“Before he was the lovably earnest, occasionally cringey history teacher Jacob Hill on Abbott Elementary, Chris Perfetti was a creature of the theater. His comfort zone was the stage, a space where he felt an actor was most in control. After graduating from SUNY Purchase’s prestigious conservatory program, he made a commanding New York debut in Stephen Karam’s Sons of the Prophet, a performance that earned him a Theatre World Award right out of the gate. For years, he built a career on complex stage roles, from playing Bomber in a Broadway revival of Picnic to embodying Ariel in The Tempest at the Delacorte Theater. The screen felt elusive, a different language entirely for an artist steeped in the tradition of live performance.

That theatrical foundation, however, proved to be the essential ingredient for his television breakthrough. The collaborative spirit of a rehearsal room and the discipline to be prepared but not precious are precisely what a fast-paced show like Abbott Elementary demands. Perfetti brings a current of humanity to Jacob, grounding the character’s overeager antics in something real—a skill honed not on a soundstage, but through years of inhabiting characters in front of a live audience. Early roles on series like NBC’s Crossbones and HBO’s Looking were preludes, but with Abbott, Perfetti found the perfect vehicle. He translates the live-wire energy of the stage into the mockumentary format, making a history teacher from Philadelphia one of the most memorable characters on television.”