Jay Scott Greenspan[1][2][3] (born September 23, 1959),[2] known professionally as Jason Alexander, is an American actor and comedian.

His film roles include Pretty Woman (1990), Jacob's Ladder (1990), Coneheads 1992), The Paper (1994), Dunston Checks In (1996), Shallow Hal (2001), and Hachi: A Dog's Tale (2009).

For his role in Dream On (1994) he was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series.

Frank Rich of The New York Times wrote of his performance "Jason Alexander, the evening's delightful narrator, accomplishes the seemingly impossible: he banishes the memory of Zero Mostel from the role of Pseudolus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum".

[8] In addition to his roles as an insensitive, money-hungry lawyer in Pretty Woman in 1990, Alexander has appeared in Jacob's Ladder in 1990, Coneheads in 1993, The Paper and North in 1994, The Last Supper in 1995, Dunston Checks In in 1996, Love!

[9] Before Seinfeld, Alexander appeared in commercials for John Deere and McDonald's and in the short-lived CBS sitcom Everything's Relative (1987).

For his role in an episode of Dream On, Alexander was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series in 1994.

His other Disney voice work includes House of Mouse in 2001 and the 2012 video game Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance.

Alexander appeared in the 1999 Star Trek: Voyager episode "Think Tank" as Kurros, a genius alien trying to get Seven of Nine to serve on his ship.

The year 2001 marked his appearance as inept womanizer Mauricio in Shallow Hal and his first post-Seinfeld return to prime-time television: the heavily promoted but short-lived ABC sitcom Bob Patterson, which was canceled after five episodes.

He appeared in Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) commercials in 2002, including one with Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants and another with Trista Rehn of The Bachelorette.

It was rumored that he quit doing these commercials due to KFC suppliers and slaughterhouses' alleged cruelty to animals, but he denied that in an interview with Adweek, saying, "That's PETA bullcrap.

[20] He appeared with Kelsey Grammer in the 2004 musical adaptation of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, as Jacob Marley.

Alexander's second chance as a TV series lead, the CBS sitcom Listen Up (2004–05), also fell short of a second season.

Alexander was the principal executive producer of the series, based very loosely on the life of the popular sports-media personality Tony Kornheiser.

Alexander continued to appear in live stage shows, including Barbra Streisand's memorable birthday party in 2005 for Stephen Sondheim at the Hollywood Bowl, where he performed selections from Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street with Angela Lansbury.

Also that year, he hosted the PBS "A Capitol Fourth" celebrations in Washington, D.C., singing, dancing, and playing tuned drums.

[31][32] In 2008, Alexander guest-starred in the season four episode "Masterpiece" of the CBS show Criminal Minds as Professor Rothschild,[33][34] a well-educated serial killer obsessed with the Fibonacci sequence who sends the team into a race against time to save his last victims.

In February/March 2010, Alexander starred in his show, The Donny Clay Experience, at the Planet Hollywood Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Donny Clay, whom he has portrayed in a tour of the United States and Orillia, Ontario, is a self-help guru in a similar mold to his Bob Patterson character.

He starred as Cosmo in the 2011 live action film A Fairly Odd Movie: Grow Up, Timmy Turner!.

In 2011, Alexander was the guest star in an episode of Harry's Law, playing a high school teacher bringing a wrongful dismissal suit.

[40] He co-starred opposite Sherie Rene Scott in the 2017 world premiere of John Patrick Shanley's The Portuguese Kid at the Manhattan Theatre Club.

No, Really?, a weekly podcast in which he, co-host Peter Tilden, and their guests attempt to find answers "to life’s most baffling, intriguing, confusing and annoying questions".

[51] Alexander was the national spokesman for the Scleroderma Foundation, a leading organization dedicated to raising awareness of the disease and assisting those who are afflicted.

In 2021, Alexander competed in a virtual National Poker Tournament, hosted by the Children's Tumor Foundation, to raise money for Neurofibromatosis research.

[55][better source needed] Alexander, who was interviewed at the event by Jewish News Syndicate, stated he supported the OneVoice Movement, and acknowledged an occupation of Palestine and called for a two-state solution,[54] which was later criticized by Roz Rothstein, CEO of the pro-Israel education group StandWithUs.

'"[54] On November 6, 2015 he again emceed an event at The Beverly Hilton Hotel in California, which raised $31 million for "provid[ing] educational, cultural and recreational programs and facilities for IDF soldiers.