My name’s Jesse.

I’m a writer and occasional actor based in Toronto.

I write movies, musicals, and plays and collaborate often on other narrative projects.

Reading everything below should take less than a minute.

Ahmed Moneka and I co-wrote the story / book for the stage musical It’s a Good Life if You Don’t Weaken with the catalogue of the legendary Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip, directed by Mary-Francis Moore and produced by Michael Rubinoff (Come From Away), coming soon to Kingston and Montreal.

l also co-wrote the movie Code 8: Part ll, which hit #1 in 71 countries on Netflix. Ahmed and I also co-created (w/ Seth Bockley and Ahmed’s Arabic jazz band) the award-winning theatre production Gilgamesh which ran in New York City, Chicago, Minneapolis, Halifax and twice at Soulpepper Theatre in Toronto.

As an actor, I won the Toronto ACTRA Award and was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award for the horror film Violation (Sundance, TIFF, NYTimes Critics’ Pick). I spent four seasons on the TV show Murdoch Mysteries, and onstage I usually act in new plays, by writers including Sarah Ruhl and Hannah Moscovitch.

When I was twenty-two, I spent six months with the Caravan Stage Company, a crew of sailors, singers, aerialists and vagabonds performing their latest rock opera / circus show on their 98 ft. tall ship, the Amara Zee.

Sailing from Florida to New York, we performed “Hacked: The Treasure of the Empire” using the ship’s deck as a stage.

One time, we were kicked out of Portsmouth, Virginia by the mayor for, “bringing the devil into his town.”

In the photo below, behind the large mask, and under the word “horror,” that me.

Let me know if you’d like to connect. Or if you’d like me to bring the devil into your town.

A few recent photos by Dahlia Katz: