Christopher Jackson

Christopher Jackson is an American actor, singer, and composer born on September 30, 1975, in Metropolis, Illinois, and raised in Cairo, Illinois. His mother, Jane Adams, was a vocal music teacher, and his stepfather was Herbert Michael Hodges. Jackson graduated from Cairo High School in 1993, where he performed in plays and was encouraged to pursue acting by teacher Lynn Steveson, who also directed him in a production of Arthur Miller's The Crucible and led the school's debate team on which he participated. He has also credited basketball coach Larry Baldwin and Pastor Larry Potts of Mighty Rivers Regional Worship Center as important mentors during his formative years. After high school, he enrolled at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York City.

Jackson launched his professional career in 1995 at the age of 20, appearing in the Off-Broadway musical Time and the Wind, composed by Galt MacDermot. He made his Broadway debut two years later, in 1997, as an ensemble member and understudy for Simba in the original Broadway cast of Disney's The Lion King, later assuming the role of Simba in 2000. Between Broadway engagements, he worked in theater in Chicago and Minneapolis–Saint Paul, earning a BATC Award nomination for Best Actor for Beggar's Holiday in 2004 and winning a Joseph Jefferson Award in 2006 for Comfortable Shoes.

In 2007, Jackson joined the Off-Broadway cast of In the Heights, originating the role of Benny alongside Lin-Manuel Miranda. The cast received the 2007 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Ensemble Performance, and Jackson continued with the production when it transferred to Broadway in 2008. He returned to Broadway in 2012 as Delray in Memphis, and in 2013 replaced Everett Bradley in the role associated with "Diga Diga Doo" in After Midnight. That same year he appeared Off-Broadway at Primary Stages as Derek Jeter and Bobby Sturges in Eric Simonson's Bronx Bombers, remaining with the production when it moved to Broadway in 2014. Also in 2014, he portrayed Vertus in the Broadway musical Holler If Ya Hear Me, based on the life of Tupac Shakur.

In 2015, Jackson originated the role of President George Washington in Hamilton on Broadway, a performance that earned him a Tony Award nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical. He concluded his run in the production on November 13, 2016, when he was replaced by Nicholas Christopher. Jackson is also a member of the hip-hop group Freestyle Love Supreme, which has performed on Broadway.

Beyond the stage, Jackson has maintained an extensive television career. He played the recurring role of Perry Loftus in the HBO prison drama Oz and starred as Chunk Palmer in the CBS courtroom drama Bull from 2016 through the series' conclusion in 2022. His additional television appearances include guest roles on Fringe, Gossip Girl, Nurse Jackie, The Good Wife, and White Collar. In film, he provided the singing voice of Chief Tui in the Disney animated feature Moana, a project that again united him with Lin-Manuel Miranda, and has appeared in Tracers and After.Life.

As a composer, Jackson wrote music for the revived children's television program The Electric Company beginning in 2009. He won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Song for "What I Am," co-written with Bill Sherman for Sesame Street, with the win coming in 2011. He has also written music for artists including LL Cool J, Sean Kingston, and will.i.am, and has received three Emmy Award nominations overall for composing music and lyrics for television. In February 2021, he signed with Nickelodeon to compose the NOGGIN original series Rhymes Through Times, whose second season was released on March 7, 2022.

In 2018, Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, Georgia, awarded Jackson an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts. He married actress and singer Veronica in 2004, having met her through a production of In the Heights. Prior to the first run-through of the Off-Broadway production, Jackson learned that his son had been diagnosed with autism; he and his wife have since been advocates for KultureCity, a nonprofit focused on acceptance and inclusion of individuals regardless of their abilities. The couple has a son, C.J., and a daughter, Jadelyn, and the family resides in Scarsdale, New York.