american actor and singer jason michael weaver also known as j weave was born in chicago illinois
his mother marilyn kitty haywood a key member of the chicago-based female vocal group kitty and
the haywoods would raise jason as a single mother his father wasn't in his life on a regular basis
and sadly jason regrets not reaching back when his father attempted to reconnect with him
when jason was in his teens his father would pass away about a month later jason's mother
would play an integral role in not only helping her son get his foot in the door in hollywood
but also in preventing him from being used and abused even though people first got to know jason
as an actor his main artistic love was always music naturally because it runs in the family his
mother and aunts recorded jingles and also worked with major recording stars such as aretha franklin
and curtis mayfield his songwriting and producing cousins tricky stewart and coop carrell are two
of the most sought after in the industry jason's journey would start at the age of five doing tv
commercials and print ads in 1990 he landed one of his earliest major acting roles on oprah winfrey's
tv drama series brewster plays a spin-off of the 1989 miniseries the women of brewster plays
shortly after that he landed his first big screen role in the historical drama film the long walk
home alongside wilby goldberg and [ __ ] spacek jason then scored the role that would really make
people sit up and take notice he played michael jackson from ages 9 to 14 in the 1992 miniseries
the jacksons an american dream he was actually hand-picked by the king of pop himself jason also
provided vocals for the project that ultimately heard by another international singing superstar
would get him his next big gig while on the set jason would get word about a new disney movie
in the works courtesy of sir elton john he just happened to have stopped by the set one day to
show his support of the project and was impressed with jason's voice after hearing him sing who's
loving you elton approached his mother explained a little bit about the project that himself and
british lyricist and author tim rice had been recruited by disney to do and asked if jason
would be interested in trying out for it after the jacksons wrapped jason went in for the audition
and won everyone over with an amazing performance landing the singing voice role of young simba
in the 1994 animated musical drama film the lion king even though he wouldn't be heard speaking
jason's voice would go down in history singing the iconic tunes i just can't wait to be king
and hakuna matata as far as the speaking role goes jason would later explain that it was offered to
him but just days prior another actor jonathan taylor thomas had secured the job by signing
on the dotted line jason would also reveal to vlad tv that disney initially offered him one
lump sum payment of 2 million dollars for his work jason and his mother together made the
decision to turn it down and instead negotiate a deal of one hundred thousand dollars up front
plus royalties that through jason's lifetime have now far exceeded that original offer
also during the time of the lion king production getting off the ground jason would be featured on
the small screen again as jerome terrell on the short-lived sitcom thea with future r b
star brandy he then switched gears to music and signed with motown records
his debut album titled love ambition was released in june 1995. the following year he released an
ep titled stay with me before disappearing from the music scene completely after years of people
wondering why he never produced any more music jason finally revealed that it was a classic case
of being dictated to by the powers that be and not being able to fully express himself authentically
he's also said that the experience left a bad taste in his mouth discouraging him from wanting
to pursue further opportunities in the music industry luckily by that time jason had been
offered another very lucrative tv role so he asked to be let out of his contract with motown
and moved on he found his way back to television again in 1997 in the role of marcus henderson
on the wb sitcom smart guy the show ran for three seasons jason told comedy hype in 2019
that he had a great time on the show and he would have liked for it to continue but it wasn't meant
to be since according to him the network was more concerned with making changes that were necessary
for them to attract a more mainstream audience as the show was ending jason would soon be starting
a new journey as a first-time father when he welcomed his one and only child a son around
this time more motion picture work would follow with drumline in 2002 and the ladykillers in
2004. also in 2004 fans would be pleasantly surprised to hear jason singing again as a
featured artist on chingy's track one call away as well as showing up in the music video even though
the fans were happy about the collab the record label wasn't jason explained that the reason that
his name wasn't even attached to the song was because capitol records didn't want him on it
he claimed that they wanted someone more relevant at the time like marcus houston omarion or houston
jason ultimately ended up on the track after test groups show that his version was the one people
liked the most he does admit though that he did feel some kind of way every time he heard the song
played on the radio and only chingy's name was mentioned instead of chingy featuring jason weaver
two years later jason would star as teddy in the comedy drama film atl that would go
on to become an urban cult classic over the last 15 years jason has continued to maintain
a steady presence on the big and small screen in a variety of projects he jumped into the podcasting
arena in 2018 by forming the sport-centered show called stat lines matter his and his two co-hosts
main objective was to fill the void of the lack of african-american voices and opinions in the
sports talk realm as well as touch on social and political issues affecting the sports world today
jason continues to stay booked and busy in 2021 he joined the cast of the lena weith
created tv drama series the shy he was a natural choice since the focus of the show is centered
on life in a neighborhood on the south side of chicago not unlike the one where jason grew up
in the summer of 2021 it was announced that the show was renewed for a fifth season jason's also
focusing his energy on developing and producing content through his own production company
thanks for watching please like share and comment also don't forget to subscribe and
turn on your notifications so you won't miss any future videos see you next time