Born & raised in Edgewood, Cranston, RI, Jay is the second son & youngest of four children to Jim, a firefighter, and Dolly, a beauty consultant. A sensitive child from a young age, Jay took an immediate & obvious shining to the performing arts. Initially interested in comedy, a production of "Red Noses" at the famous Trinity Repertory in Providence showed him the importance of dramatic acting. He also began experimenting with short stories & poetry and developing his voice talents, perfecting impressions of former US Presidents & other celebrities. Jay’s high school enlisted him to make the morning & lunchtime announcements for their broadcasting group, where his talents were encouraged. Having a great theater program & its own licensed radio station, RI College seemed the right choice for Jay at the time. There, the professors & fellow students helped as best as they could to hone Jay's acting skills, giving him opportunities to perform in Shakespearean shows & other
classic scripts, as well as modern dramatic comedies like The Boys Next Door. During this time, Jay also found professional acting work outside of school & did his first musical, La Cage aux Folles. This was also a time for Jay to learn about radio broadcasting, having three differently formatted shows on 90.7 WXIN-FM. Connections made here led to an internship with a popular morning show at a professional station, where he learned more in less than a year of work than he did in the few years at his college radio station. The show’s host allowed all his interns to shine as featured personalities & staff members, and shine Jay did, co-writing & co-producing parodies, as well as performing many a stuntman's task, even garnering a picture on the coveted Page 6 of trade mag Network 40! All this hard work eventually led to his own part-time weekend-overnight shift, earning him the nickname "The Nightstalker." Jay is just grateful his show wasn't broadcast to northern
California.
During this transition from college to "the real world," Jay also discovered the world of performance poetry, or spoken word, which helped to develop his skills in & love of writing & acting. Jay was a three-time finalist to be on the Providence Poetry Slam® team, twice co-hosted & ran a popular poetry series, produced two chapbooks (selling out of the first printing of each), and toured & performed all over the New England area. To pay the bills, he also got a job selling subscriptions to Trinity Rep's '98-'99 season, unaware that he would become a part of it. Jay was given the role of Ice Pick, an antagonistic supporting character, in the first professional production of the controversial street-gang sci-fi drama A Preface to the Alien Garden by Robert Alexander, directed by Edris Cooper-Anifowoshe (ah-Nee-foe-WOE-shay). It was the greatest experience of Jay's career up to that point. Shortly after this experience, Jay broadened his horizons even further, becoming
a staff writer for Providence Monthly Magazine. His first article with the company was concerning the different winter holidays celebrated by the region. This article garnered the publication recognition by the National Conference on Community & Justice – Rhode Island Chapter with the Michael P. Metcalf Award for Diversity Education in Media, and Jay was asked to accept the award on their behalf. It was yet another proud moment for Jay, but the proudest moment of his life was yet to come.
During Jay's time with Providence Monthly, he was blessed by the birth of his first and only son. The boy's mother talked Jay into giving him a first name of Luke & a middle name of Sky, to go with Jay's last name of Walker. Extremely apprehensive at first, Jay eventually warmed to the idea, and now everyone's happy with the li'l Jedi. Jay took a break from pursuing his dreams, in order to be financially supportive of his son. Now, he's making the biggest effort ever to be able to do both, while remaining in southeastern New England, near his son. This effort led him to Ahtspot.com, which led him to the Open Call for the RI 48 Hour Film Project, which led Daylight Films to him. He helped in story development & appeared as the suave Latino for Daylight’s submission, Writer’s Block, which won 4 awards in the competition, including 1st runner-up. Currently, Jay experiences too much spare time between gigs, during which he likes to sing karaoke at pubs all over RI, wowing!
audiences with his spot-on rendition of Digital Underground's "The Humpty Dance," as well as doing straight performances of hits from the '50's to 50 minutes ago.
Availability & Rates:
Currently available weekdays, weeknights, Sunday nights. Rate negotiable. Please
contact me for details. |
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Jay Walker
Cranston, RI
Phone: (401) 688-2435
Email: CrosswalksOptional@yahoo.com |
