Jason Mewes

Jason Edward Mewes (born June 12, 1974) is an American television and film actor, film producer and internet radio show host. He is best known for playing Jay, the vocal half of the duo Jay and Silent Bob, in longtime friend Kevin Smith’s films.
==Early life==
Mewes was born on June 12, 1974 in Highlands, New Jersey, and grew up in a working-class neighborhood. He never knew his father, and his mother was an ex-con and a drug addict. Relates Mewes: "She used to check into hotels and take TVs and sell them...I guess it really ain't funny, but it's weird because it was so fucked up...She used to steal mail. I used to drive around with her and she'd pull up and make me reach into mailboxes. It really wasn't pleasant." Although this exposure to drugs at first served to make him averse to them, he eventually began using them after graduating from high school.
His best friend was future filmmaker Kevin Smith, who described Mewes this way: "[Jason]'s the kind of dude you know for five minutes and he whips his cock out. I was like, somebody should put this dude in a movie. I just wanted to see if anybody outside our group of friends finds him as funny as I do."
==Career==
While working toward a career in roofing, Mewes made his film debut in Smith's 1994 film Clerks as Jay. The film was a success, resulting in Mewes becoming closely identified with the role, which he also played in Mallrats (1995), Chasing Amy (1997), Dogma (1999), Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001), and Clerks II (2006). He also supplied Jay's voice in the short-lived Clerks: The Animated Series. He, along with Kevin Smith, performed in the films Scream 3 and Bottoms Up; they also appeared on the Canadian television series Degrassi: The Next Generation, in two episodes of a three-part story arc in which he and Smith film a new addition to Smith's View Askew films titled Jay and Silent Bob Go Canadian, Eh? at Degrassi Community School. They appear again on Degrassi (in a two-part episode), at the premiere of Jay and Silent Bob go Canadian, Eh? in Canada. Mewes, Smith, and Degrassi star Stacie Mistysyn made the cover of the January 29, 2005, issue of Canadian TV Guide.
In 1998, he starred as "Gary Lamb – Ground Activist" in a series of Nike commercials directed by Smith. From 2010-2012, Mewes was cast as "Jimmy the Janitor" for 26 episodes of the Canadian television series Todd and the Book of Pure Evil.
In the video game Scarface: The World Is Yours, Mewes provides a voiceover for a thief who steals some tapes. The titular character, Tony "Scarface" Montana, injures Mewes' characters in a fistfight that regains the desired tapes. 
Mewes starred in the horror film Breath of Hate, where he played a romantic love interest to a dysfunctional escort. Mewes co-starred in Smith's 2008 film Zack and Miri Make a Porno, in which Mewes, in a scene near the end of the film, appears fully nude.
Mewes co-hosts a weekly podcast with Smith called Jay & Silent Bob Get Old in which Mewes discusses his former drug addiction issues.
Mewes is co-Executive Producer on Smith's Hulu-exclusive series Spoilers with Kevin Smith.
Mewes co-produced the 2013 animated movie Jay & Silent Bob's Super Groovy Cartoon Movie with his wife Jordan Monsanto, which was based on the Bluntman and Chronic comic book that Kevin Smith wrote as a companion piece to the film Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.
Mewes starred in episode 3 of the sixth season of Hawaii Five-0 as Eddie Brooks. 
Mewes’ directorial debut, Madness in the Method, in which he also starred, premiered August 2, 2019 in the U.S.
==Personal life==
Mewes married Jordan Monsanto in a civil ceremony on January 30, 2009, with a larger wedding planned later that May. Their daughter, Logan Lee, was born on April 1, 2015.
===Substance abuse===
Mewes has openly talked about his struggles with substance abuse, which began in his early 20s. He first began using heroin shortly after appearing in Mallrats and was soon addicted; he was under the influence while filming Chasing Amy and Dogma. Kevin Smith entered Mewes into the first of a series of drug rehabilitation clinics in 1997 after noticing Mewes would randomly fall asleep, which he initially attributed to narcolepsy. Mewes sobered up until about a week into the Dogma shoot, when he learned he could pass his urine tests by abstaining from drugs for three days beforehand and then shooting up the rest of the week. In another attempt to get clean, Mewes moved in with his mother, who gave him OxyContin to ease the withdrawal symptoms.
In 1999 Mewes was arrested in New Jersey for heroin possession. His probation sentence included community service, drug counseling, and regular court appearances in New Jersey. In late 2001, after he failed to make a court appearance, a warrant was issued for his arrest. Smith had taken Mewes in to live with him and his wife, Jennifer Schwalbach Smith, but evicted him after catching him using drugs again. During this period, Mewes stole Smith's ATM card, spent $1,100 of Smith's money, and had heroin shipped to the hotel where a press junket for Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back was being held. Smith had Mewes check into various rehab facilities, including Promises in Malibu, where his visit coincided with frequent costar Ben Affleck's stay for alcoholism. These attempts were unsuccessful for Mewes, whose problem was so severe that Smith was unable to give him a part in 2004's Jersey Girl.
Mewes continued to use drugs, and has related that he decided to turn himself in and get help after waking up on Christmas morning in 2002 to find that he had started a fire after falling asleep near a lit candle while on heroin. Estranged from Smith, Mewes returned to New Jersey, and on April 1, 2003, he surrendered himself at a Freehold, New Jersey, court and pleaded guilty to probation violation charges. He was ordered to enter a six-month rehab program. In a July 2006 interview he reported that he was sober, and harbored no urges to drink or use drugs. He relapsed in 2009 after having surgery.
