Kaitlyn Dehaven | Design Editor
“Jeepers Creepers 3”, the third horror film of the series, released late last month, bringing loyal fans another dose of spooks and haunts almost 15 years after the sequel.
Jonathan Breck is a Baylor alum who plays the Creeper in the movie. He graduated in 1987 with a Management and marketing double major, something he says has been invaluable to his acting career.
Breck began his acting journey in high school, inspired by live performance theater he took part in at his school. Once he came to Baylor, he stopped acting for a while in pursuit of a ‘real’ job, but realized that his unhappiness was insurmountable, and decided to follow his dream to become an actor.
“It was a huge risk, but I was at a point in my life where I felt like it was worth it — I wanted to take a chance — and I remembered how much I loved acting, so I quit my job, put everything into a U-haul and drove to California,” Breck said. “I didn’t know one person out there, but I knew I wanted to follow my dream.”
Breck said the core values that Baylor strives to bring to their students have guided him since he left school.
“I think the foundation that I got at Baylor — in terms of kindness and being accepting of other people — it really forms what I do as an actor,” Breck said. “You never know who you’re going to be playing, so it really helps to have that empathy for other people and I think that’s the core of what they try to impart at Baylor.”
Breck shared that his solid foundation has also taught him to seek out roles that will fulfill him, roles where he’s not only acting to please others.
He said one of the most meaningful roles he’s ever had was when he played Winston Lawson in the film Parkland. Winston Lawson was the Secret Service agent who planned security for the parade route the day President Kennedy was assassinated.
Breck had the chance to meet the real life Lawson and said it was a profound and honoring experience to play his character in the movie, as well as meet him.
“Those guys didn’t make much money. They did it because they were serving their country — because it was about something greater than themselves,” Breck said. “It was all about how he could serve his country. He served it flawlessly and that event just happened to happen. I was really inspired and overwhelmed when I met him, and that’s when I felt like acting wasn’t just a film I was doing, it was a life experience, a watershed experience for my life.”
As well as being a professional actor, Breck also has a godson who currently attends Baylor. Houston freshman Griffin Maat is the son of one of Breck’s best friends, Owen Maat. Matt said Breck has influenced his life by being someone he can look up to and who always told him to keep practicing until he had reached his goals.
“He’s a really easy-going guy, he’s friendly and he knows a lot about what he’s talking about. Not only is he an actor he’s also a really successful businessman and a family man,” Maat said. “He’s a really nice, genuine man. He’s always looking out for the good of other people.”
Breck said that he’s learned many life lessons from his career in acting, including the fact that if you’re going to act, you have to love it. He said acting is the long haul and you have to be committed to your art form.
He said one of the most valuable things that acting has taught him is to be able to have empathy and not to judge others, whether he agrees or disagrees with them.
“One thing that acting has really taught me, more than anything, is to be able to stand in someone else’s shoes and really, honestly, look at things from other people’s points of view,” Breck said. “You don’t have to agree with them but you also don’t have to judge them.”
If there is one thing Breck urges readers to remember, it’s to be kind to people and not judge them.
“The best example you can ever be to the world is to be the kind of leader you want to be,” Breck said. “Now, more than ever, we need to accept the roles of leaders and accept the fact that we can inspire people with the way we live our lives.”
