{"id":95350,"date":"2022-12-15T07:13:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-15T12:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/?post_type=bu-article&#038;p=95350"},"modified":"2022-12-19T08:54:33","modified_gmt":"2022-12-19T13:54:33","slug":"jason-alexander-seinfeld-complex-characters","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/magazine\/articles\/2022\/jason-alexander-seinfeld-complex-characters\/","title":{"rendered":"Complex Characters"},"content":{"rendered":"\t<div class=\"wp-block-editorial-leadin magazine-block-editorial-leadin is-style-side-by-side has-media has-box has-media-focus-center-middle has-quaternary-theme\">\n\t\t<div class=\"container-lockup\">\n\n\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-block-leadin-media\">\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<img width=\"1508\" height=\"1600\" src=\"\/cfa\/files\/2022\/08\/Jason-Alexander-Complex-Characters-1.jpg\" class=\"\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/files\/2022\/08\/Jason-Alexander-Complex-Characters-1.jpg 1508w, https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/files\/2022\/08\/Jason-Alexander-Complex-Characters-1-599x636.jpg 599w, https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/files\/2022\/08\/Jason-Alexander-Complex-Characters-1-965x1024.jpg 965w, https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/files\/2022\/08\/Jason-Alexander-Complex-Characters-1-768x815.jpg 768w, https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/files\/2022\/08\/Jason-Alexander-Complex-Characters-1-1448x1536.jpg 1448w, https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/files\/2022\/08\/Jason-Alexander-Complex-Characters-1-943x1000.jpg 943w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1508px) 100vw, 1508px\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-block-editorial-leadin-caption wp-prepress-component-caption\">Illustration by Pablo Lobato<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"container-words-outer\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"container-words-inner\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"wp-prepress-tag\">Theatre<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"head\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tComplex Characters\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h4 class=\"deck\">Jason Alexander\u2019s <em>Seinfeld<\/em> role cemented him in pop culture. Now he\u2019s busy acting on screen and stage, directing, and podcasting<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar magazine-prepress-layout-metabar\">\n\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-date\">December 15, 2022<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-credits\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul data-credit-type=\"By\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/magazine\/authors\/mara-sassoon\/\">Mara Sassoon<\/a><\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-share js-bu-prepress-share-tools\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-twitter\"><span>Twitter<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-facebook\"><span>Facebook<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-action\"><\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-editorial-introparagraph magazine-block-editorial-introparagraph is-style-dropcap-default has-dropcap has-dropcap-color-quaternary\"><div class=\"wp-block-editorial-introparagraph-content\"><p>When Jason Alexander was a sophomore at BU, he received some life-changing advice. Jim Spruill (\u201975), then an associate professor of theater, called Alexander into his office and had him look in a mirror. \u201cHe said to me, \u2018Listen, I know you see yourself as a Hamlet, and you might actually be a really good Hamlet. But no one\u2019s ever going to cast you in that way. So you might want to get good at Falstaff,\u2019\u200a\u201d recalls Alexander (\u201981, Hon.\u201995). In mentioning the comedic character in Shakespeare\u2019s <em>Henry IV<\/em>, Spruill \u201cwas basically telling me that if I wanted to have any kind of a commercially successful career, I should start looking at comedy.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>About a decade after Spruill (who died in 2010) uttered those prescient words, Alexander landed the comedic role of a lifetime: the self-absorbed yet hilarious George Costanza in NBC\u2019s <em>Seinfeld<\/em>. The part would eventually earn him a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series as well as four Golden Globe and seven Emmy nominations. He\u2019s appeared in notable roles in movies such as <em>Pretty Woman <\/em>and <em>Shallow Hal<\/em>, but no other part has had the pop-culture staying power of George, a character loosely based on <em>Seinfeld<\/em> cocreator Larry David. There\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eater.com\/2016\/1\/4\/10711166\/george-costanza-bar-australia\">a Costanza-themed bar in Melbourne, Australia<\/a>\u2014George\u2019s Bar\u2014whose walls are plastered with the character\u2019s quotes and likeness. Costanza fandom runs so deep that many were quick to notice a viral 2021 Tide Super Bowl ad, in which Alexander\u2019s face is on a teen\u2019s hoodie, features the track \u201cTheme from The Greatest American Hero (Believe It or Not),\u201d a song Costanza sings a parody version of for his answering machine message in a season eight episode of <em>Seinfeld<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cComedy has clearly been the mainstay of my professional life,\u201d says Alexander. \u201cAnd I am indebted to Jim Spruill for pointing me in that direction.