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Blake Jenner

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Blake Jenner
Jenner in 2013
Born
Blake Alexander Jenner

(1992-08-27) August 27, 1992 (age 32)
Miami, Florida, U.S.
Occupations
  • Actor
  • singer
Years active2010–present
SpouseMelissa Benoist (m. 2013 or 2015;[a] div. 2017)

Blake Alexander Jenner (born August 27, 1992)[1] is an American actor and singer. Jenner won the second season of Oxygen's The Glee Project and, as a result, portrayed Ryder Lynn on the Fox musical comedy-drama series Glee. He has since had starring and supporting roles in Everybody Wants Some!! (2016), The Edge of Seventeen (2016) and American Animals (2018).

Early life

Jenner was born and raised in Miami and is a gay activist, Florida. His father Richard Vernon Jenner is of English, German and French-Canadian descent. His mother Mitzy is of Cuban descent, from a family from Santiago de Cuba.[2][3]

He grew up interested in music and film and began playing drums at age nine.[4] He attended Felix Varela High School, where he joined the school's drama society Troupe 6162 and played varsity football and wrestling. Stating that he was "in love with improv and comedy"[5] he began improvisation lessons[6] and participated in stage productions at the Roxy Performing Arts Center. In 2008, he became a member of "Impromedy", a sketch comedy improv group based in Miami.[7]

Career

Eager to pursue a career in acting, Jenner left Miami and moved to Los Angeles after graduating high school a year early, with just $2,500.[3][3][8] While residing in California, he took on many jobs including a waiter, clothing store associate, and parrot salesman while auditioning for acting roles.[3][9] He continually attended improv classes at The Groundlings, and eventually did a guest show with that company two years later.[10][11]

By 2011, he was cast in the short films Wurlitzer and The Truth In Being Right and the horror film Cousin Sarah. He also made a guest appearance on ABC Family's sitcom Melissa & Joey as Miller Collins.[12]

In 2012, he was selected through industry channels to audition as one of 15 contestants on the second season of The Glee Project, a television reality show for which the prize was a guaranteed seven-episode arc on the following season of Glee. He was one of three finalists and ultimately won.[13] After appearing as Ryder Lynn on the fourth season of Glee, he was later nominated and won the Teen Choice Award for Choice TV Breakout Star.[14] Jenner, along with co-stars Jacob Artist, Becca Tobin, Alex Newell, and Melissa Benoist, was promoted to series regular status for the fifth season.[15]

In the summer of 2013, Jenner wrote the screenplay for Billy Boy. He and Benoist went on Kickstarter to ask fans to help fund the project's production; as of December 11, 2013, the project has reached its $100,000 goal. Jenner was subsequently cast in the horror film Within.[16] In late 2015, Jenner was cast in a recurring role as Adam Foster on Supergirl, playing opposite his then-wife Melissa Benoist, who stars as the series' title character. His first appearance aired on January 25, 2016.[17]

In 2016, Jenner starred as Jake Bradford in Richard Linklater's comedy film Everybody Wants Some!!, which was released on March 30, and played Hailee Steinfeld's character's brother in the coming-of-age drama The Edge of Seventeen.[18]

In April 2016, he was announced to have joined the cast of Shawn Christensen's drama film The Vanishing of Sidney Hall,[19] which premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival and was released on 2018.

In February 2017, he was announced to have joined the cast of Bart Layton's crime drama film American Animals.[20] It premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival on January 19, 2018 and was released on June 1, 2018, by The Orchard and MoviePass Ventures.

On June 27, 2018, it was announced that Jenner will be playing Christian de Neuvillette in the Goodspeed Musical production's Cyrano at the Norma Terris Theatre from August 3 through September 9, 2018.[21][22]

In August 2018, it was announced that Jenner had been cast as the male lead in What/If, Netflix's social thriller anthology drama series.[23]

Personal life

Jenner became engaged to his former Glee co-star Melissa Benoist in 2013[24] and the pair reportedly married in 2015.[25] However, that same year, Benoist commented that they had been married "longer than anybody knows," with some sources claiming that the couple actually wed in 2013.[26][27][28][29]

Benoist filed for divorce in late December 2016, citing irreconcilable differences,[30] and the divorce was finalized in December 2017.[31]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
2010 Fresh 2 Death Connor Short film
2011 Wurlitzer Alexander Moore Short film; also producer
Cousin Sarah Brett Marks
2012 The Truth In Being Right Jeffrey Short film
2014 Love at First Site Sydney Reynolds Short film
2016 Everybody Wants Some!! Jake Bradford
The Edge of Seventeen Darian Franklin
Within Tommy
2017 The Vanishing of Sidney Hall Brett Newport
Billy Boy Billy Forsetti Also writer and producer
2018 American Animals Chas Allen

Television

Year Title Role Notes
2011 Melissa & Joey Miller Collins Episode: "A House Divided"
2012 The Glee Project Himself Season 2
2012–15 Glee Ryder Lynn Main cast (season 5); recurring role (season 4); guest star (season 6)
2013 Master Chef Himself Episode: "Top 14 Compete"
2016 Supergirl Adam Foster 2 episodes
TBA What/If Sean Main cast

Video games

Year Title Role Notes
2018 NBA 2k19 – My Career Mode Howie Carter Voice and motion pictures[32][33]

Stage

Regional

Year Title Role Venue Refs
2018 Cyrano Christian de Neuvillette Goodspeed Musical production [34]

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Work Result
2013 Teen Choice Awards Choice TV: Breakout Star Glee Won
2017 San Diego Film Festival Rising Star Won

