#b:hackney

[cityoflondon-rp-blog]

BASIC INFORMATION:

NAME: John ‘Jack’ Katz. AGE: 27. PLACE OF BIRTH: New York, New York City, United States. RESIDENCE: Hackney Wick, Hackney. OCCUPATION: A-list movie actor, and stand-up comedian. FACE CLAIM: Robert Sheehan.

BIOGRAPHY:

Jack was born to a first-generation Irish immigrant and a Jewish man whose family had been established for a very, very long time out on Long Island. His parents met, fell in love, and started their family in the city that never sleeps, until it was their baby boy and not their late nights partying that was keeping them up all night. They adored city life too much to leave it, they just needed a city that went at a different pace, and found their home in Washington, D.C., where Jack took his first steps just a few blocks from the White House. His father started work as a corporate lawyer and his mother started working for a non-profit, first as a volunteer and then working her way up to an intern, paid secretary, and higher and higher over the years.

From a young age, Jack always had creative talents. He got distracted during T-ball and would start fantastical conversations with other students, and found infinite humor in how upset his coach got over it. He was signed up for art lessons, but rarely drew or painted the pictures he was asked to by the teacher. His artistic talent was obvious from a young age, but he grew tired of lessons before long and his parents settled for just giving him piles of coloring books, sketchbooks, and art kits. A couple years into elementary school, they started to grow concerned with the familiar teacher’s notes of “Jack is a wonderful student, but we wish he would speak up more.” A new job offer for Mr. Katz brought the family out to Chicago, and Jack’s parents decided it might be a chance for their quiet son to try out his artistic skills in a different arena.

Jack was signed up for the school play without being asked, but in hindsight, it’s the best thing that ever happened to him. Something about being on a stage was so different than being in a normal conversation, and it was as if he was a completely different person who was completely detached from the real world. Because he signed up late and was still only in second grade, he was just in ensemble. Five minutes into his first performance, his parents were nearly crying with joy as they watched their shy little boy strutting confidently around the stage and were so pleased to see him part of a small crowd of kids after and chattering away with them.

Joining drama didn’t miraculously change Jack’s entire disposition. Off-stage, he was still very shy, and as a result, many of his friends throughout the years were only met through school and community theater. He didn’t mind at all, finding comfort and support in a group of people who all seemed to understand the way it seemed like a little switch went on once someone was on stage. When he was fifteen and this time it was his mother who was offered a position back in New York City at her non-profit’s headquarters, Jack was heartbroken to leave his close-knit group of friends. Especially right before the school’s performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream where he was to play Puck.

It was a hard adjustment to move back to the city that his parents kept calling home but that he didn’t recognize at all. He spent many afternoons sneaking into the movies and watching the latest released comedies and dramas. With no play to focus on, he became a lot more interested in television and film acting, and informed his parents he wanted to start signing up for auditions. Nothing big, just as an extra for films in New York. Their one rule was that he couldn’t miss school for it, but by the time he reached seventeen, he barely attended any of his afternoon classes. Far more often than not he didn’t get the gig, but those few times in two years that he did were enough to boost his confidence that he started sending out more and more audition tapes and dedicating all his time to it.

For his eighteenth birthday, Jack’s dad took him to see a comedian they both liked. The comedian was dry, just like Jack and his mother, but it never occurred to him that his sarcastic observations of the world could be used to entertain until that night. It was like an epiphany, and he went home that night with his audition planner now filled with random words and phrases he wanted to piece together into a comedy set. He found an open mic comedy place that was supposedly good for beginners and went back three weeks in a row despite his hands shaking (unnatural for him on stage) and getting booed off every single time before he finished.

It took another few audience rejections for Jack to finally find his groove when he realized it didn’t have to be him up on stage, it could be a character. A sharp, dry, critical character with a penchant for using the microphone, stand, and stool as physical comedy props to add to his sets. His parents tried to ground him when they found out he’d been missing so much school and hadn’t sent out college applications in time, but he was so certain he was on the right path that he didn’t care. He stayed home and wrote and wrote, and took videos testing out material, or tested it out in front of his family. His parents always tried to act uninterested, but it could only last so long before they cracked.

Over the course of a year, Jack worked his way through the comedy clubs in the city. He stopped sending out audition tapes or attending casting calls and focused all his time on comedy. He got and lost three day jobs in the course of the year, but all that mattered was he had just enough in his bank account to get into the clubs and pay whatever fees might be necessary. Eventually, he was the one getting paid to perform, and introduced to people whose names he now worshipped despite not knowing three years before. One night, when he was drunk on too many beers other people bought him after his set and just about ready to stumble home, someone mentioned a name that was perhaps the most effective sobering agent he could’ve asked for. The executive producer of Saturday Night Live wanted to speak with him.

Jack sweated his way through the audition and thought he was finished, but it turned out to be just the beginning. He was thrown into the mix, gaining recognition and exposure he never imagined he’d have at such a young age. Three years went by in a hilarious, stressful, anxiety-ridden, often drunk haze, with non-stop work during the live season and dozens of small roles in comedic movies and stand-up gigs scheduled during the off-season. He made a new friend and connection in the business every week it seemed. He had major backlash over a joke from a set that went viral, but it was more loved than it was hated so his manager said it was a good thing. The fact he got a manager was perhaps the most shocking thing of all to him.

At the end of his third season with SNL, Jack was offered the opportunity for a major role in a former cast mate’s film that was getting huge buzz even before the casting was finalized. It wasn’t his manager’s prodding but his friends’ and family’s that made him choose the movie, which meant not returning to SNL for the next season. He made his final appearance, said his good-byes, and then jetted off with his younger brother and a couple friends to travel for a month before arriving in London for filming.

While filming, Jack fell in love with the city. He finally understood how his parents could call New York City their home. Since he’d technically still been living with his parents, at twenty-two he bought his first flat in Hackney Wick.

For the past five years, Jack has been switching between brief stand-up tours around the United States and Europe and starring in a couple other major comedic films and one indie drama his manager didn’t want him to do. He still remains based in London, though technically also has an apartment in New York City where his brother and a friend live but he crashes at when he’s in the States.

Though it has been a fast five years, Jack is aware of when he’s reached his limit and won’t be afraid to go on a “hiatus” for a month or two to travel, maybe take some community art classes, and just relax. He’s also developed a bit of a habit and reputation for skipping awards shows. He likes to make up excuses that he was just sick, but in reality, he feels too uncomfortable at them and prefers to just show up at the after party that allows the most casual attire after watching the awards from his flat.

POSITIVE TRAITS: Humorous. Creative. Open-minded. Level-headed.     NEGATIVE TRAITS: Anxious. Shy. Defiant. Unfulfilled.

SOCIAL CONNECTIONS:

RELATIONSHIP STATUS: Single. FAMILY: Daniel Katz (younger brother) IDEAL CONNECTIONS:

#1 Younger brother. As a writer in the making, Jack’s little brother needs to come to London - or so Jack is insistent upon saying. He feels less anxious and shy around family, and though Daniel isn’t necessarily the most outgoing person, he would like to have the man as a plus one at events where Jack still isn’t sure how to act around people who only know his stage persona.

#2 Manager. Jack is admittedly wary of the well-seasoned manager he only just hired a couple years ago. Jack purposefully keeps things a bit distant, afraid that if he gets to close he might get too sucked into the idea of wanting money more than anything. He makes sure his manager runs everything by him first.