Acting with Jazz R.

Jazz has trained with The Lee Strasberg Institute in Los Angeles and New York, Stella Adler in New York, Janet Alhanti, Lesly Kahn, and John Rosenfeld Studios in Los Angeles just to name a few. Born in Stockton, California, Jazz R. started performing at the age of 22 months. It was at her mother’s dance studio where Jazz developed her onstage skills, studying an array of dance styles from salsa to ballroom and modern to African. Jazz started acting at the age of four, when her mother took her to a workshop in Beverly Hills, and quickly progressed from there. By five years old, R. had booked her first commercial and at the age of 6, she booked both her first pilot and her first movie role, appearing as Angela Basset’s daughter in the cult classic “Waiting to Exhale.” With Jazz’s career quickly taking off, her family opted to relocate in order to accommodate it; her mother giving up her dance studio and her father having his job transferred to Los Angeles. Her big break came at the age of 13, when she won the role of ‘Claire Kyle’ on ABC’s hit sitcom “My Wife and Kids” opposite Damon Wayans and Tisha Campbell. After departing the show, Jazz returned to her first love: dance. She went from the Boston Ballet, to the school of American Ballet, to a full scholarship at Alvin Ailey, where she danced with the first company. During her stay at Ailey, Jazz won a spot at a ballet company in South Carolina where at 16 years old, she was its youngest soloist. In these years, Jazz kept busy with multiple guest appearances on series, including “Law & Order: SVU” and hosting for Nickelodeon and with her education, graduating two years early in the top 5% of the country’s high school students. Shortly thereafter, Jazz returned to acting full-force and in addition to making guest appearances on the TNT drama “Perception,” “Secret Life of the American Teenager,” “Monk,” and “Without A Trace,” “iZombie,” “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.” She has held memorable recurring roles on “The Office” (as Stanley’s daughter), “Everybody Hates Chris,” “Jericho,” TV Land’s “The Soul Man” alongside Cedric the Entertainer and Niecy Nash. And most recently as a series regular playing the rebellious daughter of Tony winner, Anika Noni Rose, on BET’s “The Quad.”