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-editorial-photoessay magazine-block-editorial-photoessay alignwide wp-block-photoessay js-block-editorial-photoessay\"><div class=\"photo-row-full-f\">\n<div class=\"photo-f\"><div class=\"wp-block-photoessay-media\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"\/cfa\/files\/2022\/11\/Jason-Alexander-at-BU-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-95352\" srcset=\"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/files\/2022\/11\/Jason-Alexander-at-BU-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/files\/2022\/11\/Jason-Alexander-at-BU-636x424.jpg 636w, https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/files\/2022\/11\/Jason-Alexander-at-BU-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/files\/2022\/11\/Jason-Alexander-at-BU-900x600.jpg 900w, https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/files\/2022\/11\/Jason-Alexander-at-BU-450x300.jpg 450w, https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/files\/2022\/11\/Jason-Alexander-at-BU-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/files\/2022\/11\/Jason-Alexander-at-BU.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-background has-normal-font-size has-white-color has-magenta-background-color\"><em>Alexander, left, in a dress rehearsal for a 1979 BU production of <\/em>A Month in the Country<em>.&nbsp;Photo by Boston University Photography<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"has-black-color has-text-color\">Making It<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Before his memorable meeting with Spruill, Alexander had envisioned himself as a dramatic theater actor. \u201cI thought: I\u2019m going to play the great roles of all time\u2014Willy Loman, Richard III. My fantasies of a career did not really have film and television in them. If I could find a way to make a living on the stage in New York City, that would be the most fantastic thing that could ever happen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He\u2019d found the theater at a young age. In middle school, Alexander was an emergency replacement for a cast member who\u2019d dropped out of <em>The Sound of Music<\/em>. \u201cOnce you join a company, a cast, a show, a project, you kind of have a new set of instant friends,\u201d he says, \u201cand I found that rather fascinating. What initially grabbed me was not so much the performing part, but the community part in the world of theater.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He remembers seeing an early preview production of <em>Pippin<\/em> in its first Broadway run: \u201cIt blew my mind. I watched Ben Vereen doing his thing on the stage, and I went, \u2018I think I would like to be that guy,\u2019 not at the time understanding there might be a world of difference between what he could do and what I could do, but I wanted to at least try.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-editorial-photoessay magazine-block-editorial-photoessay wp-block-photoessay js-block-editorial-photoessay\"><div class=\"photo-row-full-f\">\n<div class=\"photo-f\"><div class=\"wp-block-photoessay-media\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"692\" src=\"\/cfa\/files\/2022\/11\/Jason-Alexander-Pretty-Woman-1024x692.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-95354\" srcset=\"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/files\/2022\/11\/Jason-Alexander-Pretty-Woman-1024x692.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/files\/2022\/11\/Jason-Alexander-Pretty-Woman-636x430.jpg 636w, https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/files\/2022\/11\/Jason-Alexander-Pretty-Woman-768x519.jpg 768w, https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/files\/2022\/11\/Jason-Alexander-Pretty-Woman.jpg 1183w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-background has-normal-font-size has-white-color has-magenta-background-color\"><em>One of Alexander\u2019s notable film roles was as the antagonist Philip Stucky in 1990&#8217;s <\/em>Pretty Woman<em>. Photo by PictureLux\/The Hollywood Archive\/Alamy Stock Photo<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After that performance, Alexander became more heavily involved in school and community productions. He joined the Pushcart Players, a children\u2019s theater group that went on to do a TV special. He was signed by a management company after they saw him in the special, which opened up more professional acting opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When it was time for college, Alexander knew he wanted to attend a theater program. \u201cWhile I was already technically a professional actor, I had no idea what I was doing. I had no real training.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At CFA, he performed in productions including <em>Othello<\/em> and <em>A Month in the Country<\/em>. The summer before what would have been his senior year at CFA, he landed a part in a horror film called <em>The Burning<\/em>. Filming wound up running three weeks longer than initially slated, so he couldn\u2019t make it back for the beginning of the first semester of his senior year. His plan was to take a semester off, but weeks later he was cast in the Broadway premier of the Stephen Sondheim and George Furth musical <em>Merrily We Roll Along<\/em>. \u201cSuddenly, I was turning to BU and saying, \u2018I don\u2019t know when I\u2019m going to be back.