Erik Jensen(II)
- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Erik Jensen is an actor, writer, and director.
As an actor, Erik appears regularly on the ABC television series For Life (2020) as ADA Dez O'Reilly opposite Nicholas Pinnock. Jensen played conspiracy theorist Frank Cody in several seasons of Sam Esmail's Mr. Robot (2015) and appeared as Dr. Stephen Edwards in Season Five of The Walking Dead (2010). He acted opposite Catherine Keener in the Amazon series Modern Love (2019) and in David Fincher's Mindhunter (2017) (Netflix). Memorable guest appearances include roles on 30 Rock (2006), The Americans (2013), Blacklist (2013), all three Law and Order franchises, and CSI. Erik's gained 26 pounds for his critically praised performance in The Bronx Is Burning (2007) (2007), as legendary New York Yankee, Thurman Munson, opposite John Turturro and Daniel Sunjata.
Notable stage roles include his "Breathtaking" (Billboard) performance as gonzo rock journalist Lester Bangs in the solo-play "How To Be A Rock Critic" at Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago and at The Public Theater in New York. Jensen co-wrote "How To Be A Rock Critic" and was directed by his wife and frequent collaborator Jessica Blank. Other stage appearances include Tracey Scott Wilson's "The Good Negro" at The Public Theater directed by Liesl Tommy, and the Pulitzer Prize winning production of Ayad Akhtar's "Disgraced" at Lincoln Center. Early theater appearances include plays by Terrence McNally (Manhattan Theater Club) and Arthur Kopit (MTC).
In addition to his work as a performer, Erik is a playwright and screenwriter. He was named by The New Yorker as "among the foremost practitioners of documentary theater in the U.S." With his wife Jessica Blank, he is author of the multi-award-winning, critically-acclaimed play, "The Exonerated", which ran Off-Broadway in New York City for nearly two years and starred Richard Dreyfuss, Susan Sarandon, Aidan Quinn, and Delroy Lindo. "The Exonerated" is considered by many to be a genre-defining play in the realm of "documentary theater." Based on interviews conducted with over 40 wrongly convicted death row inmates across the United States, "The Exonerated" won Lucille Lortel, Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk, Ovation, Fringe First and Herald Angel Awards, and was nominated for the Hull-Warriner Award and the John Gassner Playwriting Award; it has also received awards from Amnesty International, the American Bar Association, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Death Penalty Focus, and Court TV, and was named Best Play of the Year by the New York Times. The screen adaptation of The Exonerated (2005) was directed by Bob Balaban. Jensen and Blank's book on the making of the "The Exonerated" titled "Living Justice" was published in 2005 by Simon and Schuster and received a Kirkus starred review.
On the heels of "The Exonerated" Jensen and Blank created the documentary play "Aftermath," a NY Times Critic's Pick, based on their interviews with Iraqi civilian refugees in Jordan, which ran Off-Broadway to sold out houses at New York Theater Workshop and toured Europe extensively. Their third play, "How To Be A Rock Critic" (based on the writing of Lester Bangs), received rave reviews from Rolling Stone, Billboard, Variety, The New Yorker, and from Bangs' contemporaries Greil Marcus and Jim Derogatis. It played sold out runs at the Kirk Douglas, South Coast Rep, ArtsEmerson, Steppenwolf, and The Public Theater with Jensen as Lester Bangs and wife Jessica Blank directing. As television writers, Jensen and Blank have collaborated with EPs including Tom Fontana (Oz (1997), City on a Hill (2019)), Ed Burns (Sur écoute (2002), Génération Kill (2008)), and David Simon. Jensen and Blank wrote and adapted the pilot "The Negotiator" for Gaumont TV and have developed for television with Fox TV Studios, 20th Century TV, Avenue Pictures, Sunswept Entertainment, Virgin Produced, and Radical Media.
Their documentary play, "Coal Country" (a New York Times Critics' Pick), about the 2010 Upper Big Branch Mine disaster, had a critically lauded World Premiere at The Public Theater, directed by Jessica Blank, with original music written and performed by three-time Grammy winning musician Steve Earle. The play is a recipient of the Edgerton Foundation New Play Award, and was nominated for the Drama Desk award for Outstanding Director (Jessica Blank) and Outstanding Music in a Play (Steve Earle). When the run was cut short by COVID-19, Jensen/Blank pivoted and wrote "The Line," a new play created and crafted from first-hand interviews with NYC medical first responders during the COVID-19 pandemic. Starring Santino Fontana, Arjun Gupta, John Ortiz, Alison Pill, Nicholas Pinnock, Jamey Sheridan, and Lorraine Toussaint, "The Line" streamed live on The Public Theater's YouTube Channel and was extended twice. Also a New York Times Critics' Pick, "The Line" garnered rave reviews from coast to coast: the New York Times calling it "harrowing," with the Los Angeles Times proclaiming "these words sting with truth, but it's the human spectrum before us that turns sociological observation into gasping emotion."
Erik's sci-fi graphic novel "The Reconcilers" (co-created with R. EmeryBright, and Pil Pilegaard) was published in 2010 to a rave from AintItCoollNews. An avid Dungeons and Dragons player, Jensen co-hosts the podcast "BardQuest Empire" with fellow actor and writer Fajer Al Kaisi.
Jensen and Blank adapted and co-directed the feature film Almost Home (2018) based on Blank's novel of the same title. It was released by Vertical Entertainment in 2019. Their second feature, How to be a Rock Critic (based on their play), is in development with Likely Story. They live in Brooklyn with their daughter, Sadie.
