Jeff Washburn was born November 14th, 1980 into a very artistic family, and raised in North Miami Beach, Florida.  His mother, a singer/musician/actress, and father, also a musician, always encouraged Jeff’s growth in the arts.  Growing up, Jeff learned to appreciate many different kinds of art and music.  At the age of six, he began taking weekly private art instruction from family friend Jose Pedrogo.

Throughout his early development, Jeff entered and won many art contests.  For one in particular, he submitted a pastel drawing of a lion’s head.  He was only 8 years old.  It took some convincing for the judges to believe that Jeff had in fact done the work, but once convinced, they were very impressed.

Jeff continued to develop his talent in private lessons through grade school.  The cartoons of the mid-late eighties/early nineties had a tremendous influence on him, and he began taking interest in comic books.  Jeff appreciated the artwork in books like X-Men, Spawn, Superman, and Batman, and began emulating the styles he liked in his own art.

Cartoons seemed to be more important than piano lessons at the time, but at the age of ten, following in his father’s footsteps, Jeff took an interest in learning to play guitar.  He took lessons from his dad, and began playing at church, where his mom was music minister.  His musical talent grew while listening to bands like Jimi Hendrix, Queen, and Led Zeppelin, which opened up a whole new door for Jeff…ROCK N ROLL!

Upon entering high school, Jeff was honored with a small scholarship for his artwork, a portrait of Professor X of The X-Men.  He had became an avid comic book collector, and continued to improve his artistic skills through instruction with another family friend, Jorge Molina, as well as becoming quite good at the guitar.  Throughout high school, Jeff was heavily influenced by Van Halen.  For his senior year talent show, he sang and played the group’s song, “I’m the One.”

The Savannah College of Art and Design accepted Jeff in the Fall of 1999.  Jeff started out in the Computer Animation track, but quickly found it was a little too solitary a career for him.  At the end of his sophomore year, after playing the role of Augustin Magaldi in SCAD’s production of Evita, he changed his major to Media and Performing Arts, and continued to explore the world of acting in many successful roles.  However, comic books remained a source of inspiration for Jeff throughout college, and so not to give up his love for the visual arts, he decided to simultaneously tackle a second major, Sequential Art.

After graduating college with a BFA in Media and Performing Arts, and a BFA in Sequential Art, Jeff relocated to where opportunity abounds…New York City.  Since moving to the Big Apple, Jeff has performed in various cabarets around the city, as well as a couple regional theater roles, most recently as Jamie Wellerstein in The Last Five Years.  He holds down a singing waiter job at Ellen’s Stardust Diner, and enjoys being the guitarist/background vocalist in the band, RYNESS, and does freelance illustration work as well.