James Lecesne Biography

James Lecesne is an American actor, author, screenwriter, and LGBT rights activist best known for his screenplay of the Academy-award-winning short film Trevor. He has written several books including Absolute Brightness and Virgin Territory and is also active in the entertainment industry as an actor and producer.

James Lecesne Age

James Lecesne was born in New Jersey, the U.S. on November 24, 1954. He is 64 years of age. His nationality is American and is of White ethnicity.

James Lecesne Family

James has managed to keep his personal life and about his family and early life of the limelight. However, once this is clear it will be updated.

James Lecesne Married

There is no known information about his current marital status or his previous relationships.

Lecense practices Nichiren Buddhism and is a member of the global Buddhist association Soka Gakkai International. As part of his spiritual practice, he has stated that he recites the Buddhist chant Nam Myoho Renge Kyo each day.

James Lecesne Career

Screenwriting career

Lecesne wrote the 1995 short film Trevor, which won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film. He based the screenplay for Trevor on a character from his one-man show Word of Mouth. Also in 1995, Word of Mouth won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One-Person Show. Word of Mouth was directed by Eve Ensler.

The Trevor Project

In 1998, on the night Ellen DeGeneres hosted the television debut of Trevor on HBO, Lecesne co-founded and launched The Trevor Project. It was the first nationwide 24-hour crisis intervention lifeline for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth. Including phone, in-person and online life-affirming resources such as Trevor Lifeline, TrevorChat, TrevorSpace, Ask Trevor and Trevor Education Workshops.

The Trevor Project has been supported by a wide variety of celebrities, including Daniel Radcliffe, Neil Patrick Harris, James Marsden, Kim Kardashian, George Takei, and Anderson Cooper. Lecesne and Ryan Amador are the co-founders of The Future Project, a program for LGBTQ high school students to share stories and express themselves in performances, musical compositions, and original writing.

Publishing career

In 1993, Lecesne published My First Car, a represented gathering of memories in which many big names review the loss of their “auto-virginity.” The book, discharged by Crown Trade Paperback, contained in excess of 100 stories and was outlined with pictures of VIPs and their autos.

In 2008, the HarperCollins imprint HarperTeen distributed Lecesnes’ young grown-up novel Absolute Brightness. The account of “an iridescent power of nature, a kid named Leonard Pelkey, who experiences evil and whose magic isn’t genuinely felt until he vanishes.”

In 2010, Lecesne’s book Virgin Territory was distributed by EgmontUSA, and showcased to young people grades 9 and up. The Denver Public Library Review expressed: “Young person Dylan Flack, since the demise of his mom, has left New York City for Jupiter, FL, attempting to reevaluate his life. Diverse in the soul, investigating sexual want, contemplating the secretive associations between individuals, there’s nothing religious here, notwithstanding the title. Nor is virginity the theme, despite the fact that Dylan loses his. It’s simply Lecesne delicately exposing both the amusingness and agony that go with adoration and misfortune.”

In 2013, James Lecesne refreshed his Oscar-winning short film, Trevor, turning it into a novella. Publishers Weekly stated: “It’s the account of 13-year-old Trevor, a kid who stages a re-sanctioning of Jacques-Louis David’s La Mort de Marat in his bath and plans to take on the appearance of his venerated image, Lady Gaga, for Halloween.

(In the film Trevor, the youngster was a diehard Diana Ross fan.) While Trevor isn’t prepared to pronounce himself gay, he doesn’t need any other person doing as such for his benefit, either (“Some of us like to remain a puzzle—even to ourselves”). Trevor’s interests (Lady Gaga, theater, his baseball-playing pal Pinky) make him an objective, in any case, coming full circle in the word ‘faggot’ being scribbled on his storage and a consequent suicide endeavor.

Given the story’s long history, it’s nothing unexpected that Lecesne nails Trevor’s character and voice, a mix of self-assuredness, sharp amusingness, and eagerness.” Lecesne likewise contributed pencil illustrations to the book, which was distributed by Triangle Square Publishing.

Theatrical career

Lecesne, an off-Broadway veteran, made his Broadway debut in 2012 performing the role of Dick Jensen in Gore Vidal’s political drama The Best Man, which also starred James Earl Jones, Angela Lansbury, Cybill Shepherd, and Eric McCormack.

In February 2015, Lecesne’s play “The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey,” a solo show he adapted from his 2008 young adult novel, opened at Dixon Place in New York City with high praise from theater critics. The production is directed by Tony Speciale, with music by Duncan Sheik. In July 2015, the show opened at the off-Broadway Westside Theatre where it completed a successful run in November 2015.

