Arielle Jacobs is an American actress, mostly seen on stage in musicals.
Biography
Jacobs was born in San Francisco to a Filipino mother and an American father. She later moved to Half Moon Bay, California, and then to New York City. Her older brother is Adam Jacobs, who is also a theatre performer. Jacobs takes an active interest in environmentalism and animal rights, and created an environmental website called "Help Heal the Earth" to teach kids about living an eco-friendly life. She also founded a non-profit organization called The Girls Camaraderie Project, which aims to inspire camaraderie among girls ages 10–13, and runs this organization with Broadway star Lexi Lawson. After moving to Princeton, New Jersey in her early teens, Jacobs attended Princeton High School, where she performed with the Princeton High School Choir. She graduated from New York University with a Bachelor of Music Degree in Vocal Performance. Dancing since the age of three, she studied ballet, tap, and jazz. Jacobs' first time in front of an audience was at the age of seven, as a Christmas present in a school play. She began studying voice at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and later at the Westminster Conservatory of Music. Her first taste of professional theatre came at the age of ten when she was cast in a new musical called Honor Song for Crazy Horse at the Mountain View Center for Performing Arts in California.
Career
She has starred in several Broadway shows. She is currently playing Jasmine in Disney's Aladdin on Broadway, after originating the role in the Australian Production in August 2016. Her Broadway debut was playing Nina Rosario in the closing cast of the Tony and Grammy-award winning musical In The Heights, opposite creator Lin-Manuel Miranda. Audiences will also remember seeing her starring in Wicked on Broadway, as well as in Rent, Disney's High School Musical, Shakespeare's Two Gentleman of Verona, and Into the Woods where she performed opposite Emmy-nominated actor Tituss Burgess. Off-Broadway, she has starred in two world-premiere plays by Pulitzer-winning playwright and director Nilo Cruz; entitled Sotto Voce, and the one-woman show Farhad or the Secret of Being which was filmed for the Lincoln Center Public Library Archives. She had the honor to perform in the Guggenheim Museum’s "Works & Process" series, singing songs from a new adaption of Georges Bizet'sCarmen with the Tectonic Theater Project, under the guidance of Tony and Emmy nominated director Moises Kaufman. While her singing voice can be heard on film scores and on television, Arielle has performed onstage in many of America's greatest concert halls and beside legendary artists such as Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Chaka Khan, and Stephen Schwartz. She starred as Delilah in the world-premiere musical Between the Lines at Kansas City Rep Theatre, based on the novel written by best-selling authorJodi Picoult and Samantha Van Leer. She was also a featured performer in a memorial service for the September 11 attacks in New York City, as well as a guest star on Disney 365. She appeared in the revue For the Record: Baz Luhrmann in Los Angeles, presented by Show at Barre. It ran from February 12, 2011, to April 30, 2011. Other roles include the role of Jennifer in the 2005 film Water Lillies and an appearance on the TV series Commander in Chief. Regional theatre credits include Camelot, A Chorus Line, and Ragtime. She appeared as Rosa in the musical The Rose of Corazon at the Contemporary American Theatre Festival.
Recordings
Her debut solo albumA Leap in the Dark: Live at Feinstein's / 54 Below was released by Broadway Records in June 2018. It is a live recording of her autobiographical concert, where she blends story and song to tell the tale of her adventures, her highest highs and lowest lows, and the most formative moments of her life that led her to be the woman she is today. Featuring the music of Celine Dion and Sarah McLachlan along with songs from many of her favorite roles that she's played. Featuring Nicholas Christopher and Javier Colon. Her voice is also featured on her brother Adam Jacobs debut solo album entitled Right Where I Belong, Daniel and Laura Curtis album Overture, as well as on Carols For a Cure vol.17, and the Off-Broadway cast album of her solo performance in Inner Voice's Farhad or the Secret of Being.