\u2019\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although he had an 18-month contract for the show, the production closed after a few months of previews and only 16 performances because of negative reviews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By that time, Alexander had met Daena Title\u2014they would later marry\u2014and directors and casting agents were interested in him for other acting roles. \u201cIt just didn\u2019t seem opportune to go back to BU at that time,\u201d he says. \u201cWhat was hard about not going back was I felt like I had not completed my understanding of the things I was being taught. At BU, I learned about all these tools and techniques and ideas that I felt I didn\u2019t quite have mastery of yet.\u201d Instead, he took classes with the acting coach Larry Moss, lessons he continued for years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"has-black-color has-text-color\">Being George<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>For Alexander, 1989 was a pivotal year. He starred in the musical <em>Jerome Robbins\u2019 Broadway<\/em>, a role that earned him a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It was also the year <em>Seinfeld <\/em>premiered. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThey called me out to LA, and I met Jerry and Larry, and they gave me a little bit more direction,\u201d he says of his audition for the show. \u201cI literally went in with Jerry, read for NBC at their offices, got back on a plane right after the audition to go back home thinking, \u2018That\u2019ll never happen.\u2019 By the time I landed, there was a message saying, \u2018You\u2019ve got it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But for a time, Alexander thought the show was doomed to fail. \u201cI like to tell this story\u2014when we were done with the pilot, Jerry asked me if I thought our chances were good and, not to be a jerk, I said, \u2018No, I don\u2019t think so because the audience for this show is me. And I don\u2019t really watch TV,\u2019\u201d he says.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe number one comedy in America when we did our pilot was <em>ALF<\/em>, I believe\u2014very different vibe from what we were doing on <em>Seinfeld<\/em>. So, I just thought there wouldn\u2019t be an audience for this. I thought it was very good. I thought it was very funny. I thought it was the kind of thing I <em>would<\/em> watch if I watched TV.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At first, he was right\u2014the show didn\u2019t get a favorable response. But then it caught on with one particular demographic\u2014\u201cguys like me who were 18 to about 35 years old, who had jobs or were students and lived in cities,\u201d says Alexander. Advertisers eager to target those viewers began sponsoring the show, he says. \u201cThat\u2019s what kept us chugging along until it finally caught on. I don\u2019t think any of us thought it would be so successful. I mean, maybe Jerry and Larry had\u2014they always seemed pretty confident that they thought it would be a thing\u2014but I think for the rest of us, we were all shocked as it started to gain momentum.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-editorial-photoessay magazine-block-editorial-photoessay alignwide wp-block-photoessay js-block-editorial-photoessay\"><div class=\"photo-row-fourths-2-2\">\n<div class=\"photo-2\"><div class=\"wp-block-photoessay-media\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"750\" src=\"\/cfa\/files\/2022\/11\/Jason-Alexander-Seinfeld-1024x750.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-95355\" srcset=\"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/files\/2022\/11\/Jason-Alexander-Seinfeld-1024x750.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/files\/2022\/11\/Jason-Alexander-Seinfeld-636x466.jpg 636w, https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/files\/2022\/11\/Jason-Alexander-Seinfeld-768x563.jpg 768w, https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/files\/2022\/11\/Jason-Alexander-Seinfeld.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"photo-2\"><div class=\"wp-block-photoessay-media\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"972\" height=\"800\" src=\"\/cfa\/files\/2022\/11\/Jason-Alexander-and-the-cast-of-Seinfeld.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-95351\" srcset=\"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/files\/2022\/11\/Jason-Alexander-and-the-cast-of-Seinfeld.jpg 972w, https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/files\/2022\/11\/Jason-Alexander-and-the-cast-of-Seinfeld-636x523.jpg 636w, https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/files\/2022\/11\/Jason-Alexander-and-the-cast-of-Seinfeld-768x632.