Childhood & Early Life
He was born on November 20, 1984, in Corpus Christi, Texas, US and grew up there. He is of English, German, Welsh and Scottish descent from his father’s side.
As a child, Jordan saw his parents parting ways and following their divorce, he along with his sister Jessa and brother Joey were brought up by his Jewish mother Debbie (née Stone) in a low-income housing.
Jordon was a good student who excelled in his studies. He was also into singing from an early age and got actively involved in the choir of Mary Carroll High School from where he graduated.
He became passionate about acting at age 17 after being cast as The Mute in the musical, ‘The Fantasticks’. Such passion led him to study drama at the Ithaca College, in Ithaca, New York from where he obtained his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in musical theatre in 2007.
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Career
In 2007 he played Joel in the short film ‘Common Change’.
He portrayed the character of Alex in the 2008 Hartford Theatreworks stage production of the comedy play ‘The Little Dog Laughed’. It earned him a Connecticut Critics Circle nomination.
In 2008 he also played Tom Sawyer in the musical ‘Big River’ the production of which was staged by Goodspeed Musicals at the Goodspeed Opera House in Connecticut from September 26 to November 29, that year.
Apart from on-stage performances, in 2008 Jordon also appeared on small-screen featuring in the guest role of Doug Walshen in an episode titled ‘Streetwise’ from the American police procedural, legal, crime drama TV series ‘Law & Order: SVU ’.
He then essayed the part of Swing in the Broadway production of the rock/jukebox musical ‘Rock of Ages’ at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre from March 17, 2009 to December 13, 2009.
2009 Broadway revival of the musical ‘West Side Story’ featured him as an alternate for the main role of Tony. Jordan was associated with the production at its Palace Theatre run from December 16, 2009 to October 10, 2010. He again reprised the role during the Hollywood Bowl concerts of the musical in June 2016.
He appeared as Jason Dean (J.D) in the rock musical ‘Heathers: The Musical’ directed by Andy Fickman. It was presented as a concert on September 13 and 14 in 2010 at Joe's Pub.
Jordon then landed up with one of the most notable theatrical characterisations of his career, Clyde Barrow, one of the two ill-fated lovers and outlaws from the musical ‘Bonnie & Clyde’ by Frank Wildhorn and Don Black.
Sharing stage with Osnes, who played Bonnie Parker in ‘Bonnie & Clyde’, Jordon first featured in the play’s 2010 pre-Broadway production at the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, Florida. Previews of the play commenced on November 12, 2010 following which it opened on November 19, 2010. It had a total of 8 previews and 36 regular performances till December 19 that year.
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He went on to reprise the role of Clyde Barrow in the Broadway debut of ‘Bonnie & Clyde’ in New York City. The play ran for 33 previews at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre starting from November 4, 2011 before opening officially on December 1, 2011. It was staged for just 36 performances before being closed on December 30, 2011.
He won the ‘Outstanding Debut’ award at the Theatre World Awards and nomination for Distinguished Performance award at the Drama League Award, both in 2012, for his excellent portrayal as Clyde Barrow.
Meanwhile from September 25, 2011 to October 16 of that year, Jordon played the lead role of Jack Kelly in stage version of the 1992 American musical comedy-drama film ‘Newsies’ at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey. The musical was transferred to Broadway where Jordon reprised the role of Jack at the Nederlander Theatre from March 15, 2012 to September 4, 2012.
His brilliant performance as Jack fetched him several award nominations including nomination for 2012 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical. He also received nomination for a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theatre Album in 2013 as a main soloist on the original cast album of ‘Newsies’.
While upping his fame on-stage with prominent roles, Jordon forayed into feature films playing the starring role of Randy Garrity in the January 13, 2012 released American musical comedy-drama ‘Joyful Noise’. The film that also had Queen Latifah, Courtney B. Vance, Keke Palmer and Dolly Parton in starring roles became a commercial success.
In 2013, he featured as Jimmy Collins, a Brooklyn based working-class man, in the second season of the NBC aired American musical drama television series ‘Smash’. He also featured in the concert presentation of the fictional musical developed for Season 2 of ‘Smash’ titled ‘Hit List’ in December 2013.
Meanwhile from November 13 to 17, 2013, he along with Norm Lewis and Bernadette Peters featured in a concert titled ‘A Bed and A Chair’ for ‘Encores!’ that was staged by Wynton Marsalis and Stephen Sondheim at New York City Center.
From July 23, 2014 to September 28, 2014 he essayed the character of J.M Barrie in the musical ‘Finding Neverland’ staged at the A.R.T Theatre.
He featured in the starring role of Jamie Wellerstein opposite Anna Kendrick in the American musical romantic comedy-drama film ‘The Last 5 Years’ that premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in its Special Presentations section on September 7, 2014. The film that was based on Jason Robert Brown's musical bearing same title released theatrically on February 13, 2015, however failed to make an impression at box-office.
A Concert production of the musical ‘Parade’ directed by Gary Griffin and conducted by composer Jason Robert Brown featured Jordon as Leo Frank while Laura Benanti played Lucille Frank. It was staged by Manhattan Concert Productions at Avery Fisher Hall in Lincoln Center on February 16, 2015.
In 2015 he became part of main cast of the American superhero action-adventure television series ‘Supergirl’ playing Winslow "Winn" Schott, Jr. The series premiered on CBS on October 26, 2015 and presently airs on ‘The CW’ since its second season. Currently running through its third season, the series has already been renewed for a fourth season by ‘The CW’ on April 2, 2018.
