Childhood & Early Life
He was born on July 1, 2001, in Springfield, Massachusetts, US. He is of African-American ethnicity. Not much is known about his family background and education. He has a sister. He was raised in Atlanta as his family relocated to the city when he was quite young.
His father named him ‘Chosen’ after hearing an Asian baby uttering something that sounded like ‘Chosen’. Jacobs says that whenever there is a tiff between him and his mother, the latter says 'Act like the chosen child I chose you to be!’.
Continue Reading Below
Career
Jacobs forayed into the showbiz as a musician; along with singing, he also played the piano and guitar. At the age of six he started singing with the ‘Georgia Boys Choir.’ He has performed in several concerts, including local, national as well as international.
His mother got him enrolled in theatre classes and that was the beginning of his interest toward acting. He commenced his acting career at the age of ten and portrayed several characters in plays like ‘Hairspray,’ ‘Into the Woods,’ and ‘The King and I.’
A commercial for ‘Hot Wheels’ marked his first on-screen role. He relocated to Los Angeles with his mother and sister in 2015 to further his career in acting and music.
In 2016, he landed up with a recurring role of Will Grover in the sixth season of the popular American action police procedural television series ‘Hawaii Five-0.’ The role of Will Grover, the adorable and witty teenage son of Lou Grover, is regarded as one of the best portrayals by Jacobs so far and it has won him several hearts. Till present he has featured in 7 episodes of the series.
He played Bradley in the 2016 film ‘Hooky’ and George in the A. Plancher written and directed short drama film ‘Remnants.’ The latter earned him the ‘Best Supporting Actor in a Movie’ award at the ‘Endless Mountains Film Festival’ same year.
He proved his acting talent playing the role of an African-American home-school student and outsider Mike Hanlon in the Jaeden Lieberher and Bill Skarsgård starrer American supernatural horror film ‘It.’ The film was an adaptation of a 1986 novel by Stephen King bearing the same title. Directed by Andy Muschietti, the film ‘It’ premiered at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood on September 5, 2017, and released in the US on September 8. It went on to become a sensational hit grossing a worldwide total of $700.4 million, compared to a production budget of $35 million. The ‘IT Movie Playlist’ on Spotify also includes a Jacobs’ song titled ‘Losers,’ written and produced by him.
On June 18, 2018, Jacobs along with Jaeden Lieberher, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Jack Dylan Grazer, Finn Wolfhard, Wyatt Oleff, and Sophia Lillis won the ‘Best On-Screen Team’ award at the ‘MTV Movie Awards’ for their performances in ‘It.’
The December 2017 action film ‘Cops and Robbers’ featured Jacobs in the role of Young Michael.
On July 19, 2018, he guest starred as William in a single episode (‘The Heat Wave’) of the comedy series ‘American Woman,’ inspired from the childhood of American actress, television personality, memoirist, socialite, and philanthropist, Kyle Richards.
He features in the recurring role of Wendell Deaver in the psychological horror web television series ‘Castle Rock’ that premiered on Hulu on July 25, 2018.
The supernatural horror film ‘It: Chapter Two,’ a sequel of ‘It’ will see Jacobs reprising the role of Mike Hanlon, in flashbacks, while the older version of the character will be played by American actor Isaiah Mustafa. The film is scheduled to be released on September 6, 2019.
He enjoys singing while playing the piano and guitar. He loves to perform at different venues in Atlanta, including coffee shops. While not acting or performing on stage as a musician, Jacobs spends time in penning down songs and producing them in the studio.
Personal Life
He studies French and Mandarin.
He is known to be close to his sister and his friend Bestie. He often shares pictures along with them on his Instagram account ‘chosenjacobs,’ has over 750 K followers. He is also quite active on other social media platforms, including Twitter and Facebook.
Jacobs is quite compassionate for the less fortunate ones. He feeds the homeless and also engages himself with social organisations in both Atlanta and Los Angeles.
A Marvel fanatic, Jacobs wants to portray a Marvel character on-screen. He also has a dream of playing Muhammad Ali. The teen ninja Naruto Uzumaki is his favourite cartoon character.
