Jakob Cansler, from Newport News, Virginia, first began doing theatre when he was six years old. From then until high school, Jakob took classes with the New York State Theatre Institute. After moving to Virginia, Jakob attended the Woodside High School Magnet School for the Arts in Drama. There, he studied acting and performed in many plays and musicals, including Little Shop of Horrors, The Laramie Project, Pippin, and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Jakob finally made the decision to study theatre in university when he attended the Summer Governor’s School for the Performing Arts. Now, at UVa, Jakob is a part of multiple student theatre groups and works with the drama department whenever he can. He has served as lighting designer for both First Year Players and Shakespeare on the Lawn and has performed most recently as Brutus in Shakespeare on the Lawn’s Julius Caesar. Jakob looks forward to furthering his theatrical endeavours in drama at UVa in the future and is honored to be included in the Miller Arts Scholar Program.