Jason Alexander (born Jason Scott Greenspan, September 23, 1959, in Newark, New Jersey, son to Jewish parents) was one of the stars of the award-winning television sitcom Seinfeld. His character, the neurotic ne’er-do-well George Costanza, Jerry Seinfeld’s best friend, was based in part on the show’s creator, Larry David. He has also appeared in a number of movies, and done some work as a director, including a recent successful Hollywood concert version of the musical Hair, for which he was also the emcee. He is also known for providing the voice of the lead character in the cult animated series Duckman.
Alexander began his acting career on the New York stage. On Broadway, he appeared in Stephen Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along, The Rink, Neil Simon’s Broadway Bound, Accomplice, and Jerome Robbins’ Broadway, for which he was awarded the 1989 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical.
Alexander has also done a McDonalds commercial advertising the McDLT, a sandwich that separated the beef “hot side” from the rest of the hamburger “cool side". The commercial features the singing talents of Alexander. He has also appeared in KFC commercials, including one with baseball superstar Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants and another one opposite Trista Rehn of The Bachelorette. He is also featured frequently in country star Brad Paisley’s music video, “Celebrity".
In the fall of 2004, he began appearing in a new show on CBS, Listen Up, costarring Malcolm-Jamal Warner ("Theo Huxtable” on The Cosby Show). His character is based on sportswriter Tony Kornheiser.
Alexander also appeared with Kelsey Grammer in the musical adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. He played Jacob Marley to Grammer’s Ebenezer Scrooge.