Sam Jaeger recalled the instant he was hooked on becoming an actor.
It came while watching Dead Poets Society, the 1989 film starring Robin Williams, at Toledo’s Southwyck Mall with several friends. He was 12 and captivated by Williams playing John Keating, the English teacher at a Vermont academy inspiring his students with poetry and fueling their ambitions.
“I remember the moment,” Jaeger, 45, told The Blade. “When I walked out, I told one of my friends, ‘That’s what I want to do with my life.’ He turned to me and said, ‘Yeah, you will.’ ”
Jaeger got involved in acting at Perrysburg High School, where he also ran cross country and track, and he blossomed at Otterbein College, earning a small role in the long-running Law & Order television series even before graduating.
He’s been in 23 full-length films and worked with Bruce Willis, Jessica Chastain, and Jennifer Garner. He’s appeared on 25 television shows, including The West Wing, ER, Scrubs, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, NYPD Blue, and Friday Night Lights. And he landed a lead role as Joel Graham in Parenthood from 2010 to 2015 (“It’s probably the thing people recognize most that I’ve done,” he said).
Jaeger now stars opposite Emily Deschanel in Devil in Ohio, which debuts Friday on Netflix, and has a significant role in Hulu’s popular The Handmaid’s Tale, which begins its fifth season on Sept. 16.
Devil in Ohio is “a very fascinating story based on a true story on something that happened in Ohio,” Jaeger said. “It’s about a family trying to protect a girl from a religious cult. My character is a hard-working contractor who might be biting off a little more than he can chew. We didn’t get to shoot it in Ohio because there were tax incentives to shoot it in Canada. So, we shot it in Vancouver.
“But having grown up in Ohio, I felt a sense of responsibility to make sure we were representing Ohio accurately. The reality is, that if you are going into a home in Ohio, there are framed pictures of Ohio State and Ohio Stadium.”
He had writers cut out a line in the show “saying I played point guard at Ohio State” because his “pretty good basketball abilities” are still well below Big Ten standards.
“They just have it as both [lead] characters graduating from Ohio State and jumping in Mirror Lake [on OSU’s campus] the week of the ‘Big Game,’ ” Jaeger added.
He plays Mark Tuello in The Handmaid’s Tale, and has been in 13 episodes since 2018.
“It’s a show that it was an honor to be a part of from the start,” Jaeger said, “and they’ve made me more and more a part of it throughout the years, which is pretty good. In its first year, it won the Emmy for best show [and 15 total Emmys since 2017]. Seldom do you maintain that level of greatness.”
That friend who encouraged him to chase his dream after watching Dead Poets Society was Larry Filson, “a friend of the family” whom he met at Grace United Methodist Church in Perrysburg.
“He was a mentor to me and other young guys trying to find their way as teenagers,” Jaeger said. “He was such a kind guy. One of those people who believed in and supported young kids.”
What was it about Dead Poets Society that inspired him to become an actor?
“There was a character in it who was a young kid who wanted to become an actor,” Jaeger said. “He did it despite his parents’ disapproval. There was just something I connected to in that story. I related to all those kids trying to find their way while feeling like outsiders. I always felt like that a little bit.
“I loved sports, but I didn’t feel like a jock. I just liked the beauty of the world, and exploring what it meant to be alive. Those questions about ‘What is the meaning of life?’ and an individual’s purpose that I asked when I was so young, I’m still asking today.
“And I never had any disapproval from my parents. I was the youngest of four, and they did an amazing job of supporting all four of their kids in whatever pursuits they wanted.”
He was the youngest of four children born to LeAnne and Charles Jaeger. His mother was a nurse and his father managed several businesses.
Jaeger loved growing up in Perrysburg, and credited Rob Gentry, a high school drama teacher as “a big influence.”
“He was the first to give me lead roles in shows, and retired last year,” Jaeger said. “I spent a lot of time building sets and hanging out with Rob Gentry. It was a great place for a lonely kid to find some comfort and friends.”
Gentry recalled young Jaeger: “His talent was already there — such raw talent. Great timing. He was very funny. Sam was always our comedic relief in whatever show we were doing.”
What’s it like seeing Jaeger on the big screen?
“It’s surreal,” Gentry said. “It’s like, ‘Oh, my God, I know him!’ You want to stand up in the theater and say, ‘I KNOW HIM! That’s my student.’ You get close to your students, and it’s like your own child is succeeding.
“Even though he was extremely talented, he’s always been down to earth, and one of the nicest people I know. He’d give you the shirt off his back if you needed it. This summer, he texted me when he was in Toronto filming The Handmaid’s Tale. He invited my wife and I to come up. Unfortunately, we couldn’t work it out schedule-wise.”
Jaeger went from Perrysburg High to Otterbein, just outside Columbus, for its “great theater program.”
“I got through their program somehow in less than four years,” Jaeger said. “They set me up with an internship in what would’ve been the fall of my senior year in New York with ABC at the casting office on the Upper West Side.
“I became their reader for auditions, and all these great Broadway theater actors would come in and audition for roles.”
His first role on film came in a 1999 Law & Order episode.
“I still hadn’t graduated when it came out,” Jaeger said. “I was pretty delighted watching that. I thought I was going to be super famous in two years,” he continued with a laugh.
“I had one line in a film called Double Platinum with Diana Ross that was cut out,” he continued. “In Law & Order, playing the red herring, the guy you might think is the killer but is actually just kind of an imbecile, that was my bread and butter for the first couple years of my career.”
That superstardom he envisioned still hasn’t come, but he’s done pretty well over the last 23 years.
“I know the presence of God when I’m too low or too big in my britches,” Jaeger said. “I didn’t realize the struggle ahead, but I was humbled quickly when I realized that the road to success…You know, I still have to go out and prove myself. Here I am, 45, you know.
“I still have to audition and compete against other people. If I don’t take it too personally, I can live to tell the tale and do it again.”
He told his oldest son, August, that he gets one role for every 20 auditions in order to encourage him as a competitor.
“If I was a batting average,” Jaeger said, “I wouldn’t even play baseball. And in baseball, if you hit even .300, you’re a legend. So, I’m swinging way below that. But job is accepting rejection and moving on, and learning something in the process.”
He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, actress Amber Jaeger, and their four children.
Along the way, he’s worked with some of Hollywood’s top stars, and was asked to recall those experiences:
Jennifer Garner, in Catch and Release (2006): “She was very kind and upbeat. She graduated from Denison in Ohio, and we had a lot in common, with both of us growing up in the church. We could recite [Christian artist] Michael W. Smith songs for better or worse. She was very supportive and very down to earth.”
Bruce Wills, Hart’s War (2002) and Lucky Number Slevin (2006): “With that first movie, I’d just moved to L.A. Bruce was just kind of larger than life. I was one of 20 young actors in it and he was a big, bona-fide movie star. I was in awe of him. He really relished being around the young guys, and was at his height.”
Jessica Chastain, The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2021): “She’s such an impressive actor. She was the one who made that movie happen. I admire Jessica. The fact that she was a little older when she came into prominence served her very well. She’s very savvied in choosing projects and tenacious.
“Roe Messner [whom Jaeger played] actually ends up becoming Tammy Faye’s husband after the split with Jim Bakker. It was funny having known that story from inside the church and being embarrassed about it. It was like Shakespeare, a bizarre tragedy.”
Jaeger has become a Hollywood survivor and thriver, countering any lean times with memorable ones.
First Published September 2, 2022, 12:59 p.m.