The New York Times theater review stated: “A show about the brutal murder of a 14-year-old boy should not logically speaking, leave you beaming with joy. And yet that’s the paradoxical effect of “The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey,” a superlative solo show written and performed by James Lecesne, himself a pretty darn dazzling beacon of theatrical talent.”  In January 2016, “The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey” opened in Los Angeles at the Kirk Douglas Theatre.  The play was presented by The Philadelphia Theatre Company in May and June 2017. 

James Lecesne Website

http://www.jameslecesne.com/ You can check out more about him and his Trevour Project.

James Lecesne Net Worth

James is an American actor, author, screenwriter, and LGBT rights, activist. He is best known for his screenplay of the Academy-award-winning short film Trevor. His Academy Award— winning short film, Trevor, inspired the founding of the Trevor Project …

James Lecesne Movies

• Trevor
• After the Storm
• Home for the Holidays
• Broadway Damage
• Touched with Fire
• Motherhood

James Lecesne Twitter

Tweets by JLecesne

James Lecesne THE NEW HARMONY PROJECT

James Lecesne has been ranked by the NYTimes as “among the most talented solo performers of his (or any) generation,” and he’s been at it for over 25 years.  His solo play, THE ABSOLUTE BRIGHTNESS OF LEONARD PELKEY opened Off-Broadway at The Westside Theater and received rave reviews.

James wrote the screenplay for the Academy Award Winning short film, TREVOR, which went on to inspire the founding of The Trevor Project, the only nationwide 24-hour suicide prevention helpline for LGBT and, Questioning youth.  He is also the founder of The After The Storm Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to offering support to community centers in New Orleans that are working with youth and the arts.

Following Hurricane Katrina, he organized a group of artists to travel to New Orleans, and he produced the feature-length documentary directed by Hilla Medalia, After The Storm, which spotlights the lives and struggles of twelve young adults who are living in the storm-ravaged city.

An actor as well as a writer, James’ solo show WORD OF MOUTH was presented Off-Broadway by Mike Nichols and Elaine May and directed by Eve Ensler. He was awarded the NY Drama Desk Award and the Outer Critics Circle Award for best solo performance as well as the LA Theater Weekly Award. He also wrote the book for the musical ONE MAN BAND, with music and lyrics by Larry Hochman and Marc Eliot. His play THE MOTHER OF INVENTION premiered Off-Broadway at The Abingdon Theater in NYC.

James adapted Armistead Maupin’s FURTHER TALES OF THE CITY as a mini-series for SHOWTIME (Emmy nomination) and wrote one of the final episodes of the TV series, WILL & GRACE. He created the stage play, THE ROAD HOME: Stories of the Children of War, a play based on interviews with survivors of wars in Tibet, Bosnia, and Cambodia and presented at the International Peace Conference at The Hague.  His play THE MOTHER OF INVENTION premiered at The Abingdon Theater in February 2017.

He has taught at the NYU School of Continuing Education, The New School, The Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, and The New York Film Academy. Also, I was a Distinguished Guest Speaker at The Heller Graduate School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University, where his Pro-Seminar “Sharing the Truth: Effective Storytelling for Social Justice Activists” included 30 participants from 11 countries.

He has been a featured speaker about issues related to LGBT Youth at organizations and corporations such as Nike, Johnson & Johnson, Twitter, and many others.

One of his young adult novel, ABSOLUTE BRIGHTNESS, was published by Harper Collins and was awarded The William Morris Award by the American Librarian Association and was nominated for a The Lambda Literary Award. His novella TREVOR was published by Seven Stories Press in 2012. Also available – THE LETTER Q: Queer Writer’s Notes to Their Younger Selves, edited with Sarah Moon and published by Scholastic in 2012.

Acting credits include the original NYC production of CLOUD 9 by Caryl Churchill; EXTRAORDINARY MEASURES, written and directed by Eve Ensler; the 30th anniversary production of BOYS IN THE BAND by Mart Crowley; the 2013 Broadway production of THE BEST MAN; and the Pulitzer Prize-winning play, I AM MY OWN WIFE at Hartford Stage Company. Other productions at Hartford Stage include THE MYSTERY OF IRMA VEP with Varla Jean Merman, directed by Michael Wilson and the world premiere of MOTHERHOOD OUT LOUD. Which went on to be presented at Primary Stages, directed by Lisa Peterson.

Adopted from: www.newharmonyproject.org