Erik Jensen (actor)

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Erik Jensen is an American actor, playwright, screenwriter, and director.

Jensen was born and raised in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota. He graduated from Apple Valley High School in Minnesota in 1988.^[1] He earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in acting from Carnegie Mellon University.

An actor, writer, and director, Erik Jensen regularly appears on the ABC Network Television series For Life as ADA Dez O'Reilly. Notably, he appeared as Thurman Munson of the New York Yankees in the ESPN miniseries The Bronx Is Burning, and as conspiracy talk show host Frank Cody in Mr. Robot, as well as Dr. Stephen Edwards on The Walking Dead. Jensen appeared alongside Aasif Mandvi in Ayad Akhtars' Disgraced at Lincoln Center. He also appeared as rock critic Lester Bangs in the one-man play How to Be a Rock Critic (based on the writings of Lester Bangs) which he co-wrote with his wife Jessica Blank. How to Be A Rock Critic received a completion commission from Center Theatre Group and was produced at the Kirk Douglas Theater, ArtsEmerson, and Steppenwolf Theatre Company before being produced Off-Broadway at The Public Theater.

In 2017 he co-directed the film Almost Home with Jessica Blank based on her novel of the same name.

In 2020, Jensen and Blank's co-written plays, Coal Country and The Line, both premiered at The Public Theater.

In 2022/2023, Jensen appeared on Broadway as Bruno Bischofberger opposite Paul Bettany and Jeremy Pope in Anthony McCarten's 'The Collaboration'.

Jensen and Blank have cited the works of Anna Deavere Smith, Emily Mann, and Studs Terkel as influences.

Blank and Jensen co-wrote The Exonerated, a play based on interviews they conducted with more than 40 exonerated death row inmates. In spring 2002, they co-directed The Exonerated at The Actors' Gang Theater. That production was nominated for five Ovation Awards and three NAACP Awards, won the Ovation for Best World Premiere Play, and has toured universities nationally. The New York production of The Exonerated ran for more than 600 performances off-Broadway, toured nationally, and won the Outer Critics Circle, Lortel, and Drama Desk awards, as well as awards from Amnesty International, American Bar Association, National Council of Criminal Defense Lawyers and more. It was adapted as a movie for Court TV starring Brian Dennehy, Danny Glover, Delroy Lindo, Aidan Quinn, and Susan Sarandon. The play has been produced internationally in Dublin, Edinburgh,^[2] and London, in the United Kingdom; and in Japan, Mexico, France, China, Thailand, Iran, and Italy. It has been translated into French, Spanish, Italian, Mandarin, and Japanese.

Blank and Jensen co-wrote the documentary play Aftermath based on interviews they conducted in 2008 with Iraqi civilian refugees in Jordan. Blank directed Aftermath Off-Broadway at New York Theatre Workshop; it was nominated for two Drama League awards and toured internationally for two years.

Jensen and Blank co-wrote and co-directed the feature film Almost Home in 2016,^[3] adapted from the novel Almost Home written by Jessica Blank, published in October 2007 by Hyperion.^[4]

Their play, How To Be A Rock Critic (based on the writings of Lester Bangs), received a commission from Center Theatre Group and was produced at the Kirk Douglas Theater, South Coast Repertory, ArtsEmerson, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, and Off-Broadway at The Public Theater, with Jensen starring and Blank directing.^[5]

Jensen and Blank's documentary play, Coal Country, about the 2010 Upper Big Branch Mine disaster, opened at The Public Theater on March 3, 2020, directed by Jessica Blank, with original music written and performed by Grammy Award-winning musician Steve Earle. Coal Country was suspended when theaters closed down March 11, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 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).

Blank and Jensen wrote The Line in 2020, which tells the story about New York City health-care workers fighting against COVID-19. The one-hour documentary-style production was directed by Blank, produced and presented by The Public Theater, and streamed on YouTube from July 8 through September 1, 2020.^[6]

Blank and Jensen's book Living Justice (2005),^[7] a memoir about the making of The Exonerated, was published by Simon and Schuster and received a Kirkus Starred Review.

Erik’s sci-fi graphic novel The Reconcilers was published in 2010 by Viking Warrior Press.^[8]

Jensen married writer, director and actress Jessica Blank in 2001. They are based in Brooklyn, New York. He was diagnosed with stage IV colorectal cancer in October 2023.^[9]