John Clarence Stewart

John Clarence Stewart (born August 16, 1988) is an American actor and singer, best known for his role as Simon on Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist (2020-21). Prior to that, Stewart was recognized for portraying Alex Wesley on Luke Cage (2016–18) and Lionel on What/If (2019).

John Clarence Stewart
Born (1988-08-16) August 16, 1988
Stone Mountain, Georgia, U.S.
Alma materColumbus State University (BFA)
Kennesaw State University (BA)
Occupations
  • Actor
  • singer
Years active2013–present

Early life

Stewart was born in 1987 in Stone Mountain, Georgia.[1][2][3] He initially attended Shiloh High School before transferring to George Walton Academy on a football scholarship for one year. His senior year he transferred back to Shiloh High School. He performed in his school musical Once on This Island. He attended Columbus State University, graduating in 2009 with a BFA in Performance Theater. He then attended Kennesaw State University, graduating in 2012 with a BA in Theater and Performance Studies and Dance.[4][5] Thereafter he performed educational theatre for Kaiser Permanente in Atlanta. Along with many plays at the Alliance Theater, including The Whipping Man, Choir Boy, A Christmas Carol. He also taught and in the summer camp. While working on Choir Boy John understudied the production at Manhattan Theatre Club, the same production was a co-pro with the Alliance Theatre. John premiered the role of Trey in Brownsville Song B-Side for Trey at Actors Theatre of Louisville. Before moving to New York John also performed in Bull Durham the Musical at the Alliance. At 24 years old, he moved to New York City and then to Los Angeles to further pursue acting.[3]

Career

Stewart made his professional debut portraying John in The Whipping Man (2013) at the Alliance Theatre. He performed in a couple more of the theatre's productions and also starred as Tray in Brownsville Song (B-Side for Tray) (2014) at the Actors Theatre of Louisville, and as Wanre in Fit for a Queen (2016) at the Classical Theatre of Harlem.[6][7][8]

In 2015, Stewart made his television debut in Gotham as Officer Griffin Katz. He continued appearing in guest roles on several television shows and his first major television role was as Alex Wesley in Luke Cage (2016–2018). In 2019, he gained further recognition for portraying Lionel in the Netflix TV series What/If (2019). In 2020, he made his breakthrough portraying Simon in Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist.[9]

Filmography

Television
Year Title Role Notes
2015 Gotham Officer Griffin Katz Episode: "All Happy Families Are Alike"
2015 The Mysteries of Laura Clint Episode: "The Mystery of the Crooked Clubber"
2015 Blue Bloods Officer Keith Roosevelt Episode: "The Bullitt Mustang"
2016–2018 Luke Cage Alex Wesley 13 episodes
2017 The Good Fight Leigh Hunter Episode: "Inauguration"
2017 Skin Deep Marcus 4 episodes
2019 Hawaii Five-0 Hilo Episode: "Ke ala o ka pu"
2019 What/If Lionel Main role
2020–2021 Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist Simon Haynes Main role
2022 P-Valley Thaddeus Wilks/Big Teak Recurring

References
  1. Alexander, Andrew (November 15, 2019). "10 Years of ArtsATL: John Clarence Stewart goes from Alliance to Marvel's "Luke Cage"". ArtsATL. Retrieved May 6, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. NewsDesk (May 4, 2020). "John Clarence Stewart Talks Avoiding Tropes and Black Men Showing Vulnerability". ExBulletin. Retrieved May 6, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. Ho, Rodney (May 1, 2020). "INTERVIEW: Atlanta native John Clarence Stewart on playing Simon on "Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist'". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Archived from the original on May 14, 2020. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
  4. "John Clarence Stewart - LinkedIn Profile". LinkedIn. July 7, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  5. Scott, Thomas A. (October 14, 2014). "Kennesaw State University Oral History Project" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on July 7, 2020.
  6. "John Clarence Stewart theatre profile". AboutTheArtists. Retrieved May 6, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  7. "Script in Hand Series". Westport County Playhouse. Retrieved May 6, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  8. "10 Years of ArtsATL: John Clarence Stewart goes from Alliance to Marvel's "Luke Cage"". ArtsATL. November 15, 2019. Retrieved May 6, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  9. "Simon: Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist Character". NBC. Retrieved May 6, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.