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 972px) 100vw, 972px\" \/><\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-background has-normal-font-size has-white-color has-magenta-background-color\"><em>Alexander\u2019s career-defining turn as George Costanza in <\/em>Seinfeld<em> earned him a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series as well as four Golden Globe and seven Emmy nominations. Photos by Album\/Alamy Stock Photo (left); Featureflash Archive\/Alamy Stock Photo (right)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That confidence was something he says he came to admire in Seinfeld and David. He often cites season two\u2019s \u201cThe Chinese Restaurant\u201d as an episode that really made him believe in the show. The format, filmed entirely in real time, was experimental. \u201cIt actually happens in 22 minutes and it has no story at all,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s just Elaine, Jerry, and George waiting for a table at a Chinese restaurant\u2014and not getting one through a series of mishaps. When we first read the episode for the network, they were adamantly against it.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Seinfeld and David ran with it anyway. \u201cI remember thinking that these guys have the courage of their convictions. They know that we\u2019re hanging on by a thread. Most people, if a network said, \u2018We\u2019re not happy,\u2019 they go, \u2018What can we do to make you happy?\u2019 But these guys were not about to do that. They were going to be true to their vision and their sense of humor. If it meant that the show went off the air, then the show went off the air. But they weren\u2019t going to go and become something they didn\u2019t believe in, in the hopes that they\u2019d get a pat on the head and stay on the air. I remember thinking that is something to be proud of.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"has-black-color has-text-color\">On His Own Terms<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In a March 2013 interview with <em>Backstage<\/em> magazine, Alexander said, \u201cI think the trick to happiness with this stuff is to admit that in my 30s I probably hit the pinnacle of popular success. I can\u2019t imagine doing anything . . . that\u2019s going to hit as large an audience and sustain their interest for as long. But I had that shot, that\u2019s the unique thing; so you have to kind of embrace that and go, \u2018OK, so what I do now, I\u2019m doing for me.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since <em>Seinfeld <\/em>wrapped in 1998, Alexander has been living by that mantra, taking on theater roles\u2014he appeared in <em>The Producers <\/em>opposite Martin Short in 2003, replaced his former boss, Larry David, in David\u2019s 2015 Broadway play, <em>Fish in the Dark<\/em>, and has lent his voice to notable animated television shows, including <em>Harley Quinn <\/em>on HBO Max. In 2021 and 2022, he played Jeff Bezos in viral comedic bits for <em>Jimmy Kimmel Live! <\/em>and <em>The Problem with Jon Stewart<\/em>. The former had him portray Bezos in a mini musical parody, <em>Bezos Over Broadway<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"responsive-video responsive-youtube\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Jeff Bezos the Musical \u2013 Starring Jason Alexander\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/D7b8UIstUx4?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1&#038;origin=https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption><em>Watch Alexander in the <\/em>Jimmy Kimmel Live! <em>musical parody <\/em>Bezos Over Broadway<em>.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In February 2023, Alexander will launch the iHeart podcast <em>Really, No Really <\/em>with Peter Tilden, his longtime creative partner and a talk radio host. \u201cIt began life as the simple notion of, we would tell each other stuff and the other one would go, \u2018Really? No. Really?\u2019 It was just stuff that we couldn\u2019t believe\u2014How could this exist? How could this be? How do people do this? Who would make that decision? Then we try and figure it out in the course of the podcast.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Episodes explore topics ranging from silly to profound. In one, they explore why stall doors in public restrooms don\u2019t go all the way to the floor\u2014\u201cJerry Seinfeld had a comedy routine where he talked about this. \u2018Why don\u2019t they go down to the floor? Why is there this little viewing window?\u2019\u201d Alexander and Tilden found an award-winning designer of public restrooms to get to the bottom of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In another, they interview a former neo-Nazi. \u201cHe left the movement and has gone on to do amazing things,\u201d he says. \u201cOne of the reasons that he left the movement was he really liked <em>Seinfeld<\/em>, and he couldn\u2019t figure out how to hate Jews when these Jews were making him laugh so much. That conversation became very profound.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Alexander is also speaking up when he admires a show. After the first season of <em>The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel <\/em>aired on Amazon Prime Video, he asked his manager to call series creator Amy Sherman-Palladino and let her know he would be delighted to be considered for a part if the right one opened up. Sure enough, Alexander was cast as Asher Friedman, a blacklisted playwright and old friend of Maisel\u2019s father, played by Tony Shalhoub (Alexander had previously guest-starred in Shalhoub\u2019s <em>Monk<\/em>) in the show\u2019s third and fourth seasons. \u201cI thought, \u2018Well, we should just call everything that I like if that\u2019s the trick,\u2019\u201d he says with a laugh. \u201cThe writing was extraordinary and Asher is a great character. It was also lovely in that it wasn\u2019t a completely comedic character. He\u2019s a guy who nursed a terrible wound in his life. It was a really lovely opportunity to showcase a different set of performance muscles.