‏Jake Hunter‏

With an impressive list of over a dozen film and television roles to his credit within an 18-month period, actor, writer, and Emmy Award-winning producer Jake Hunter has made his way to Hollywood's "The Ones to Watch" list.

Since the age of eight, Hunter's main passion in life was baseball. Born in Albany, New York, his father Richard, a political lobbyist, and his mother, Jana, who worked in management for the NY State Department of Agriculture, both supported his aspirations towards a career in professional baseball.

Having excelled in the sport throughout his school years and as a member of Team USA, Hunter went on to receive athletic scholarships to both Clarkson University in 2009, and to The College of Saint Rose the following year before signing with the semi-pro Albany Twilight League in 2012.

All arrows pointed directly to the major leagues for this promising young athlete until an unfortunate sports injury changed the course of Hunters' career - literally overnight. And as a result, he became restless with college life and decided it was time to move on and pursue another field that he was passionate about: the entertainment industry.

In late 2013, he dropped out of Saint Rose and moved to New York City where he was quickly signed to the prestigious Wilhelmina Modeling Agency.

For the next two years, Hunter worked steadily as a model, booking various campaigns including Hawke & Company, Justin Case, and ORYX, to name a few, in addition to walking in several Mercedes Benz Fashion Week shows.

Aside from modeling, Hunter studied acting at UCB Theatre and the Deena Levy Acting Studio and found background work in projects like The Hunger Games and Power before landing a co-starring role on an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

In 2015, having grown tired of the daily modeling castings and NYC grind, not to mention the exorbitant cost of living in the city, Hunter relocated to Los Angeles on an initial part-time basis, to achieve a better way of life while pursuing his dream.

However, he soon found out the grass wasn't necessarily greener on the west coast. With limited funds in his savings account, Hunter lived in his Dodge Ram 1500 truck for almost a year. To make ends meet, he worked as a personal trainer, a bartender and in special event catering.

Regardless of the numerous setbacks and financial obstacles that he faced during his first few months in Hollywood, Hunter remained focused on his career - honing his craft and spending his hard-earned money on weekly acting classes at the world-renowned Margie Haber Studios in West Hollywood.

Hunter realized his diligence had indeed paid off after booking his first feature film, Killer Waves, as well as a co-starring role in Paul Harts award-winning independent film Open, written by Patrick Tobin.

Several film shorts and various television appearances followed, but Hunter soon became frustrated with the direction his career was taking. Considering the roles he was being called in to audition for, which didn't fit the image he was trying to establish for himself, Hunter managed to successfully segue into filmmaking as a writer, director, and producer, as well as an actor, to keep his career on track as he envisioned.

Hunters' very first film short, entitled Faith, which he produced and starred in, won The New York City International Film Festival Award as Best Short Film. His follow-up release, Face Off, that he wrote, produced and starred in, premiered at The L.A. Shorts Indie Film Festival in the summer of 2018.

In 2017, just shy of two-years since he was living out of his truck and struggling to survive in Hollywood, Hunter signed on as a producer for the hit Amazon series, The Bay, which earned him an Emmy Award for Outstanding Digital Daytime Series.

Currently, Hunter is in production in Los Angeles on Class Act - a series he wrote, produced and stars in opposite Eric Roberts. Other shows in production include Odd Man Out: The Series, Scene Study and Appland - all slated for release late 2018 / 2019. In August, Hunter returns to The Bay for season four as both a producer and a series regular.