Actor/Writer
As a kid, sports was all I wanted to do. That’s kind of how acting began. I started doing it and I thought, “Wow. This is as good as sports!” It was also something I was pretty good at right away, which was nice.
Actor
While it was a minor event in world news, at age 14 my world was rocked when I got a Pearl Vision commercial as that smiley-kid-with-glasses prom date and boom! I was an actor.
Early gigs
I had some good fun as a young actor. I played Jason Bateman’s friend on the Valerie Harper show, caused havoc with River Phoenix in Circle of Violence: A Family Drama, played “Roger” in a memorable AT&T commercial, hosted a video countdown show and a bunch more.
River Phoenix beat me out for a part playing Tuesday Weld's son in a movie of the week called Circle of Violence: A Family Drama. I ended up being his friend in the movie. It was the one day I hung out with River Phoenix. We played football at lunch. I kept thinking River and I would make a great team again one day. :(
Top Ten L.A. in downtown Beverly Hills with host Jamison Newlander.
Roger was hesitant to call this girl he liked, despite the encouragement of his sister. He kept hanging up the phone. But AT&T connected his call so fast that he had to talk to her.
Danny Ponce, Valerie Harper, Jamison Newlander and Jason Bateman on Valerie (NBC).
The Writer
Looking for a picture.
Outside my dressing room on set of The Blob, in 1987.
In 1985, I acted in a stage play in Hollywood with George Clooney, Susan Beck and Nat Bernstein, directed by Miguel Ferrare.
Lost Boys
In 1986, my world was rocked once again when I got the role of Alan Frog, alongside Corey Feldman and Corey Haim in Lost Boys.
My most iconic role today, Alan Frog, one of the Frog Brothers in Lost Boys (1987)
I was not named Corey, but when the two Coreys first worked together, I was right there with them.
Jason Patric, Corey Feldman, Joel Schumacher, Corey Haim, Jamison Newlander on set of Lost Boys, 1986.
Corey Feldman, me and two local actors playing the Frog Brothers parents in Lost Boys.
All of a sudden I was working with these actors I had been watching in movies.
Joel encouraged us to suggest things — this was a signature move of mine at the time.
Jamison as an adult
After college, I stayed in New York through the 90s and did live theater there and around the country. It was an amazing time.
I went to NYU to study theater, class of 1992.
I enjoyed putting on costumes and playing make believe. This was me in 1992, preparing for a role.
The summer after college, I joined a theater company near Pismo Beach, California. We did melodrama, westerns, vaudeville and other classic American theater styles at a The Great American Melodrama.
Backstage of the production of Amadeus, 1988.
My first play that I wrote, One Soldier, opened in 1990 off-off-Broadway in NYC.
I played a crazy tattoo artist in this 1995 play, Touche.
Throughout my time in New York City in the 90s, I was developing my passion project The Virtual Adventures of Riff-Cat Polito.
Revival of The Adding Machine, directed by Anne Bogart (1995) at Actors Theater of Louisville. That's me on the far right.
All dressed up to audition for Buster Keaton in a movie. I got the part, but the movie didn't get made.
At 25, I got my first writing award — Silver Medal for my play, REMEMBER THIS, at the Victor Jory theater. Directed by Jennifer Hubbard, then directed by Rebecca Feldman in NYC.
M. Night Shymalan's NYU Senior Thesis film, Sudden Death. I played the lead, Justin, trying to solve the mystery of his brother's death.
Me and co-director Kurtis Rintala, in Room Service (2011).
In 2003, Rooster, a film I wrote, co-directed that premiered at Hamptons International Film Festival and Atlanta Film Festival. The brilliant Adissa Bankole welcomed my character, Alexander, to the neighborhood.
Me and Lisa Mallette, as villain and heroine, in the most famous American melodrama, The Drunkard, directed by Neal LaVine.
Jamison as Jacques, a French waiter in Love's Last Resort (2018), a romantic comedy, directed by Brian Herzlinger.
Corey Feldman and me in Lost Boys: The Thirst (2010)
Finally I got to wear vampire contact lenses in Lost Boys: The Thirst.
I was honored to voice the great El Chino, the first (or only?) Chinese-American bullfighter, in the documentary of the same name. The film was created by my good friend, Vincent Pun, who is a distant cousin of El Chino.
In 2020, I was cast as the joy rider in a commercial for Silver Star Cadillac in Thousand Oaks, which has been seeing a lot of play in 2021.
In 2004, I decided to take an honest (non-film-industry) job as a marketing/advertising writer. Some of the commercials I wrote, I cast myself in, including this one for Anthem Blue Cross (2014).
In the 2018 TV movie, The Tale of the Two Coreys, I played the police officer who pulled over Corey Feldman.
Jamison Newlander, Sean Young and Kurt Russell discussing what to do about their town's Troglodyte problem, in the 2017 horror western, Bone Tomahawk. The film was written by and was the directorial debut of S. Craig Zahler. I was good friends with Zahler after I starred in Tornado States (1997) and Rooster (2003), both of which he was cinematographer on.
Jamison and Shelley Regner in Waking Nightmare, starting Diane Franklin. It's my first role as a dad.
The Lost Boys cast has gone to a lot of horror conventions in the U.S. and Europe throughout the past 15 years, like this one in Manchester, UK.
Headshots
