Waylon Jacobs

Waylon Jacobs trained at the Arts Educational Schools London, earning both the BBC Performing Arts Bursary and the Gillian Lynne Award. Built through years of West End work, his career bridges musical theatre and animation voice work. Best known for voicing Odward in Disney XD's Dragon Striker, playing Lafayette/Jefferson in the Hamilton West End production, and covering Hermes/Hades in Hadestown at the Lyric Theatre.

Waylon Jacobs Brings the West End to the Voice Booth

A Swindon-born performer trained at the Arts Educational Schools London, Waylon Jacobs spent years sharpening his craft on the West End’s most demanding stages before the animation world took notice. That theatre background – grounded in vocal precision, physical storytelling, and the discipline of covering multiple roles simultaneously – turned out to be exactly the kind of preparation that earns trust in a recording booth.

His work in the West End was never just supplementary. Playing Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson in Hamilton at the Victoria Palace Theatre placed him inside one of the most vocal-athleticism-demanding shows of the modern era. Covering Hermes and Hades in Hadestown at the Lyric Theatre added mythic weight to a career already built on range. Each of those roles required the kind of rapid tonal shifts – comedy to gravity, tenderness to authority – that animated character work demands.

Dragon Striker and the Move into Animation

Landing the role of Odward in Disney XD’s Dragon Striker (premiering June 9, 2026) marks Jacobs’ highest-profile animated credit to date. The series – an anime-influenced sports fantasy produced by La Chouette Compagnie in association with Disney Television Animation – was first previewed at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival and carries a score by Kevin Penkin, known for Made in Abyss and Star Wars: Visions. Odward is a figure with a layered past connected to one of the show’s rival teams, requiring the kind of guarded charisma that Jacobs’ stage work equipped him to deliver.

Joining him in the booth are Akshay Kumar, Rebecca LaChance, Yeukayi Ushe, and Evanna Lynch – a cast that straddles stage, screen, and international entertainment. For Jacobs, it represents a natural extension of work that has always prioritized voice as its primary instrument.

Awards, Training, and the Foundation Underneath

At the Arts Educational Schools London, Jacobs received both the BBC Performing Arts Bursary and the Gillian Lynne Award – two distinctions that signal readiness for professional stage work at a high level. That foundation fed directly into West End productions including Memphis at the Shaftesbury Theatre, We Will Rock You at the Dominion Theatre, Children of Eden at the Prince of Wales Theatre, and The Lion King at the Lyceum Theatre. Outside the West End, credits include Grease: The Immersive Movie Musical, The Last Five Years at the Minack Theatre, YANK! at the Charing Cross Theatre, and Peter Pan at the Barn Theatre.

His involvement in the Hadestown filmed production – recorded in February 2025 and set for North American theatrical release in July 2026 – captures him alongside original Broadway stars including Reeve Carney, Eva Noblezada, and Andre De Shields. It is a document of stage work at a peak moment, and proof that Jacobs continues to move between live performance and recorded media with equal ease.