Jake Katzman, at just 12 years old has wrapped up his time at the Tony Award winning musical Kinky Boots after three years and one week starring as Young Charlie. Working alongside numerous famous celebrities such as Wayne Brady, American Idol semi-finalist Todrick Hall, rockstar Brendon Urie, pop sensation Jake Shears from Scissor Sisters, Kirstin Maldonado from Pentatonix and so many more! Katzman has strutted his stuff on stage from the moment he started until his final performance on Sunday, March 4th.
It all began with a dream, but more so an audition. Katzman first started his acting career at the early age of six years old with his first big break on Law & Order SVU in 2012. From there his career took off starring in voice overs for Charmin, Ford and Pep Boys for commercials and radio. To He then appearing in films with well known actors like James Franco and Glenn Close in The Adderall Diaries and more recently The Wilde Wedding. These roles are only a snippet of the young child’s acting career. Check out his IMDb profile to see all his other roles!
Speaking to Katzman, I got the exclusive scoop on what it’s like to be a kid starring on Broadway and what new adventures he’s got in store. A normal day for him starts out bright and early at 6am. During the week he goes to school and sometimes leaves early to go off on auditions in the city. After auditions he gets dinner and then heads off to the theater for the show. After the show he either gets back home by 12:30pm and goes to bed, and gets up to do it all over again the next day. During his breaks he likes to catch up on homework and watch television. He’s currently watching The Humans on Amazon Prime.
When asking Katzman about what it’s like working on Broadway he said amazing. Being able to always meet new people and having the opportunity to perform out on stage is the best. His most memorable experience was the first time he went out on stage. He said he was filled with tons of excitement, happiness and some nerves. His favorite broadway show is Kinky Boots not because he was in it but because of the great message behind it, which is to just be who you want to be. One of the craziest things that had ever happened on set was during a scene that uses moving treadmills and one got stuck during the performance and the actors had to maneuver around it so they wouldn’t miss their marks. Talk about hectic and scary! One of his favorite moments while being apart of the show was meeting Taylor Swift. He said “I couldn’t even speak, she left me speechless” talk about a starstruck moment!
Overall he’s one busy kid keeping up his schoolwork and other passions like being a piano player and songwriter. Katzman is like any other kid who loves video games, goes to school and enjoys being with his friends and family. His favorite subject in school is science, he is currently learning about the chemical reactions in chemistry class and thinks it’s so cool. If his friends had to describe him in three words they would call him creative, happy, and kind. When he’s older he wants “ to be either a director, actor, scriptwriter, chipotle worker or uber driver” quite the multi-tasker if you ask me. This kid has many aspirations. When asking what he’s passionate about he said “ Life… yeah just life in general. Oh and acting” talk about being laid back and knowing your priorities. If he could go anywhere in the world right now he’s probably go on a cruise or a vacation. If he could only eat one thing for a whole week, he would choose Chipotle tacos. It’s important that they’re chipotle. In the future he would like to work with Adam Sandler because he’s cool. He would love to be on an episode of Spongebob and eventually be a game show host.
Jake Katzman is one talented young boy who’s onto new adventures for his acting career. He’s currently working on some new projects, but unfortunately they’re on the hush hush. So will just have to stay tuned and wait to see. Follow Jake on Instagram and Youtube to see his new original music and videos.