Jake Epstein

Jake Epstein is a Canadian actor singer and writer He is best known for playing Craig in Degrassi The Next Generation Gemini Award Chuck in Designated Survivor and Brian in Suits along with many other leading roles On stage he appeared on Broadway as Peter Parker in SpiderMan Turn Off the Dark Gerry Goffin in Beautiful The Carole King Musical original Broadway cast and starred in the US National Tours of Green Days American Idiot and Spring Awakening 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 Degrassi The Next Generation 2001 costar Stefan Brogren Appeared with the actor that plays Jimmys 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 costar Stacey Farber from Grades Four to Eight He worked with Robert Clark in The Zack Files 2000 and his elder brother Daniel Clark in Degrassi The Next Generation 2001 His favourite film is Forrest Gump 1994 He was born only one day after his The Zack Files 2000 and Degrassi Goes Hollywood 2009 costar 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 Family Guy 1999 and Breaking Bad 2008 As a child he was a fan of XMen The Animated Series 1992 and SpiderMan 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 Family 2 Spouse Vanessa Smythe 7 July 2018 present