Jason Edward Mewes is an American television and film actor, film producer and internet
radio show host.
He has played Jay, the vocal half of the duo Jay and Silent Bob, in longtime friend Kevin
Smith's films.
Early life Jason Edward Mewes was born on June 12, 1974
in Highlands, New Jersey, and grew up in a working-class neighborhood.
He never knew his father, and his mother was an ex-con and a drug addict.
Relates Mewes: "She used to check into hotels and take TVs and sell them...I guess it really
ain't funny, but it's weird because it was so fucked up...She used to steal mail.
I used to drive around with her and she'd pull up and make me reach into mailboxes.
It really wasn't pleasant."
Although this exposure to drugs at first served to make him averse to them, he eventually
began using them after graduating from high school.
His best friend was future filmmaker Kevin Smith, who describes his friend thus: "[Jason]'s
the kind of dude you know for five minutes and he whips his cock out.
I was like, somebody should put this dude in a movie.
I just wanted to see if anybody outside our group of friends finds him as funny as I do."
Career While working toward a career in roofing,
Mewes made his film debut in Smith's 1994 film Clerks as Jay.
The film was a huge success; ever since, Mewes has been closely identified with the role,
which he also played in Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back,
and Clerks II.
He also supplied Jay's voice in the short-lived Clerks: The Animated Series.
He, along with Kevin Smith, performed in the films Scream 3 and Bottoms Up and on Canadian
television series Degrassi: The Next Generation.
He appeared in two episodes of a three-part story arc in which he and Smith film a new
addition to Smith's View Askew films titled Jay and Silent Bob Go Canadian, Eh?
at Degrassi Community School.
They appear again on Degrassi, at the premiere of Jay and Silent Bob go Canadian, Eh?
in Canada.
Mewes, Smith, and Degrassi star Stacie Mistysyn made the cover of the January 29, 2005 issue
of Canadian TV Guide.
In 1998, he starred as "Gary Lamb – Ground Activist" in a series of Nike commercials
directed by Smith.
From 2010-2012, Mewes was cast as "Jimmy the Janitor" for 26 episodes of the Canadian television
series Todd and the Book of Pure Evil.
In the video game Scarface: The World Is Yours Mewes provides a voiceover for a thief who
steals some tapes.
Mewes starred in the horror film Breath of Hate, where he played a romantic love interest
to a dysfunctional escort.
Mewes co-starred in Smith's 2008 film Zack and Miri Make a Porno, in which Mewes, in
a scene near the end of the film, appears fully nude.
Mewes co-hosts a weekly podcast with Smith called Jay & Silent Bob Get Old in which Mewes
discusses his former drug addiction issues.
Mewes is co-Executive Producer on Smith's Hulu-exclusive series Spoilers with Kevin
Smith.
Mewes co-produced the 2013 animated movie Jay & Silent Bob's Super Groovy Cartoon Movie
with his wife Jordan Monsanto, which was based on the Bluntman and Chronic comic book that
Kevin Smith wrote as a companion piece to the film Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.
Personal life Substance abuse
Mewes has openly talked about his struggles with substance abuse, which began in his early
20s.
He first began using heroin shortly after appearing in Mallrats, and was soon addicted;
he was under the influence while filming Chasing Amy and Dogma. Smith entered Mewes into the
first of a series of drug rehabilitation clinics in 1997, after noticing Mewes would spontaneously
fall asleep, which he initially attributed to narcolepsy.
Mewes sobered up until about a week into the Dogma shoot, when he learned he could pass
his urine tests by abstaining from drugs for three days beforehand and then shooting up
the rest of the week.
It was also during filming for Dogma that Mewes' mother was diagnosed with AIDS.
In another attempt to get clean, Mewes moved in with his mother, who gave him OxyContin
to ease the withdrawal symptoms; Mewes was soon addicted to that substance as well.
In 1999 Mewes was arrested in New Jersey for heroin possession.
His probation sentence included community service, drug counseling, and regular court
appearances in New Jersey.
In late 2001, after he failed to make a court appearance, a warrant was issued for his arrest.
Mewes' mother died of AIDS in 2002.
On April 1, 2003, he surrendered himself at a Freehold, New Jersey court and pleaded guilty
to probation violation charges.
He was ordered to enter a six-month rehab program, and would be allowed to return to
Los Angeles, but was told if he violated probation again, he could face up to five years in prison.
Smith had taken Mewes in to live with him and his wife, Jennifer Schwalbach Smith, but
evicted him after catching him using drugs again.
During this period, he stole Smith's ATM card and charged $1,100, and had heroin shipped
to the hotel where a press junket for Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back was being held.
Smith had Mewes check into various rehab facilities, including Promises in Malibu, where his visit
coincided with frequent costar Ben Affleck's stay for alcoholism.
These attempts were unsuccessful for Mewes, whose problem was so severe that Smith declined
to give him a part in 2004's Jersey Girl.
Mewes continued to use drugs, and has related that he decided to turn himself in and get
help after waking up on Christmas morning 2003 to find that he had started a fire after
falling asleep near a lit candle while on heroin.
Estranged from Smith and his other friends, Mewes returned to New Jersey, where he was
given the choice of attending six months of court-mandated rehab or a year in jail.
Mewes waited a year before attempting to revive his career, and eventually obtained a new
agent at the Endeavor agency.
In a July 2006 interview he reported that he was sober, and harbored no urges to drink
or use drugs.
He relapsed in 2009 after having surgery.
To help Mewes maintain his sobriety, Kevin Smith created the Jay & Silent Bob Get Old
podcast as a "weekly intervention" to let Mewes talk through his history of substance
abuse, amongst other topics.
As of May 8, 2014 Mewes has been clean for 1406 days.
Marriage Mewes married Jordan Monsanto in a civil ceremony
on January 30, 2009, with a larger wedding planned later that May.
He has stated that he intends to have children.
Filmography See also
View Askewniverse Further reading
Smith, Kevin.
My Boring Ass Life: The Uncomfortably Candid Diary of Kevin Smith.
Titan Books.
25 September 2007.
ISBN 1-84576-538-9.
References
External links Official website
Jason Mewes at the Internet Movie Database Interviews Askew: Jason Mewes
"Jay & Silent Bob Get Old Podcast" Podcast with Smith and Mewes discussing Mewes and
his addiction.