Jake Bern

December 2005

I just got cast in a delicious, small role in Gary Flaxman’s “Swim to the Moon,” an AEA stage play directed by Judith Rose and starring David James Elliot (the lead from CBS’s “JAG”). I’m playing an angry, angry Vietnam vet who comes back to yell at Jim Morrison about letting him down...I guess you gotta come see it to believe it. I’m hyped to be part of a theatrical production right before pilot season begins, definitely a good omen!

November 2005

Well, 2004 was the year of tv appearances, and 2005 is turning into the year of movie ones. I just got cast as the supporting lead opposite Brett Ryland in the uproaringly funny, ridiculously tragic feature “The Riot Act.” Dreamworks is interested in fronting the bill, but until they sign at the dotted line, we will start hard-core character work and back story development. I’m really, really excited about this project--the role is just butter--so complex, so funny, so weird. More updates when they’re available...

August 2005

Just got done working on the movie “My Suicide,” a comedy starring comic-protege Gabriel Sunday (a long-lost friend from Camp Winnarainbow). David Miller directed, and a played a Christian fundamentalist who wrote a rap about Jesus...it felt so great to finally be doing comedy again (since most of my tv work has been drama), and David gave me the freedom to improvise as much as possible. Look out for it in theaters and at Sundance in the following year...also, just went to my first Burning Man (the art/rock/sex festival out in the Nevada desert), and it was like Wonderland after a bottle of jack and a joint to your head. Pure bliss!

April 2005

Went to network for two different pilots, and was told I was both too old and too young...making some great connections with casting directors this pilot season, and laying the groundwork for a great summer!

February 2005

I’ve been helping my good friend Kristin Hanggi (director/writer extraordinaire) pitch a three-pic movie deal to Disney, alongside many great actors including Steve Connell (the best spoken word artist in the world). Instead of just talking about her ideas, Kristin had the brilliant idea to actually put together a couple of the flicks scenes and really bring to live the characters...just an amazing rehearsal process, and definitely blowing suits minds across the LA landscape.

January 2005

I just started studying at Jeff Goldblum and Robert Carnegie’s acting school, Playhouse West. It’s Meisner-based, and my good friend (and soon-to-be tv star ) Josh Cooke has recommended the school to me after years of his own studying there, so I checked it out, and was immediately hooked. I was going a lil’ stir-crazy just waiting around for the next audition, so this class should keep me fresh, busy, and always artistically-challenged...

July 2004

My beautiful girlfriend and I were getting a little antsy, so spur of the moment impulse inspired us to buy a one-way ticket to Paris, France where we rented a lil’ apartment in the Marais District and lived like true Parisians for a month. A weekend trip to Amsterdam made this the greatest adventure ever! It’s so important to travel as an artist; to see all different aspects and POV's of the world, and to constantly keep expanding your consciousness. Also, Paris in the rain w/ a bottle of red and the most beautiful blue-eyed woman on your side is an experience that no one, not even the Pope, could pass up.

April 2004

Just finished shooting a national Domino’s spot for both tv and radio...Neil Tardio, Jr. directed and he has made commercial making an art form. I had to eat over 100 pieces of pizza in the day, so I think y’all be able to see my face turning a slight shade of green. I can knock commercials as much as I want, but they are harder than they look and a good lesson at concentration and technique (i.e. the pizza tasted like poo but even after the thousandth take, you gotta make that shit look like it’s heaven). The radio spot was interesting too...learning how to sell a product while still staying true to the reality of the situation (i.e. three dudes just chillin’ but it happens to be that they are eating some killer pizza). Look and listen for me, and beware of the Noid!!!!

February 2004

I just had the time of my fucking life! I got cast as Charlie Kisselback, a heroin addict (what the hell is up with all these drug roles? Must be my Berkeley roots...) and constant liar in ABC’s “LA Dragnet.” I got to work alongside Ed O’Neill (most well-known for his work as Al Bundy from the sitcom “Married With Children,” but whose decades of theater work in the Chicago area the more important of his accomplishments), and I have to tell you, I have a new idol. Such a professional, such a natural, such a listener. Should be airing on TNT (since ABC canceled it for some reality show) in the next couple months. I get my butt whooped to by my angry dad so it should be a holler to watch!

January 2004

Just finished shooting a national Sprint commercial. I played a fraternity brother; yes, I, Jake Bern, played a frat boy (which proves that I have to be somewhat of a good actor since I am more naturally a cross between Woody Allen and a small monkey). Regardless, we filmed on-location at a real USC fraternity house, so I talked as much shit as possible (GO BRUINS!). It was really interesting talking to the Sprint Guy (you know, the dude in the trench coat in all of Sprint’s commercials), and hearing what it’s like leading the life of a commercial actor. He’s done a lot of theatrical work, but couldn’t pass up the financial security from a job like this. Such a complex decision--in college, you dream of making real and meaningful art that impacts the world socially, emotionally, and politically, but then the economic realities hit you and it’s more than just your art; it’s your livelihood. The commercial should be running alongside mostly sporting events on the three major networks so look for it...

September 2003

Biggest tv experience so far - I just shot for three weeks on CBS’s new cop show, “Cold Case.” I got to work with Kathryn Morris and Silas Weir Mitchell, and just being around two tv pros for such a long time allowed me to really see what it’s like to work on a hour-long episodic drama. Fun, but very, very tiring. I have the lead in the episode, so it was satisfying to finally have a full character arc, and I got to drive an old vintage thunderbird (note to self: don’t fuck with teamsters--if they tell ya to drive the car slow, drive it slow), which was just friggin’ awesome! Fingers-crossed that the show becomes a hit and makes it through the first season, because god does Ms. Morris deserve it (an artist that I can hopefully emulate with my own career).