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Over the years, Alexander has drawn from the advice he received from Spruill and other CFA faculty. \u201cI had one professor who said to me, \u2018Are you sure that you wouldn\u2019t prefer to be a director?\u2019\u201d after Alexander had directed a student production of <em>Godspell<\/em> as an assignment. He\u2019d enjoyed the assignment, but thought of himself as a better actor than director: \u201cSo, I took that professor\u2019s advice as a bit of criticism at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Eventually, he understood the professor wasn\u2019t trying to steer him away from acting, but rather pointing out his knack for directing. \u201cHe was saying that I had a natural sensibility of looking at projects from a sort of bird\u2019s-eye view, seeing it as a whole,\u201d Alexander says. \u201cIn that point of view, I would assess what my character was supposed to bring to the production and then I would do what I could to deliver exactly that. Whereas some of the best actors I\u2019ve met both then and since see the whole thing through the eyes of their character\u2014nothing else really exists.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Alexander went on to direct a few episodes of <em>Seinfeld <\/em>and of&nbsp; hit television shows like <em>Criminal Minds <\/em>and <em>Mike and Molly<\/em>, and even a Brad Paisley music video that earned Paisley a Country Music Association Video of the Year award. In summer 2022, he directed the plays <em>Windfall<\/em>, a dark comedy about five office workers who bet all their money on a $1 billion lottery jackpot to escape their maniacal boss, at the Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor, N.Y., and <em>If I Forget<\/em>, about three siblings grappling with their Jewish identities in the early 2000s, at the Fountain Theatre in Los Angeles. Both opened to positive reviews. More big directing projects are on the horizon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhen you\u2019re an actor, you can only make a contribution in one very specific way. But as a director, you get to participate on every possible level,\u201d says Alexander. \u201cWhat brought me into performing was community. I get to be in a community with many more people as a director than I am as just an actor. And it is not about what most people probably assume\u2014it is not about having control. If I put it in music terms, a great conductor probably can\u2019t play all those instruments, and surely cannot play them as well as the people playing for him. He coordinates all of them as an orchestra so that the whole is greater than any of its individual parts. That challenge, at this point in my life, is really rewarding.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jason Alexander\u2019s Seinfeld role cemented him in pop culture. Now he\u2019s busy acting on screen and stage, directing, and podcasting<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6310,"featured_media":96458,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"bu_prepress_billboard":"{\"post_id\":70710,\"hed\":\"Binge-worthy TV shows and movies featuring CFA alums\",\"dek\":\"Next Article\",\"class\":\"wp-block-editorial-billboard magazine-block-editorial-billboard is-style-half-photo has-light-overlay\",\"backgroundType\":\"image\",\"backgroundOpacity\":\"100\"}","_bu_prepress_primary_term":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term_manual":""},"tags":[],"bu-publication":[191],"magazine-article-category":[372,378],"magazine-topic":[],"news-article-category":[],"news-topic":[],"bu_edition":[394],"media_type":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/95350"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bu-article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6310"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95350"}],"version-history":[{"count":30,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/95350\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96459,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/95350\/revisions\/96459"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95350"},{"taxonomy":"bu-publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-publication?post=95350"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/magazine-article-category?post=95350"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/magazine-topic?post=95350"},{"taxonomy":"news-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-article-category?post=95350"},{"taxonomy":"news-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-topic?post=95350"},{"taxonomy":"bu_edition","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu_edition?post=95350"},{"taxonomy":"media_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/id-andrea.cms-devl.bu.edu\/cfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media_type?post=95350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}