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 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. It premiered at Theatre Aquarius in Hamilton, directed by Mary-Francis Moore and produced by Michael Rubinoff (Come From Away). It’ll run next in Kingston (October 22 - November 8, 2026) and Montreal (May 9 - 30, 2027).

l also co-wrote the movie Code 8: Part ll, which hit #1 in 71 countries on Netflix, and Ahmed and I co-created with 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 Violation (Sundance, TIFF, NYTimes Critics’ Pick), and I spent four seasons on Murdoch Mysteries, playing the secret lover of Daniel Maslany. Onstage I’ve acted in lots of new plays by writers including Sarah Ruhl and Hannah Moscovitch.

In 2014, I spent six months with the Caravan Stage Company, a crew of singers, actors, aerialists, sailors and other vagabonds, aboard their 98 ft. tall ship, the Amara Zee. 

Sailing from Florida to New York, we performed the Caravan’s latest rock opera/circus show, “Hacked: The Treasure of the Empire,” aboard the ship.

The show was strange and controversial, and 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’s me.

Thanks for reading all this. Let me know if you’d like to connect. Or if you’d like me to bring the devil into your town.

Photos above by Dahlia Katz.