Jake Busey

Biography

Jake Busey was born, raised, and is now carrying the family banner in show business. The son of Judy and Gary Busey, Jake spent his childhood in sunny southern California, as well as myriad film sets around the country. Jake enjoyed a childhood similar to a "military brat", as they call themselves. "Born into the circus" as he calls it, Jake's childhood was a series of strung-together extended-stay location shoots, alternating with tours on the road with his father's various bands. He grew up in a world of artists, spending many years on tour buses and side-stage-studying such acts as Willie Nelson, Leon Russell, Little Feat, the Band, and Fleetwood Mac, Jake found his passion for music and performing. Busey reluctantly entered the industry at the age of 5 in his first motion picture, Dustin Hoffman's opus, "Straight Time" (1977) starring alongside his father, Gary, Cathy Bates, M. Emmett Walsh and Dustin Hoffman. After finishing high school at Crossroads School for the Arts and Sciences and a brief stint at college in Santa Barbara , Jake returned to L.A to study the craft of acting for film at 17. He started auditioning at 19, and booked his first role in a PBS film, "Shimmer", shot on location in Iowa. Slowly but surely bit parts playing supporting characters in independent films would follow, as declined help from his famous father. Perhaps his road may have taken a little longer than desired, but He would carry integrity....knowing he had forged his own path. After a few years of hard work and little returns, he made his true debut to the big screen in 1994 alongside Stephen Dorff and Reese Witherspoon in the biggest, and what would be the last of his string of indie films for a while.."S.F.W" . Then in 1996 the world of jake changed. With a 3 page monologue about religion vs. science, he landed "Contact" with Jodi Foster and Matthew McConnaghey. Then with Will Smith, Gene Hackman, John Voight and Lisa Bonet in "Enemy of the State", Michael J Fox in Peter Jackson's "The Frightener's," then with Luke Wilson and Drew Barrymore in "Home Fries," and most memorably as the smart-mouthed Private Ace Levy in the ensemble Sci-Fi cult classic "Starship Troopers." Jake was a force to be reckoned with in the late 1990's A-list film market. Then in the early 21st century, after the great success of "Identity" alongside Liotta, Cusack, John Hawkes, Rebecca Demornay, Amanda Peet , John C. Mcginly and P.T.Vance, Jake took some risks with projects, leaps of faith, stepping up into starring roles in such studio disasters as "Tomcats" and "the First 20million is always the hardest", Films hyped to glory among the Hollywood machine, which failed miserably, which left him needing to reassess his position and strong suits. It was time for a break. Personal inventory was taken, new directives evaluated, basically some time away was needed. After a few-year hiatus from acting as he pursued directing films, "road-tripping" the country in his airplane, and the fine appreciation of wine, he was ready for his come-back. Jake blasted onscreen in the final season of FX's hit series "Justified", as a pyrotechnic specialist, leaving many an audience member aghast; having thought he was a solid new addition to the show...alas, just a masterfully crafted character, blowing up in 30 seconds. In a major leap forward, Robert Rodriguez nabbed him for all three seasons of "From Dusk Till Dawn, (airing on his upstart El-Rey Network, and Netflix.) as the eponymous "sex Machine". The show enjoyed industry accolade, but was not widely seen by its target audience, who could often times not afford the elite TV cable-package required to carry the new Network. Jake can also be seen in History Channel's 2015 8-hour epic mini-series "Texas Rising", Busey plays Samuel Wallace, the man credited with reciting the legendary warning, "Remember the Alamo." alongside Thomas Jane, Bill Paxton, Ray Liotta, Jeremy Davies, and many others; directed by Roland Joffe. Alternating between Large scale projects, he can be seen on the small screen indicative of today's market in Hulu's "freakish", Showtime Network's "Ray Donovan", and in early 2018, CBS television's "NCIS" Episode 346(1516) , ABC's "Marvels agents of S.H.E.I.L.D.., Episode 513 & 519, and in the summer of 2018 he makes his return to the summer tent-pole event scene with 20th Century Fox's "the_Predator", directed by Shane Black. A bit of a modern-day Renaissance man, Jake's passions in life includes fatherhood, acting, desert racing, architecture, music, flying planes when necessary, and fabricating anything mechanical in his metal shop. .