August 2003

I shot my first guest appearance on television for the WB’s “Gilmore Girls,” a quick scene with the shows star Lauren Graham in which she and her daughter (played by Alexis Bledel) think I’m a “really cute ice cream boy.” Sigh. But I got to shoot on the stage at Warner Bros. where the original “Maltese Falcon” whose filmed, and the history of it was mind-boggling. Look for it in the next couple months (i.e. a cute Jewish boy selling non-Kosher ice cream).

May 2003

I just booked a national commercial for the “Click It or Ticket” campaign; little do they know, I never wear my seat belt, have had my license for less than a year, and am drinking a beer...right...now...anyway, should be fun and the casting director Jeff Girard was really nice and fun to work with (unlike many of the commercial casting sessions I’ve had - god, I’m a Berkelely-bred hippie and now I’m making commercials for the federal government and the highway patrolmen who have arrested me numerous times for illegal trespassing during protests--gotta love college debt bills!).

April 2003

I got cast in the feature film “Iowa” alongside Rosanna Arquette. I play Nick Slavens, a crank addict who writes poems about the gnomes he sees and then lights himself on fire...I’m sorry this is what you helped pay my theater school tuition for, Grandma! Anyway, I’m looking forward to yet again getting paid to travel (we shoot on-location in Iowa for the next month), working with the brilliant and dark up and coming director/actor Matt Farnsworth, and being onset with such a pro as Ms. Arquette. This being my first feature, I’ll keep my eyes open, my mouth shut, and I’ll try to learn as much as possible.

December 2002

My best professional job so far! I played Jimmy Conroy in LA TheatreWorks production of Budd Schulberg’s classic “On the Waterfront.” I got to work with actor greats Hector Elizondo, Rebecca Pidgeon, and Jeffrey Donovan (the highlight of the whole experience was Hector’s stories about him and Al Pacino doing plays on the east coast in the 1970s...too much incriminating evidence to print them here, but suffice to say they were fuckin’ out of this world!). We rehearsed for a week under the direction of Rosalind Ayres (whose repped by my lovely agents at Badgley Connor), then had three live-performances in front of sold-out crowds at the Skirball Cultural Center. Budd Schulberg and David Mamet were at closing night, commemorating the 50th anniversary of this masterpiece, and I realized that if I could make a living doing theater in LA, I would...nothing like life performance and an energized audience to remind me of why I do what I do. Finally, we recorded in a state-of-the-art studio for the CD that will be released for the BBC and NPR (look for them in the next several months). Just a truly amazing experience!

July/August 2002

Just finished a six-week run of Natalie Avital’s theatrical premiere “Voice of the Hero” at the Complex Theater. We got Critic’s Pick in LA Weekly, and great reviews from LA Times, Backstage West, etc. To be able to inhabit two such different, distinct characters for such a long period of time is always so satisfying and surreal; you feel your soul sorta melding into theirs and it’s just the biggest high in the world. O, if only I could make a living just doing theater, because I’m tellin’ ya, live performance is where it’s at! October - I just got back from shooting an MTV commercial in, of all places, Cape town, South Africa! It was a Public Service Announcement promoting safe sex and HIV awareness, all through a highly-comedic 30 second spot. In other words, I got to climb a South African mountain and then, I fell off the mountain to my demise (see commercial reel for the ha-ha). Man, it was the actor’s dream: to get paid to travel thousands of miles around the world to act, and the best part of the whole experience was that I was the first of three commercials to shoot, so I had about 10 days (per diem) to explore the city of Cape town, visit townships, pet cheetahs on animal refuges, and drink gallons of cheap wine. God, tt’s a hard life...

1997-2002

...Just had a blast at UCLA School of Theater, Film & Television...did over 50+ theatrical productions, dozens of student films (mostly at USC since they have all the money and equipment), and became a diehard Laker’s fan...traveled the world in the summer doing theater, including treks to Paris, France, Havana, Cuba, and Harlem, NYC...worked with kids throughout the Los Angeles public school system with a group called Equal Opportunity Productions, which helped children express their hopes, dreams, and fears through theatrical productions...had my first big Hollywood Audition for the feature film “Wonder Boys” (directed by Curtis Hansen), read with Mallie Fin and Mr. Hansen, lost the part to Tobey Maguire, decided I best finish my college career before delving into the abyss they call show business and so promised myself not to get rep or audition for tv/film before I had a degree in my hand (my grandma was sure as hell happy about that one)...began numerous sketches and shows with the greatest unknown comedy troupe in all of Los Angeles, The Bare Naked Bards (starring the genius of Jason Medbury, Matt Harris, Ryan Green, Jenn Wong, and my lil’ neurotic Jewish ass)...graduated with three acting awards, one of three valedictorians, and tons of student loans...

1979-1997

...I was born on a cloudy summer day in Oakland, California - people of high moral standards cry world-wide...grew up in Berkeley with my librarian-dad and my anti-establishment-grandmama, eating strawberries and waffles every Saturday morning while practicing my MJ moon-walk...began juggling on the street for $, doing theater in San Francisco and around the Bay Area, and reeking general chaos and havoc wherever I went...got arrested numerous times protesting wars, cuts in public funding, and throwing firecrackers at Albany cop cars (they deserved it, trust me)...saw the Oakland A’s win their first World Series in over twenty five years, the 49ers triumph three times in the Super Bowl, and cried like the little child I was (and am) at all my teams championships...lived through numerous earthquakes and fires that only proved that God is really, really mad at us...went to hippie camp every summer where I became a real Clown (and also fell in-love with numerous girls)...was told I should go to college so applied, got into many places, could afford UCLA, and thus went to LaLaLand to start life’s real craziness...

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