Jason Edward Mewes (born June 12, 1974) is an American television and film actor, film producer and internet radio show host. He has played Jay, the vocal half of the duo Jay and Silent Bob, in longtime friend Kevin Smith's films.
Jason Edward Mewes was born on June 12, 1974 in Highlands, New Jersey, and grew up in a working-class neighborhood. He never knew his father, and his mother was an ex-con and a drug addict. Relates Mewes: "She used to check into hotels and take TVs and sell them...I guess it really ain't funny, but it's weird because it was so fucked up...She used to steal mail. I used to drive around with her and she'd pull up and make me reach into mailboxes. It really wasn't pleasant." Although this exposure to drugs at first served to make him averse to them, he eventually began using them after graduating from high school.