Jason Alexander (born Jason Scott Greenspan on September 23, 1959) is a television, cinema and musical theatre actor, best known for his role as George Costanza on the hit television series Seinfeld.

Alexander was born in Newark, New Jersey to Josh and Ruth Greenspan. He has a half-sister, Karen Van Horn, and a half-brother, Michael Greenspan. Alexander is Jewish. Alexander is a 1977 graduate of Livingston High School in Livingston, New Jersey. He had also attended Boston University, but abandoned his studies the summer before his senior year after getting work in New York City. He was later given an honorary degree. In September 2006 on Access Hollywood , he identified Robert Lampf as his favorite teacher and the teacher that most influenced and encouraged him to pursue his acting career.

Career

Alexander began his acting career on the New York stage. On Broadway, he appeared in Stephen Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along, The Rink, Neil Simon's Broadway Bound, Accomplice, and Jerome Robbins' Broadway, for which he was awarded the 1989 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical.

Alexander is best remembered as a cast member of the award-winning television sitcom Seinfeld, in which he played the neurotic ne'er-do-well George Costanza, Jerry Seinfeld's best friend. Concurrently with his Seinfeld duties, Alexander provided the voice of the lead character in the cult animated series Duckman, which lasted from 1994-1997. Alexander also voiced Catbert, the evil director of human resources, in the short-lived Dilbert animated series based on the popular comic strip.

In January 1995, Alexander did a commercial for Rold Gold pretzels to be broadcast during the Super Bowl. The commercial depicts Jason with Frasier dog "Eddie" jumping out of an airplane with a parachute over the stadium. After the commercial, we're brought back to a supposedly "live feed" of the playing field hearing startled sports commentators as we see Jason and the dog landing in the field to applause from the crowd.

He has also appeared in a number of movies, achieving limited success in Hollywood in notable supporting roles, such as the unlikeable womanizer Mauricio in the movie Shallow Hal (2001) with Jack Black. Other film appearances include Love! Valour! Compassion!, Dunston Checks In, and as Richard Gere's business partner in Pretty Woman. Alexander dabbled in the art of directing, starting with 1996's For Better or Worse and 1999's Just Looking.

Despite a relatively successful career in film and on stage, Alexander never managed to re-capture his Seinfeld reputation on the small screen. 2001 marked a brief but highly-touted return to prime-time with the sitcom Bob Patterson, canceled after 5 episodes.

Returning to the stage in 2003, Alexander was cast in a successful run, opposite Martin Short, in the Los Angeles production of Mel Brooks' The Producers . He also featured in country star Brad Paisley's music video, "Celebrity".

Alexander also appeared with Kelsey Grammer in the 2004 musical adaptation of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol. He played Jacob Marley to Grammer's Ebenezer Scrooge. In the fall of 2004, he appeared in the short-lived CBS sitcom Listen Up, costarring Malcolm-Jamal Warner.

Alexander continues to appear in live stage shows, including Barbara Streisand's memorable birthday party for Stephen Sondheim at the Hollywood Bowl, in which he appeared with Angela Lansbury, performing selections from Sweeney Todd.

In the summer of 2005, he appeared with Lee Iacocca in ads for DaimlerChrysler.

Alexander has also done a McDonald's commercial advertising the McDLT, in which he sings. He has also appeared in KFC commercials, including one with baseball superstar Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants and another one opposite Trista Rehn of The Bachelorette. It was rumored that he no longer appears in these commercials due to the alleged cruelty to animals by KFC suppliers and slaughterhouses, but he refuted that in Adweek [August 2, 200. Alexander said, "That's PETA bullcrap. I loved working for KFC. I was targeted by PETA to broker something between them. I think KFC really stepped up to the plate; unfortunately PETA did not."

Alexander appears on the Family Guy: Live in Vegas CD singing a verse in the song "All Cartoons are Fuckin' Dicks".

Alexander is credited with coining the term "Ass Hat" in a well known blooper from the show "Seinfeld".

He featured in the Friends episode "The One Where Rosita Dies" as a suicidal supply manager named Earl. Phoebe rings him trying to sell him toner and she learns about his problem and tries to convince him not to commit suicide. This is referred to in an episode of Malcolm in the Middle where Alexander appears as a neurotic and critical loner called Leonard. He describes himself as free and mentions that he makes money with a job "selling toner over the phone". Also in the episode, he is repeatedly harassed by a man named George - his character's name on Seinfeld.

He performed a mentalism and magic act at the World Famous Magic Castle in Hollywood, California on April 24-30 2006.

Alexander appeared on Star Trek: Voyager on the episode "Think Tank" playing a genius alien named Kurros who was trying to get Seven of Nine on his ship.

On the June 26, 2006 episode of the Jimmy Kimmel Live talk show, Alexander demonstrated several self-defense techniques. He was also the Host of the 230th July 4, 2006 of the PBS July 4 "A Capitol Fourth" Celebrations in Washington, D.C. in which he sang, danced, and played tuned drums.

Alexander has appeared twice on Bravo's Celebrity Poker Showdown and won the final table in the 8th season. Alexander played for United Way of the greater New Orleans area and won $500,000 for the charity.

On August 6, 2006, Alexander signed on to feature as a regular cast member in the second season of Everybody Hates Chris.

Alexander was the host of the Comedy Central roast of actor William Shatner on August 13, 2006, which first aired on August 20, 2006.

In 2007 Alexander was a guest star in the third episode of the improv comedy show Thank God You're Here (US TV series)

Alexander is the national spokesman for the Scleroderma Foundation, a leading organization dedicated to raising awareness of the disease and assisting those who are afflicted.

Personal life

Alexander has been married to Daena E. Title since May 31, 1981. They have two children, Gabriel (b. August 1991) and Noah (b. February 1996).

Trivia

• According to an FX trivia question during a viewing of Shallow Hal, Alexander started losing his hair at the age of 16.

• In a recent interview, he admitted he hasn't watched episodes of Seinfeld past the third season.

Filmography

• The Burning - Dave (1981)

• Senior Trip - Pete (1981)

• Mosquito Coast - Clerk (1986)

• Brighton Beach Memoirs - Pool Player (1986)

• Seinfeld - George Costanza (1989 - 1998)

• Pretty Woman - Philip Stuckey (1990)

• White Palace - Neil (1990)

• Jacob's Ladder - Geary (1990)

• I Don't Buy Kisses Anymore - Bernie Fishbine (1992)

• Coneheads - Neighbor Larry Farber (1993)

• Sexual Healing (1993)

• For Goodness Sake (1993)

• Duckman - Duckman's voice (1994 - 1997)

• The Paper - Marion Sandusky (1994)

• North (1994)

• The Hunchback of Notre Dame - voice (1996)

• Blankman (1994)

• The Last Supper (1995)

• Dunston Checks In (1996)

• For Better Or Worse (1996)

• Love! Valour! Compassion! - Buzz Hauser (1997)

• The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle -Boris Badenov (2000)

• The Trumpet of the Swan - voice (2001)

• Shallow Hal - Mauricio Wilson (2001)

• The Hunchback of Notre Dame II - voice (2002)

• The Man Who Saved Christmas (2002)