To help Mewes maintain his sobriety, Smith created the Jay & Silent Bob Get Old podcast as a "weekly intervention" to let Mewes talk through his history of substance abuse. He has been sober since June 28, 2010.
==Filmography==
Year 	Film 	Role 	Notes
1994 	Adults Only (TV Series) 	Rick Ravage 	1 episode
1994 	Clerks 	Jay 	
1995 	Mallrats 	Jay 	
1996 	Drawing Flies 	Az 	
1997 	Chasing Amy 	Jay 	
1999 	Dogma 	Jay 	
1999 	Tail Lights Fade 	 	Uncredited
1999 	The Blair Clown Project 	Witness #3 	
1999 	Spilt Milk 	 	
2000 	Scream 3 	Jay 	Cameo
2000 	Vulgar 	Tuott the Basehead 	
2001 	Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back 	Jay 	
2000–2002	Clerks: The Animated Series 	Jay 	6 episodes
2002 	R.S.V.P. 	Terry 	
2002 	High Times' Potluck 	Guy 	
2002 	Hot Rush 	 	
2003 	Pauly Shore Is Dead 	Jay the MC 	as Jay Mewes
2004 	Powder: Up Here 	Evil Villain 	
2005 	Degrassi: The Next Generation 	Himself 	4 episodes
2005 	My Big Fat Independent Movie 	Answering Machine 	Voice
2005 	The Pleasure Drivers 	Counter Monkey 	
2006 	Clerks II 	Jay 	
2006 	Feast 	Edgy Cat/Jason Mewes 	
2006 	National Lampoon's TV: The Movie 	Carrie 	
2006 	Bottoms Up 	Owen Peadman 	
2006 	Jack's Law 	Bobby Mewes 	
2007 	Netherbeast Incorporated 	Waxy Dan 	
2007 	Gone Baby Gone 	 	"Thanks" during the end credits.
2007 	The Tripper 	Joey 	
2008 	Bitten 	Jack 	Video
2008 	Zack and Miri Make a Porno 	Lester 	
2008 	Tattoos: A Scarred History 	Himself 	
2008 	Fanboys 	Himself 	Cameo
2009 	Tom Cool 	 	
2009 	Midgets vs. Mascots 	Jason 	Uncredited
2009 	Shoot the Hero 	Nate 	
2009 	Mitch and Stu's Quest 	Stu 	
2009 	The Science of Cool 	Coach Cambria 	
2009 	Degrassi Goes Hollywood 	Himself 	Television film
2010 	Repo 	T.J. 	
2010 	Noah's Ark: The New Beginning 	Ham 	Voice
2010 	Breath of Hate 	Ned 	
2010 	Big Money Rustlas 	Bucky 	
2010–2012	Todd and the Book of Pure Evil 	Jimmy the Janitor 	TV series regular
2011 	Silent But Deadly 	Thomas Capper 	
2012 	Cousin Sarah 	Anton 	
2012 	Spoilers with Kevin Smith 	Himself 	Also co-executive producer
2012 	Noobz 	Andy Clifton 	
2012 	The Newest Pledge 	Professor Street 	
2013 	Jay & Silent Bob's Super Groovy Cartoon Movie	Jay (voice) 	Also producer
2013 	Vigilante Diaries (web series) 	Mike Hanover 	2 Episodes, also producer
2014 	Devil's Tower 	Sid 	
2014 	Randal's Monday 	Jay Dealer 	First Character to be parody of Jay.
2015 	Scooby-Doo! and Kiss: Rock and Roll Mystery 	Worker #1 	Voice
2015 	Hawaii Five-0 	Eddie Brooks 	1 Episode "Ua 'o'oloku ke anu i na mauna"
2015-2016	Triptank 	Jimmy (voice)Caller (voice) 	2 Episodes: "Short Change", "Crime Steve Investigation"
2016 	Bling 	Kit 	Voice
2016 	Shooting Clerks 	Wes Jameson 	
2016 	Yoga Hosers 	Rogue Cop 	Also producer
2016 	Vigilante Diaries 	Mike Hanover 	
2016 	Hollyweed 	Himself 	
2016–2018	The Flash 	Humvee GuyJay the Security Guard	2 episodes (Directed by Kevin Smith)
2017 	Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare 	Himself 	Voice; video game
2018 	Moose Jaws 	Jay 	
2018 	Aah! Roach! 	Deek 	
2018 	Madness in the Method 	Jay 	
2018 	Weight 	Bogart 	
2019 	Jay and Silent Bob Reboot 	Jay 	
==See also==
* View Askewniverse
==References==
==Further reading==
*
==External links==
* 
* 
* Interviews Askew: Jason Mewes (Interview from March 14, 1999)
* "Jay & Silent Bob Get Old Podcast" Podcast with Smith and Mewes discussing Mewes and his addiction.
Category:1974 births
Category:Living people
Category:American male film actors
Category:American male television actors
Category:Male actors from New Jersey
Category:People from Highlands, New Jersey
Category:20th-century American male actors
Category:21st-century American male actorsCategory:Pages stolen off Wikipedia