Jesse Merlin made his international debut in 2005 in Paris with the world premiere of Le Terrain Vague at the Théâtre du Rond Point and the Théâtre Lucernaire. In 2006, he created the starring role of the President of the USA in the smash hit The Beastly Bombing, a comic operetta at The Steve Allen Theater in Hollywood which ran for a year and won Musical of the Year at the LA Weekly Theater Awards. He reprised the role in 2007 at the New York Musical Theater Festival, and in 2009 in Amsterdam as the only American in an otherwise all-Dutch production with Opera aan het Ij.

He made his Opera Santa Barbara debut in September 2009 as Reporter #3 in the world-premiere of Séance on a Wet Afternoon, a new opera by Stephen Schwartz, and returned there in October 2009 to sing the Sergeant in The Pirates of Penzance. Merlin sang three shows with Long Beach Opera in 2009, playing the Priest in The Cunning Little Vixen, the Loudspeaker in The Kaiser of Atlantis, and Vagabond #3 in The Clever Woman. He returned to LBO in January 2010 to sing Police Officer, 3rd Psychiatrist, 4th Prisoner, Army Doctor, and Colonel Zillergut in The Good Soldier Schweik. Versatile singer, dancer and actor, he received rave reviews as Oscar Wilde in the successful stage comedy Carved in Stone at the Theater Asylum in Hollywood from June-September 2009.

Merlin completed four years as Principal Artist-in-Residence with Opera San José in June 2006. His eighteen leading roles there included Leporello in Don Giovanni, Colline in La bohème, Bartolo in Le Nozze di Figaro, Frank in Die Fledermaus, the title role in Don Pasquale, Ferrando in il Trovatore, and Méphistophélès in the Gounod Faust. He made his New York debut as Edwin McManoff in Lost in Hollywoodland in 2007 at the New York International Fringe Festival. He created the role of Aileen’s Grandfather in the world premiere of WUORNOS at the Yerba Buena Center in 2001. He made his Sacramento Opera debut as Zuniga in Carmen in 2007.

Merlin also works broadly in the realm of vaudeville and burlesque. He sang at the Exotic Erotic Ball in San Francisco in front of over 10,000 people, and performed at the Hollywood Bowl as the Narrator in the 30th anniversary screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show before a crowd of 12,000. He has substantial experience performing Gilbert & Sullivan, and frequently tours across the U.S. with Opera A La Carte starring in The Mikado (Pish-Tush, The Mikado), HMS Pinafore (Sir Joseph, Dick Deadeye, Boatswain) and The Gondoliers (The Duke of Plaza Toro).

Merlin trained at the New York University drama studio Playwrights’ Horizons, and studied classical voice with Sheri Greenawald, John Duykers, Gregory Stapp, Dr. David Rohrbaugh and Peter Van Derick.