Jack Landron

Born

1938-06-02

Birthplace

Puerta De Tierra, San Juan, Puerto Rico

Biography

Jack Landrón is an Afro-Puerto Rican folksinger, songwriter, and actor. Because he was known as "Jackie Washington" early in his career, he is often confused with the Canadian Jackie Washington, who was a blues and jazz performer. He can be seen currently starring in the CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless. The move from Puerta De Tierra section of San Juan Puerto Rico to the very New England town of Boston, MA was motivated by his parents' belief that better schools, a better education, and a better life, would be available to young Juan Candido Washington y Landron. So, it was there that the actor Jack Landron began his episodic American journey. He quickly became proficient in English. With this proficiency came a love for the spoken word, in its many forms. His grandfather's thick Spanish accent, the lilt of his Grandmother's West Indian speech pattern, the Yiddish dialect of the nurturing old couple who lived next door, all found a place in young Jack's talent for mimicry. In later years this proved most helpful when doing voice-over work. After a lack luster college years (Emerson, in Boston) for which he paid with earnings from his successful folk singing career (Club 47 in Cambridge, was his start), Jackie Washington, went to Mississippi in the spring of 1964. Here he became a founding member of the renowned Free Southern Theatre. One night, while performing, he attracted the attention of the Rev. Martin Luther King. This resulted in a memorable time as a personal assistant to the revered Civil Rights icon. After leaving Mississippi, he went to NYC and got deeply involved in TV & Theatre. He appeared in the NBC children's series "First Look", which required him to join AFTRA. He discovered that a Jackie Washington already existed in AFTRA, so, he used his other name, Jack Landron. He was then cast in the TV premiere of "10 Blocks on the Camino Real" (Tennessee Williams), which featured the legendary actress Lotte Lenya, with whom Jack formed a warm, and lasting friendship. Acting jobs at the famed Negro Ensemble Theatre, the Puerto Rican traveling theatre, AMAS Repertory Theatre, and the NY Shakespeare Festival, among others, poured in for Jack. Marriage and Parenthood-and eventual single Parenthood- made it necessary to secure daytime employment, which led Jack to a long career of commercials, Industrials, and voice-over work. In 2012, with the children grown, Jack shifted his base of operation to Los Angeles, where work in independent films coincided with a renewed career as a singer/songwriter, marked by the release of a CD entitled "Curbside Cotillion".