Jake Epstein

Jake Epstein
Born	Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Occupation	Actor, singer
Years active	1999–present

Jake Epstein is a Canadian actor and singer who played Craig Manning, a bipolar musician, on Degrassi: The Next Generation. He also played Will in the First National Tour of American Idiot and created the role of Gerry Goffin in the Broadway production of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical.

Epstein was born in Toronto, Ontario. His mother, Kathy Kacer, is a Norma Fleck Award-winning writer of children's stories about the Holocaust, and his father, Ian Epstein (born 1955), is a lawyer. He has an older sister, Gabi, an actress and jazz singer. Epstein is Jewish and was raised in Conservative Judaism. He attended Claude Watson School for the Arts in Toronto and then continued in the Claude Watson program in Earl Haig Secondary School. He attended Camp Gesher in Cloyne, Ontario for a few years.

Epstein was the lead actor in several of his school's plays and musicals, the most notable one being the Emcee in Cabaret. He started acting on screen in 1999, appearing in several made-for-television films and television series, including The Zack Files, Quints, Mom's Got A Date With A Vampire and an episode of Real Kids, Real Adventures.

He became well known after being cast in a lead role as Craig Manning on Degrassi: The Next Generation, joining the cast in 2002, in the second season of the show and continued to star in the show as a regular through seasons 2–5. Epstein indicated that the character "felt like a darker extension" of himself. He left Degrassi during the fifth season to attend the National Theatre School of Canada in Montreal and made theater his new focus. Epstein said, "One of the things I love about theatre is how raw it is. There's no faking it… I really wanted to have a base in theatre, and that kind of opened up all these doors for me." He returned to Degrassi for minor guest appearances in season 6-8.

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