# Blake Jenner
**Blake Jenner** (born 1992) is an American actor and singer from Miami, Florida, who came to public attention by winning the second season of the reality competition *The Glee Project* and then playing football player Ryder Lynn on the Fox musical comedy *Glee*, before moving into film roles in [Richard Linklater](https://www.edgepedia.org/richard-linklater)'s *Everybody Wants Some!!* (2016) and *The Edge of Seventeen* (2016).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Full name / birth | Blake Alexander Jenner, born 1992 in Miami, Florida, the youngest of four brothers[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/blake_jenner) • [2](https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/blake-jenner/credits/3000191538/) |
| Breakthrough | Winner of season 2 of *The Glee Project* (Oxygen, 2012), selected as one of fourteen contestants[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/blake_jenner) • [3](https://floridafilmfestival.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/FFF-2018-Celebrity-Guests-Press-Release.pdf) |
| *Glee* role | Ryder Lynn: recurring in season 4, promoted to series regular in season 5, guest in season 6 (2012–2015)[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/blake_jenner) • [4](https://glee.fandom.com/wiki/Blake_Jenner) |
| Notable films | *Everybody Wants Some!!* (2016) as Jake; *The Edge of Seventeen* (2016) as Darian; *American Animals* (2018) as Chas Allen[5](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/everybody-wants-some-2016) • [6](https://time.com/4575262/edge-of-seventeen-review/) • [3](https://floridafilmfestival.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/FFF-2018-Celebrity-Guests-Press-Release.pdf) |
| Writing/producing debut | *Billy Boy* (2017), which he wrote, produced, and starred in; retitled *Juvenile* before release[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/blake_jenner) |
| Television after *Glee* | Recurring as Adam Foster on *Supergirl* (2016); main cast as Sean on Netflix's *What/If* (2019)[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/blake_jenner) • [7](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Blake-Jenner/) |
| Stage work | Christian in *Cyrano* (Goodspeed Musicals, 2018; New Group Off-Broadway, 2019); lead in *The Wedding Singer* and *Catch Me If You Can* at the Colony Theatre, Burbank (2025–2026)[7](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Blake-Jenner/) • [8](https://www.broadwayworld.com/los-angeles/article/Blake-Jenner-to-Star-in-THE-WEDDING-SINGER-at-the-Colony-Theatre-20250220) |
## Early life
Jenner grew up in Miami, the youngest of four brothers, to American and Cuban parents[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/blake_jenner). He developed an interest in music and performing early: he played drums, wrote short stories and acted them out at school from around age nine, and performed in plays throughout middle school and high school while appearing in television commercials[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/blake_jenner) • [4](https://glee.fandom.com/wiki/Blake_Jenner). He took acting and improvisation classes, participating in his school's drama department and in Impromedy, an improv and sketch comedy group based in Florida[4](https://glee.fandom.com/wiki/Blake_Jenner).
To pursue acting sooner, he took his junior-year classes during the day and his senior-year classes online at night so he could graduate early[9](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4296357/). After graduating from Felix Varela High School, he moved to Los Angeles in the summer of 2010[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/blake_jenner) • [4](https://glee.fandom.com/wiki/Blake_Jenner). There he worked a series of jobs, including waiter, clothing-store associate, fast-food attendant, and pet-store employee, while auditioning and training in improvisation with the Groundlings troupe[9](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4296357/) • [1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/blake_jenner).
## The Glee Project and Glee
His first television appearance came in 2011 as Miller Collins on the ABC Family sitcom *Melissa & Joey*, along with several short films and independent features[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/blake_jenner) • [9](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4296357/). In 2012 he competed on the second season of *The Glee Project*, an Oxygen reality series whose winner received a seven-episode arc on *Glee*; he made it to the finals and was declared the winner[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/blake_jenner). He was cast as Ryder Lynn, a star football player who joins the glee club to turn around his declining grades, in the show's fourth season[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/blake_jenner). Originally signed for seven episodes, he had his contract extended, and he and fellow season 4 recurring player [Melissa Benoist](https://www.edgepedia.org/melissa-benoist) were promoted to series regulars the following year[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/blake_jenner) • [4](https://glee.fandom.com/wiki/Blake_Jenner). He remained with *Glee* through its final episode in 2015[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/blake_jenner).
