Blake Jenner

Blake Alexander Jenner (born August 27, 1992) is an American actor and singer. He is best known for winning the second season of the Oxygen reality competition series The Glee Project and his portrayal of Ryder Lynn in the Fox musical comedy-drama series Glee. In 2016, he had the lead role in the Richard Linklater film Everybody Wants Some!! and appeared in What/If (2019) and the coming-of-age drama The Edge of Seventeen.

Blake Jenner was born as Blake Alexander Jenner on August 27, 1992, in Miami, Florida, where he was raised.

He grew up interested in music and film and began playing drums at age nine. He attended Felix Varela High School, where he joined the school's drama society Troupe 6162 and played varsity football and wrestling. Stating that he was "in love with improv and comedy" he began improvisation lessons and participated in stage productions at the Roxy Performing Arts Center. In 2008, he became a member of "Impromedy", a sketch comedy improv group based in Miami.

Film/television

After graduating high school a year early, with just $2,500 in his pocket, Jenner left Miami and relocated to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. While in California, he took on many jobs including a waiter, clothing store associate, and parrot salesman while auditioning for acting roles. He continually attended improv classes at The Groundlings and eventually did a guest show with them two years later.

After working in a short Fresh 2 Death directed by Eddy Moon, he made a guest appearance in the role of Miller Collins in an episode of TV series Melissa & Joey. By 2011, he was cast in the short films Wurlitzer and The Truth In Being Right and the horror film Cousin Sarah, alongside Jason Mewes and Leah Pipes.

In 2012, Jenner was selected through industry channels to audition as one of 15 contestants on the second season of The Glee Project, a television reality show for which the prize was a guaranteed seven-episode arc on the following season of Glee. He was one of three finalists and ultimately won. After appearing as Ryder Lynn on the fourth season of Glee, he was later nominated and won the Teen Choice Award for Choice TV Breakout Star. Jenner, along with co-stars Jacob Artist, Becca Tobin, Alex Newell, and Melissa Benoist, was promoted to series regular status for the fifth season.

In the summer of 2013, Jenner wrote the screenplay for Billy Boy. He and Benoist crowdfunded the project on Kickstarter and successfully collected $110,057 with the stated goal of $100,000. Directed by Bradley Buecker, the film was released in September 2017 and starred Benoist and Jenner alongside Jim Beaver and Brenda Bakke.

Jenner was subsequently cast in the horror film Phil Claydon-directed Within(released October 2016). 

In late 2015, Jenner was cast in a recurring role as Adam Foster on Supergirl, playing opposite his wife by then Melissa Benoist, who stars as the series' title character. His first appearance aired on January 25, 2016. Also in 2016, he starred as Jake Bradford in Richard Linklater's comedy film Everybody Wants Some!!, which was released on March 30, and played "Darian," brother of Nadine (played by Hailee Steinfeld) in the coming-of-age drama The Edge of Seventeen.

In April 2016, he was announced to have joined the cast of Shawn Christensen's drama film The Vanishing of Sidney Hall, which premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival and was released in 2018.

In 2018, Jenner was seen as Chas in Bart Layton's biographical drama American Animals. The film premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival on January 19, 2018, and was released on June 1, 2018, by The Orchard and MoviePass Ventures. The following year, in 2019, he was seen in the role of Sean Donovan in 10 episodes of What/If, Netflix's anthology neo-noir thriller series.

In 2019, Jenner lent his voice to a character in the video game NBA 2K20.

Currently (September 2020), Jenner is filming for Merrily We Roll Along. The film is being directed by Richard Linklater and Jenner will be seen alongside Ben Platt and Beanie Feldstein.

Stage

In addition, Jenner has also performed The New Group's production of "Cyrano," a new Off-Broadway musical directed by Erica Schmidt, with music by brothers Aaron Dessner and Bryce Dessner, and lyrics by Matt Berninger and Carin Besser (the first three of the rock band The National). The show is based on a nineteenth-century play by French writer Edmond Rostand about real-life Cyrano de Bergerac. Jenner plays the character of Christian de Neuvillette alongside Peter Dinklage in the title role. Unlike the characters in the film versions (José Ferrer, Steve Martin, and Gérard Depardieu), who wore giant noses to portray Cyrano, Dinklage does wear any prosthetics Cyrano. 

Jenner married his former Glee co-star Melissa Benoist in 2015. She filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences, in late December 2016 and the divorce was finalized in December 2017. In November 2019, Benoist posted a 14-minute Instagram video detailing the domestic violence she faced from Jenner, describing instances where she was "pinned down and slapped repeatedly, punched so hard I felt the wind go out of me, dragged by my hair across pavement, head-butted, pinched until my skin broke, shoved against the wall so hard the drywall broke, choked." After almost 11 months, on October 8, 2020, Jenner responded to Benoist's allegations on his Instagram account. He confirmed an incident where she had suffered an injury that tore her iris after an iPhone was thrown at her during a domestic dispute. He also claimed that emotional, mental, and physical abuse during their relationship had been mutual.

Film

Television

Video games

Regional

Off-Broadway

• Glee: The Music Presents Glease
• Glee: The Music, Season 4, Volume 1
• Glee Sings the Beatles