Jerod Howard is an American actor born in Chicago, Illinois. Raised in the Lake View area, he attended St. Alphonsus Academy, which is home to the Athenaeum Theater & Performing Arts Center. His early exposure to acting came from watching films at the local Music Box Theater, where he saw classic films like Young Frankenstein (1974) and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975).
Howard's first acting role was in an amateur stage production of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," where he played Billy Bibbit and won a best supporting actor award. This led to him being approached by a local talent agent, who signed him to work with various theatrical companies around the Midwest.
Howard made his Chicago debut in the stage adaptation of "Pulp Fiction" with Azusa Productions at the Preston Bradley Center, and later appeared as a guest artist with the Chicago Writers Group at Stage 773. He expanded his work to include film and television, with background experiences in 2005, and a principle role in the indie thriller October Moon (2005) opposite Judith O'Dea.
Howard's stage credits include Jay in "Thee Trinity" by Emmy-nominated producer/writer Rick Roberts, the Washer in "Furnace" written by Christian Rayner, and Admetus in "Alcestis Doesn't Live Here Anymore" by Lynne McMahon. He has also appeared in "The Shadow Box" by Michael Cristofer, "Killers" by John Olive, and the title role in "The BenchMark" also written by Roberts.
In addition to his acting work, Howard has also performed as a featured vocalist for the contemporary Christian artist group "Tell the World" on a southeastern regional tour, and has appeared at the Grand Ol' Opry, Walt Disney World, and Sea World. He has also been the lead vocalist for various musical groups, including Stand, Easy Action, Take Six, Anodyne Falls, and the vocal duo of Hayden and Howard.
Howard has appeared on-screen in Safe Inside (2017) and on-stage as Mortimer Brewster in "Arsenic & Old Lace," Danny in "Almost, Maine," and the Baritone of "Songs For a New World" by Jason Robert Brown. He reunited with writer/director Bennie Woodell for Into the Devil's Reach (2021),and has recently appeared as Rooster in "The Shawshank Redemption" and Philip Lombard in "And Then There Were None."
Upcoming projects include playing The Lecturer in "Reefer Madness - The Musical" at the historic Sprague Theater in Elkhorn, WI in the fall of 2023, and returning to the stage as "C" in Terminus at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, Ireland in the spring of 2024.