## Film career
**Linklater and 2016.** Jenner took the lead as Jake, an incoming freshman pitcher arriving at a Texas university baseball house in 1980, in Richard Linklater's college comedy *Everybody Wants Some!!*, which Linklater called a "spiritual sequel" to *Dazed and Confused*[5](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/everybody-wants-some-2016) • [10](https://time.com/4277525/everybody-wants-some-deserves-a-third-exclamation-mark/). In the same year he played Darian, the popular older brother of [Hailee Steinfeld](https://www.edgepedia.org/hailee-steinfeld)'s Nadine, in the coming-of-age film *The Edge of Seventeen*, which is his highest-rated film on Rotten Tomatoes at 94 percent[6](https://time.com/4575262/edge-of-seventeen-review/) • [1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/blake_jenner).
He also played Brett Newport in *The Vanishing of Sidney Hall* (2017), appearing alongside [Logan Lerman](https://www.edgepedia.org/logan-lerman) and Elle Fanning for Academy Award-winning director Shawn Christensen, and starred in the heist film *[American Animals](https://www.edgepedia.org/american-animals)* (2018) as Chas Allen, one of four Kentucky college students who robbed [Transylvania University](https://www.edgepedia.org/transylvania-university) of rare books, directed by Bart Layton[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/blake_jenner) • [3](https://floridafilmfestival.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/FFF-2018-Celebrity-Guests-Press-Release.pdf).
**Writing and producing.** *Billy Boy*, his debut as writer, producer, and star, in which he plays Billy Forsetti, was retitled *Juvenile* before release; the coming-of-age film about violence and redemption was directed by Bradley Buecker and won the Rising Star Award at the San Diego Film Festival[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/blake_jenner) • [3](https://floridafilmfestival.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/FFF-2018-Celebrity-Guests-Press-Release.pdf). Later film work includes Ryan Swan in *Paradise City* (2022)[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/blake_jenner).
## Television and stage
When Melissa Benoist, his *Glee* co-star whom he had married, was cast as the lead of *Supergirl*, Jenner appeared in a recurring role as Adam Foster, a potential love interest for her character Kara Danvers, in the show's first season[1](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/blake_jenner). Benoist filed for divorce in December 2016, citing irreconcilable differences[4](https://glee.fandom.com/wiki/Blake_Jenner). He later played Sean as a main cast member on the Netflix series *What/If* (2019) and Pete in the 2023 television movie *The Proposal Spot*[7](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Blake-Jenner/) • [4](https://glee.fandom.com/wiki/Blake_Jenner).
Stage work has become a significant strand of his career. He played Christian in *Cyrano* in the 2018 Goodspeed Musicals original production and again in the New Group's 2019 [Off-Broadway](https://www.edgepedia.org/off-broadway) premiere[7](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Blake-Jenner/). In 2025 he was announced as the lead of *The Wedding Singer* at the Colony Theatre in Burbank, directed by casting director Michael Donovan, with performances running June 5–29, 2025[8](https://www.broadwayworld.com/los-angeles/article/Blake-Jenner-to-Star-in-THE-WEDDING-SINGER-at-the-Colony-Theatre-20250220). He subsequently led the Colony Theatre's production of *Catch Me If You Can* as Frank Abagnale Jr., which opened in September 2026[7](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Blake-Jenner/).
## References
1. [Blake Jenner Movies & TV Shows List, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/blake_jenner)
2. [Blake Jenner List of Movies and TV Shows, TV Guide](https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/blake-jenner/credits/3000191538/)
3. [Florida Film Festival 2018 Celebrity Guests Press Release (PDF)](https://floridafilmfestival.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/FFF-2018-Celebrity-Guests-Press-Release.pdf)
4. [Blake Jenner, Glee Wiki (Fandom)](https://glee.fandom.com/wiki/Blake_Jenner)
5. [Everybody Wants Some!! movie review, RogerEbert.com](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/everybody-wants-some-2016)
6. [Review: The Edge of Seventeen Is a Coming-of-Age Story on the Edge, Time](https://time.com/4575262/edge-of-seventeen-review/)
7. [Blake Jenner, BroadwayWorld](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Blake-Jenner/)
8. [Blake Jenner to Star in THE WEDDING SINGER at the Colony Theatre, BroadwayWorld](https://www.broadwayworld.com/los-angeles/article/Blake-Jenner-to-Star-in-THE-WEDDING-SINGER-at-the-Colony-Theatre-20250220)
9. [Blake Jenner, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4296357/)
10. [Review: Everybody Wants Some!! Deserves a Third Exclamation Mark, Time](https://time.com/4277525/everybody-wants-some-deserves-a-third-exclamation-mark/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › American actors: 2000s onward › Surnames Hu to Ji*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license