Jonah is a 18 year old actor, singer, dancer living in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area. He made his first stage appearance in a school production of Grease when he was in second grade and immediately fell in love with performing. Next came three successive productions of Beauty and the Beast, where he got to play LeFou in his sixth grade production at Louise Archer Elementary and then with Vienna Youth Players ("VYP"). Finally, he made his professional debut in the summer of 2019 as an ensemble member with Creative Cauldron's production, where seeing Matt Connor's brilliant direction and choreography inspired him night after night.
At Thoreau Middle School, Jonah played the Ugly Duckling in Shrek: The Musical and Cosmo in Singin' in the Rain. When Covid shut schools down for in-person learning, Jonah performed in online productions of It's a Wonderful Life with VYP, and several one-act plays with MAD Drama. After Covid restrictions were lifted and schools opened up again, Jonah appeared as East in MAD Drama's production of Almost, Maine, and as Leaf Coneybear in The Twenty-Fifth Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, where his performance won the 2022 Cappie Award for Best Comic Actor in a Male Role in a Musical, National Capital Area. For MAD Drama, he also appeared as Sky in Mamma Mia!, Ned Harris in Deadwood Dick, or The Game of Gold!, where his performance was nominated for the 2024 Cappie Award for Best Lead Actor in a Male Role in a Play, National Capital Area, and Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing, where his performance won the 2023 Cappie Award for Best Comic Actor in a Male Role in a Play, National Capital Area. Most recently, he played Pippin in MAD Drama's production (and my last high school play) of Pippin.
These past couple of years, Jonah has also been proud to participate in the Fairfax Musical Theatre Academy, where he studied musical theatre with Erich Dicenzo. His performance of Emmett in the Academy's production of Legally Blonde earned him a 2023 Brandon Victor Dixon nomination for Best Actor (top 5 finalist). Most recently, he starred as Wade "Cry Baby" Walker in the Academy's production of Cry Baby: The Musical, where his performance won the 2024 Brandon Victor Dixon Award for Best Actor. His BVD Award earned him the opportunity to participate in the 2024 Jimmy Awards in New York City at the Minskoff Theatre, along with 101 other high school students from around the country, where he was lucky enough to revive a bit of his Cry Baby performance in Character Medly Group Two.
Jonah also studies dance with Kellie Payne at Legacy Dance, and singing with Gwendolyn Walker (Penn State University). This fall, he will attend Elon University to begin pursuing his BFA in Musical Theatre.
When Jonah isn't acting, he enjoys cooking, writing, playing the piano, and film editing.
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