Film Festival.
"It's still a challenge to get the next great role," he says of his passion for acting as a career. "When I was a kid there were three networks, the movies, and the theatre. Now there's a hundred networks, movies that stream on your phones, and theatres, and TV, and pay-per-view, and social media...so how does someone know you?" he asks. For now, he's happy enough to take on any role and thrive. "Someone recognized me from both 'My Wife and Kids' and 'The Birth of a Nation,' and they said, 'You're that guy! We used to love you, now we hate you because you play all these villains!' I'm the guy who can do that - I'm 'that guy!'"
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Jason Stuart was nominated for The Gay International Film Award aka Glitter Award in 2007, for Best Supporting Actor for his role in 咖啡约会 (2006) as "Clayton".
Jason Stuart originated the role of "Jeremy Fisher" in the play "Above The Line" by Susan Rubin.
Jason won the L.A. Webfest Award for Best Supporting Actor in the web-series "Bitter Bartender" 2012.
Jason has played a "manager" of some sort in close to 20 roles in film & TV.
Jason Stuart is the National Co-Chair of Sag Aftra Lgbt Committee.
Jason has been to Sundance Film Festival 3 years in a row with the films he acted in. All the films were picked up distribution - Love Is Strange with Sony Classics, Tangerine with Magnolia Pictures and The Birth Of A Nation with Fox Searchlight.
Jason Stuart was nominated for the 2015 Indie Series Awards with (co-writer) Paul Elia for Best Writing in a Comedy, for his series "Mentor".
Jason Stuart is BFF's with Last Comic Standing's Aida Rodriguez.
Jason Stuart was given the 2015 Jose Julio Sarria International Civil Rights Award.
Won The 2015 Golden Strands Award for the cast: Tangerine.
Jason Stuart directed himself and Paul Elia in "Mentor". Both are nominated for Best Actor in a Comedy series for the L.A. Web Fest Awards. In addition to Alexandra Paul for Best Supporting Actress in Comedy 2016.
Jason Stuart is a Chlortrudis Film Society's Independent Film Award Winner for Best Ensemble for Tangerine in 2016.
Jason is also a nominee for Best Actor and Best Producer for the LA Web Fest Award in 2016. for his web series Mentor.
Jason Stuart won a night on Star Search and then lost a night to Martin Lawrence in the 1985-86 season as a comedian by a quarter of a point. He stamped his foot and walked off the show as a dare. Many of Lawrence's fans did not understand the joke as many also did.
Jason Stuart was nominated for Best Actor, Best Director and Best Short for his film "Like Father" at the Glitter Oklahoma LGBT Film Festival in 2017.
His short film "Like Father" won an Honorable Mentor in 2018 at the Short. Sweet. Film Festival.
Jason Stuart won the Best Actor Award at the Silicon Beach Film Festival for his touching performance role of Lenny in the drama Like Father. Which he also directed and produced later sold to Dekkoo.com. The film also stars Nic Few, Terry Ray, Daniyar, Mike C. Manning and Denise Dowse.