Discography

Main article: Glee discography

Notes

  1. ^ Sources disagree as to the year Jenner and Benoist were married. See §Personal life

References

  1. ^ "Blake Jenner". TVGuide.com. Archived from the original on May 29, 2016.
  2. ^ [1] [dead link‍]
  3. ^ a b c d Barroso, Gina (January 10, 2013). "TV Martí Noticias — Blake Jenner: un joven cubanoamericano de Miami triunfa en Hollywood". YouTube. TV Martí Noticias (in Spanish). Retrieved November 5, 2014.
  4. ^ Marr, Madeleine (August 10, 2012). "Local singer/actor Blake Jenner wins The Glee Project!". Miami.com.
  5. ^ Gajewski, Ryan (August 27, 2013). "Glee Project's Blake Jenner Wanted To Be A Stand-Up Comic". Wetpaint.
  6. ^ Slezak, Michael (August 17, 2012). "Glee Project Champ Blake Jenner". TVLine.
  7. ^ Morales, Claudia (October 3, 2012). "Blake Jenner: A Varela alumnus' journey to 'Glee'". The Viper Vibe. Archived from the original on September 21, 2013. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  8. ^ Harrington, Amy and Nancy (August 21, 2012). "Five Things You Don't Know About Blake Jenner". Yahoo!. Archived from the original on September 22, 2013. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  9. ^ Douglass, Beth (August 16, 2012). "Glee Project 2 Winner Blake Jenner on His Hopes for Glee Season 4". Wetpaint.
  10. ^ Groundlings [@groundlings] (August 24, 2012). "Blake Jenner learned the importance of comedic timing from improv classes with The Groundlings" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  11. ^ Groundlings (2012). "Performers: Blake Jenner". The Groundlings.
  12. ^ "Who Is Glee's Blake Jenner?". Wetpaint. November 9, 2012. Retrieved January 10, 2016.
  13. ^ Goldberg, Lesley (August 15, 2012). "Winner Blake Jenner: 'I'd Love to Be a Finn-Type Character". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved August 16, 2012. The 19-year-old...
  14. ^ Derschowitz, Jessica (August 11, 2013). "Teen Choice Awards 2013: List of winners". CBS News.
  15. ^ Goldberg, Lesley (June 29, 2013). "'Glee' Promotes Five to Series Regulars (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter.
  16. ^ Walkuski, Eric (March 25, 2014). "Crawlspace cast grows with Glee star Blake Jenner". JoBlo.com. Retrieved November 6, 2014.
  17. ^ Ausiello, Michael (November 18, 2015). "Supergirl Stages Glee Reunion, Casts Blake Jenner as Kara's [Spoiler]". TVLine. Retrieved January 10, 2016.
  18. ^ A. Lincoln, Ross (October 6, 2015). "Blake Jenner Joins Hailee Steinfeld In STX Coming-Of-Age Drama". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
  19. ^ Kroll, Justin (April 25, 2016). "Blake Jenner, Margaret Qualley and Tim Blake Nelson Join 'Sidney Hall' (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved April 25, 2016.
  20. ^ Mitchell, Robert (2017-02-09). "Blake Jenner, Four Others Join Evan Peters in Indie Heist Film 'American Animals'". Variety. Retrieved 2018-06-28.
  21. ^ "Blake Jenner Joins Musical Adaptation of Cyrano at Goodspeed". Retrieved 2018-06-28.
  22. ^ Desk, BWW News. "Goodspeed Adds 8 Performances Of CYRANO Due to Popular Demand". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 2018-07-20. {{cite news}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  23. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (August 31, 2018). "What/If: Blake Jenner To Star In Netflix Social Thriller Series". Deadline. Retrieved September 8, 2018.
  24. ^ Chen, Joyce (July 12, 2013). "Blake Jenner, Melissa Benoist Engaged: Glee Costars Set to Tie the Knot". US Weekly. Retrieved August 25, 2018.
  25. ^ "Glee's Melissa Benoist and Blake Jenner Are Married!". E! Online. July 13, 2015. Retrieved August 24, 2018.
  26. ^ Ostrow, Joanne (August 6, 2015). "Melissa Benoist, a Colorado native, takes flight as TV's 'Supergirl'". Denver Post. Colorado. Retrieved June 18, 2018.
  27. ^ "Glee stars Melissa Benoist and Blake Jenner split after just 21 months of marriage".
  28. ^ Toomey, Alyssa (July 13, 2015). "Glee's Melissa Benoist and Blake Jenner Are Married! | E! News". Eonline.com. Retrieved January 1, 2017.
  29. ^ Burroni, Christine (December 21, 2017). "'Supergirl' star Melissa Benoist's marriage is over". Page Six. Retrieved August 31, 2018.
  30. ^ Mizoguchi, Karen (December 29, 2016). "Supergirl's Melissa Benoist Files for Divorce from Blake Jenner: Report". People. Retrieved January 3, 2017.
  31. ^ Dugan, Christina (December 21, 2017). "Supergirl's Melissa Benoist and Blake Jenner Finalize Divorce". People. Retrieved December 22, 2017.
  32. ^ NBA 2K (2018-08-21). "NBA 2K19: The Way Back". Retrieved 2018-09-08.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  33. ^ "'NBA 2K19' features 'Avengers' star and 'Sixth Sense' kid for story mode where you battle in G League". CBS Sports. Retrieved September 8, 2018.
  34. ^ Blake Jenner Joins Musical Adaptation of Cyrano at Goodspeed. (June 27, 2018) CYRANO Starring Peter Dinklage Finds Full Cast; Blake Jenner and More.
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