Jason Lewis

The waiter who didn't want to be a mannequin

Jason Lewis wasn't looking for fame when he was pouring drinks at a California bar in the early nineties. His priority was paying the rent and maybe saving a little for travel. But his look sent a different message to the talent scouts who frequented the area. In 1993 he signed his first major contract with the Wilhelmina agency and ended up walking runways in Milan and Paris for brands like Guess and Hugo Boss.

That period of constant travel and luxury hotels gave him the money he needed. But Lewis felt like an impostor among professional models. So he decided to invest his savings in acting classes in Los Angeles. Before landing his first significant role, he had to take minor jobs on series such as High Sierra Search and Rescue in 1995.

And the gamble paid off.

In 1997 he landed a spot in the cast of Beverly Hills, 90210. He played Rob Andrews for about ten episodes, which taught him how a industrial-scale shoot worked. It wasn't the role of his life, but it allowed him to stop depending on fashion photo shoots to make a living.

The cable TV phenomenon

In 2003 his career took a decisive turn thanks to an audition for HBO. The team behind Sex and the City was looking for an actor who could play Smith Jerrod, an aspiring actor working as a waiter who ends up winning over Samantha Jones. What was initially going to be a brief appearance became a long-running storyline that lasted until the end of the series in 2004.

That character gave him global visibility he had never experienced before. But it also typecast him as the sensitive, selfless leading man. Lewis filmed the two movies of the franchise in 2008 and 2010, fulfilling his contract and meeting fans' expectations. The pay for the second movie far exceeded everything he had earned during his years on the runway.

But massive success has a complicated downside.

After wrapping up his time in New York, he sought refuge in projects further from the media spotlight. In 2007 he joined the cast of Brothers & Sisters to play an actor who hid his homosexuality. It was a restrained, dry role that moved away from the blond model image the industry had imposed on him years earlier.

Refuge in genre and independent production

The following decade was a mix of TV movies and low-budget films. In 2015 he starred in the TV movie Seeds of Yesterday and soon after landed a steady spot on the series Midnight, Texas. He played Joe Strong between 2017 and 2018 and moved to Albuquerque to shoot the show's two seasons.

Lewis has always kept a low profile away from the set. He avoids major Hollywood events and prefers outdoor activities and social activism. In 2020 he announced his engagement to Liz Godwin after several years of a private relationship. Personal stability seems to have been his priority over regaining the status of a top-tier star.

In 2022 he agreed to take part in the 31st season of Dancing with the Stars. His run on the show was brief. He was the first contestant eliminated that season after receiving the lowest score from the judges in his debut with a cha-cha. That defeat didn't seem to bother him much, and he returned to his independent production projects in California.

In 2025 he joined the project Palm Springs Confidential to play a supporting role in a suspense plot. The shoot was scheduled to last six weeks with a budget of under five million dollars.