Jonathan Moore

Born, Jonathan Benefiel, in Brooklyn, NY on April 17, 1963; Jon had an interesting upbringing. His mom, Victoria, was a go-go dancer in the early 60's in Los Angeles; which is where she met his father, Roger. Roger Benefiel, an aspiring actor in his own right, felt, at that time, that his best career move would be to move to NYC, so they married at the Little Church in the Valley, packed their things, and moved to Brooklyn, NY. His parents later divorced in 1966, due to his father's infidelity. Victoria went on to meet a lounge singer named Frank Vestry. Their coupling was responsible for Jon's love of all things entertainment related. Things had gone pretty well for a while until Frank's untimely death in 1973 at the age of 42. Jon took his stepfather's death very hard. The fact that this amazingly talented man had been taken from this earth was hard to bear for the then 10 year old boy. The only memory he could hold onto was an album Frank made called "Meet Frank Vestry". It was 1986 when Jon was inspired by his mother to become an actor. In 1989, Sonny Grasso gave him his first break in an NBC TV Pilot, "True Blue". In 1990, he had an opportunity to work on Martin Scorsese's film "Good Fellas" as an extra; which he did just to see the master at work. He met Jerry Vale on set while filming the Copa Cabana scene because Frank had always mentioned that he knew him. It was that very moment that Jon was inspired to talk to Mr. Scorsese about the possibility of putting Frank Vestry's music on the soundtrack. For obvious reasons, that conversation never happened. But the thought lingered with him. In 1998, he came up with a concept for a mafia comedy titled "The Mob Kid" because he felt that would be the perfect vehicle to bring Frank's voice back to life. It would take him nearly five years before writing the first draft. In 2006, Jonathan decided to move to LA. It was there that he met his lovely wife, Gail. In 2010, Jon and Gail got married back in his hometown of Staten Island, NY in order that his elderly, ailing second stepfather, Ray Melnik Sr., could attend. After focusing on his newly inherited family, which consists of Gail's three grown daughters (Julianne, Lacy and Abigail) from her previous marriage, and four grandchildren (soon to be five at the time of this writing), Jon decided it was time to refocus on his acting career. In 2017, he decided to make a short film with longtime friend and actor, Eric Seltzer. Eric had always wanted to play the role of Lenny in Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men". So the two friends got together and came up with the concept for a modern re-imagination of Steinbeck's story, set to a mafia backdrop. Jon then hired Writer/Director Dat Nguyen to assist, along with a company called Rapid Reelz, and "Protecting Tony" was born. The film went on to win over 30 Awards and 5 Nominations and has earned Jon and Eric multiple acting awards in the process. In 2018, Jon decided to help Exec-Produce "John Leguizamo's Latin History for Morons; Road to Broadway" because he immediately saw the social value of the project. The fact that so much of the Hispanic people's contributions to our country has been historically ignored really tugged at Jon's hunger for social justice. That same hunger would lead him to his role as Co-Executive Producer on Aaron Sorkin's, "The Trial of the Chicago 7". The current political climate we live in is eerily similar to that which existed in the 60's. As George Santayana brilliantly said, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it". And that is what makes this film so meaningful. In a time where most people under the age of 40 don't even know who the Chicago 7 was, the younger generation owes an enormous debt to these brave men who saw wrong in the world and tried to right it. The trial of the Chicago seven would go on to be one of the most watched and important trials in American History, and now is the perfect time to retell that story. At the time of this writing, Jonathan and his wife/producing partner, Gail are developing "The Mob Kid". They split their time between Kauai, New York, and LA.