• Jay C. Ellis "JEllis"-Ohio made; Harlem molded. LOVES his Black Labrador, black coffee and BLACK LIVES. Grateful to be a proud advocate for LGBTQ+ artists’ perspectives in hip-hop! While always fully committed to being in the present... he is only a suitcase and a plane ticket away from moving to Hawaii and living off the grid! Check his most recent project, #BARSmusical: A live streamed/in person improvisational hip-hop musical produced by Playhouse Square & Baldwin Wallace University Conservatory(alma mater Bachelors in Music: Music Theatre).

• As a long time actor ,improvisor, instructor and musician, he has coached/directed/performed for “America’s Got Talent”, Broadway, the historic main-stage of Carnegie Hall and even digitally, at Off Mic Comedy School (the nation's first completely virtual comedy school). He most recently created/directed the fully improvised hip-hop musical “BARS”, produced by Playhouse Square & Baldwin Wallace University Conservatory. 

His stage credits include Narrator (Stew),Off-Broadway - Premier, “Passing Strange''; Eugene ,"Black Hole Wedding" at Signature Theatre; Monty ,Theatrical Rights Worldwide - Premier of “Saturday Night Fever”; Templeton,  “Charlotte’s Web”- 1st national tour. Screen credits include “Poncho” (London Independent Film Festival winner); SJC Films’ “Interrogation” (Dir. Stephen Caple Jr. “The Land”, “Creed II”); as well as various commercial and voice over work. 

JEllis can currently be seen directing (“Got Your Back V: I Got PRIDE”) instructing (Foundations of Freestyle/Recess of Color/youth programming) and performing with Freestyle Love Supreme Academy (TONY award winning Freestyle Love Supreme) both online and in person.

Bachelors of Music in Music Theatre: Baldwin Wallace University Conservatory of Music.

Proud member of the Actor’s Equity Association.

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