Jeffrey James Applegate was born and raised on a family Christmas tree farm in Cranbury, NJ. His on-camera star has been on the rise in the wake of a career spent largely on stage, including multiple years touring North America and the world in productions like West Side Story, Mamma Mia! and Cheers: Live on Stage. Best known for his role as covert CIA operative Michael Johnson in Robert DeNiro's The Good Shepherd, he has also appeared in roles ranging from the romantic interest of the title character in Searching for Sylvie, wine connoisseur Todd Harris in CBS' Elementary; German ice hockey Coach Kruger in the indie feature Odd Man Rush; American GI in HBO's Random Acts of Flyness; and television reporters and pundits in Ava DuVernay's When They See Us, An Englishman in New York, and Veronika Decides to Die.