About Jonathan
Jonathan Wessel was born on May 12, 1990 in Oak Forest, IL. He has an older sister and two younger brothers. His love for the performing arts expressed itself from a very young age, taking up the cello at age 4. Since beginning the cello, he has now performed in over 200 concerts and recitals.
Jonathan began acting when he was 9 years old, having a small, 2-line part in a church play. Since then, he has taken every opportunity he could to be in plays, whether it was church, community theater or the Fine Arts program his parents run for home school students. Jonathan has taken advantage of those opportunities and as a result, has appeared in more than 20 productions since 2004, his most memorable role being that of Christopher Wren in Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap in 2014. Jonathan worked on his first professional film set in 2013, when he worked as an extra in Rich Christiano's A Matter of Faith. In 2014, Jonathan landed his first lead role in a student film at Tribecca Flashpoint Academy playing a police detective.
Jonathan's next lead role came in 2015 as a recovering drug addict in the short student film, Buried Path. Since then, he has appeared in 4 student films and one independent feature film (The Over-Mountain Men: The Price of Freedom) which will be released in June 2016.
Jonathan trained in on-camera techniques with Janelle Snow at Acting Studio Chicago, one of the premier acting schools in the city. Currently, Jonathan is finishing up his Meisner training at Green Shirt Studio with Andrew Gallant.
As a singer, Jonathan studied with Raymond Gibbs, former lead tenor with the Metropolitan Opera. One of his favorite activities, he takes every opportunity to sing the National Anthem at ballgames, having sung for the Joliet Slammers, Schaumburg Boomers and, his favorite team, the Chicago Bandits pro softball team. Trained in classical/opera, Jonathan sang in his first opera, Die Fledermaus, in 2014 at the Sugar Creek Opera under the direction of Bruce Staysna. Jonathan is a member of his church choir and sings every week.
Jonathan is also pursuing the realm of motivational speaking, looking to speak to young people about being role models to the next generation.
As a teacher, Jonathan works with homeschool students teaching acting techniques and directs an average of 4 plays every school year. He enjoys working with children and teaching them skills they can use for the Lord in church or Christian films.
Jonathan's favorite sport is volleyball and loves to hike, watch thunderstorms, rock climb, and try new things.