As an actor, Erik appears regularly on the ABC television series For Life (2020) as ADA Dez O'Reilly opposite Nicholas Pinnock. Jensen played conspiracy theorist Frank Cody in several seasons of Sam Esmail's Mr. Robot (2015) and appeared as Dr. Stephen Edwards in Season Five of The Walking Dead (2010). He acted opposite Catherine Keener in the Amazon series Modern Love (2019) and in David Fincher's Mindhunter (2017) (Netflix). Memorable guest appearances include roles on 30 Rock (2006), The Americans (2013), Blacklist (2013), all three Law and Order franchises, and CSI. Erik's gained 26 pounds for his critically praised performance in The Bronx Is Burning (2007) (2007), as legendary New York Yankee, Thurman Munson, opposite John Turturro and Daniel Sunjata.
Notable stage roles include his "Breathtaking" (Billboard) performance as gonzo rock journalist Lester Bangs in the solo-play "How To Be A Rock Critic" at Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago and at The Public Theater in New York. Jensen co-wrote "How To Be A Rock Critic" and was directed by his wife and frequent collaborator Jessica Blank. Other stage appearances include Tracey Scott Wilson's "The Good Negro" at The Public Theater directed by Liesl Tommy, and the Pulitzer Prize winning production of Ayad Akhtar's "Disgraced" at Lincoln Center. Early theater appearances include plays by Terrence McNally (Manhattan Theater Club) and Arthur Kopit (MTC).
In addition to his work as a performer, Erik is a playwright and screenwriter. He was named by The New Yorker as "among the foremost practitioners of documentary theater in the U.S." With his wife Jessica Blank, he is author of the multi-award-winning, critically-acclaimed play, "The Exonerated", which ran Off-Broadway in New York City for nearly two years and starred Richard Dreyfuss, Susan Sarandon, Aidan Quinn, and Delroy Lindo. "The Exonerated" is considered by many to be a genre-defining play in the realm of "documentary theater." Based on interviews conducted with over 40 wrongly convicted death row inmates across the United States, "The Exonerated" won Lucille Lortel, Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk, Ovation, Fringe First and Herald Angel Awards, and was nominated for the Hull-Warriner Award and the John Gassner Playwriting Award; it has also received awards from Amnesty International, the American Bar Association, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Death Penalty Focus, and Court TV, and was named Best Play of the Year by the New York Times. The screen adaptation of The Exonerated (2005) was directed by Bob Balaban. Jensen and Blank's book on the making of the "The Exonerated" titled "Living Justice" was published in 2005 by Simon and Schuster and received a Kirkus starred review.
On the heels of "The Exonerated" Jensen and Blank created the documentary play "Aftermath," a NY Times Critic's Pick, based on their interviews with Iraqi civilian refugees in Jordan, which ran Off-Broadway to sold out houses at New York Theater Workshop and toured Europe extensively. Their third play, "How To Be A Rock Critic" (based on the writing of Lester Bangs), received rave reviews from Rolling Stone, Billboard, Variety, The New Yorker, and from Bangs' contemporaries Greil Marcus and Jim Derogatis. It played sold out runs at the Kirk Douglas, South Coast Rep, ArtsEmerson, Steppenwolf, and The Public Theater with Jensen as Lester Bangs and wife Jessica Blank directing. As television writers, Jensen and Blank have collaborated with EPs including Tom Fontana (Oz (1997), City on a Hill (2019)), Ed Burns (Sur écoute (2002), Génération Kill (2008)), and David Simon. Jensen and Blank wrote and adapted the pilot "The Negotiator" for Gaumont TV and have developed for television with Fox TV Studios, 20th Century TV, Avenue Pictures, Sunswept Entertainment, Virgin Produced, and Radical Media.
Their documentary play, "Coal Country" (a New York Times Critics' Pick), about the 2010 Upper Big Branch Mine disaster, had a critically lauded World Premiere at The Public Theater, directed by Jessica Blank, with original music written and performed by three-time Grammy winning musician Steve Earle. The play is a recipient of the Edgerton Foundation New Play Award, and was nominated for the Drama Desk award for Outstanding Director (Jessica Blank) and Outstanding Music in a Play (Steve Earle). When the run was cut short by COVID-19, Jensen/Blank pivoted and wrote "The Line," a new play created and crafted from first-hand interviews with NYC medical first responders during the COVID-19 pandemic. Starring Santino Fontana, Arjun Gupta, John Ortiz, Alison Pill, Nicholas Pinnock, Jamey Sheridan, and Lorraine Toussaint, "The Line" streamed live on The Public Theater's YouTube Channel and was extended twice. Also a New York Times Critics' Pick, "The Line" garnered rave reviews from coast to coast: the New York Times calling it "harrowing," with the Los Angeles Times proclaiming "these words sting with truth, but it's the human spectrum before us that turns sociological observation into gasping emotion."
Erik's sci-fi graphic novel "The Reconcilers" (co-created with R. EmeryBright, and Pil Pilegaard) was published in 2010 to a rave from AintItCoollNews. An avid Dungeons and Dragons player, Jensen co-hosts the podcast "BardQuest Empire" with fellow actor and writer Fajer Al Kaisi.
Jensen and Blank adapted and co-directed the feature film Almost Home (2018) based on Blank's novel of the same title. It was released by Vertical Entertainment in 2019. Their second feature, How to be a Rock Critic (based on their play), is in development with Likely Story. They live in Brooklyn with their daughter, Sadie.
