Jay Della Valle (born August 19, 1979) best known for his documentary ''
The Glorious Mustache Challenge
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
'', and for his role as Sue in the Independent Feature Film, " Mount Joy"- is an American filmmaker, recording artist, singer and songwriter.
Early life and Current
Della Valle was born in Hackensack, New Jersey. He is of
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
, Irish, and
Czech
Czech may refer to:
* Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe
** Czech language
** Czechs, the people of the area
** Czech culture
** Czech cuisine
* One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus'
Places
*Czech, ...
ancestry
An ancestor, also known as a forefather, fore-elder or a forebear, is a parent or (recursively) the parent of an antecedent (i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent and so forth). ''Ancestor'' is "any person from whom ...
. He grew up in
Wayne, New Jersey
Wayne is a Township (New Jersey), township in Passaic County, New Jersey, Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. Home to William Paterson University and located less than from Midtown Manhattan, the township is a bedroom suburb of New York ...
and attended
Wayne Valley High School
Wayne Valley High School is a comprehensive four-year public high school, in Wayne, in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. The school serves students in ninth through twelfth grades as one of the two secondary schools of the Wayne Pu ...
.
Musical career
While attending
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, the ...
, Della Valle played with various bands including The Offbeats. After graduating from NYU in 2001 with a degree from the Gallatin School of Individualized Study, Della Valle recorded an independent EP called ''Best Years'' with bandmate
Jon Crane
Jon is a shortened form of the common given name Jonathan, derived from "YHWH has given", and an alternate spelling of John, derived from "YHWH has pardoned".Chris "Gibby" Gibson (Quicksand, Rival Schools). He followed this with 2 other independent EPs before starting to record his first full-length debut album, ''Pink Elephants'', in 2005 with producer Jon Berman (
Ours
One Union of Regional Staff (OURS) was a trade union in the United Kingdom.
The union was formed in early 2010 by the merger of the Derbyshire Group Staff Union and the Cheshire Group Staff Union. It organises former Derbyshire Building Soc ...
,
The Dandy Warhols
The Dandy Warhols are an American alternative rock band, formed in Portland, Oregon, in 1994 by singer-guitarist Courtney Taylor-Taylor and guitarist Peter Holmström. They were later joined by keyboardist Zia McCabe and drummer Eric Hedford ...
,
Avril Lavigne
Avril Ramona Lavigne ( ; born September 27, 1984) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. At age 16, she signed a two-album recording contract with Arista Records. Her debut studio album, ''Let Go (Avril Lavigne album), Let Go'' (2002), is the ...
,
Duncan Sheik
Duncan Sheik (born November 18, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter and composer. Sheik is known for his 1996 debut single " Barely Breathing", which earned him a Grammy Award nomination for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. He has composed ...
). He then returned to Chris Gibson in 2008 to record ''Stay Gold'' with his band. In 2009, Della Valle toured the east coast with Stache Bash, Della Valle's own invention: a "mustache party rock n'roll tour" he cultivated from his films burgeoning following. A video for his single, ''
Legs So Long It's Crazy
A leg is a weight-bearing and locomotive anatomical structure, usually having a columnar shape. During locomotion, legs function as "extensible struts". The combination of movements at all joints can be modeled as a single, linear element ca ...
'', was made in early 2009. Della Valle's 2nd full-length album, '' The Terminology of the Situation Is....'' was released in May 2011. In 2012, Jay joined up with former Della Valle keyboardist/violinist & singer Nicole DeLoi to form the Indie Folk Duo "Owls & Lions" who got their start performing at weddings. Jay's song "Head Above Water" can be heard in the 2014 Lionsgate film "My Man Is A Loser" starring John Stamos & Michael Rapaport. Jay was recently cast in the Independent Feature Film, ''Mount Joy''- about a punk rock band from Pennsylvania his character fronts called ''Living Daylights''. Jay Della Valle wrote all the songs for the band ''Living Daylights''.
Film career
Della Valle started acting in 1995 while still in high school. After graduating high school in 1997, he attended
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, the ...
to further pursue theatre and film opportunities. He worked on a number of independent films and theatre productions while still in college. After graduating NYU in 2001, Della Valle enrolled in the Maggie Flanigan Studio to study the
Meisner technique
The Meisner technique is an approach to acting developed by American theatre practitioner Sanford Meisner.
The goal of the Meisner approach is for the actor to not focus on themselves and instead concentrate on the other actors in the immediate ...
of acting under the mentorship of Maggie Flanigan.
In 2006, Della Valle started to film his acclaimed documentary, ''The Glorious Mustache Challenge'', which received press and attention from ''
The Today Show
''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'' or informally, ''NBC News Today'') is an American news and talk morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It was ...
'', ''
Good Morning America
''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. Th ...
'', ''
Geraldo at Large
''Geraldo Rivera Reports'', also known as ''Geraldo at Large'', is an American television newsmagazine hosted by Fox News correspondent-at-large and former talk show host Geraldo Rivera.
History
Debuting in national syndication on October 31, 2 ...
'',
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...
, and
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
. "The Glorious Mustache" started when he dared a handful of friends to grow a mustache and not shave for one month. This experiment led him to have the idea to chronicle the experiences of men under 30 in their conquest to revive the "ill-fated" mustache trend. The making of the film quickly gained traction and press- garnering featured articles in
Time Out New York
''Time Out'' is a global magazine published by Time Out Group. ''Time Out'' started as a London-only publication in 1968 and has expanded its editorial recommendations to 328 cities in 58 countries worldwide.
In 2012, the London edition becam ...
and on the front page of
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
. and
AM New York
''AM New York Metro'' is a free newspaper, free daily newspaper that is published in New York City by Schneps Media. According to the company, the average Friday circulation in September 2013 was 335,900. When launched on October 10, 2003, ''AM New ...
Upon its completion, film screenings took the form of "mustache parties" where the film would play, costumes and mustaches would be required, and inevitably, a mustache contest would be judged by Della Valle. Press from The New York Times caught the eye of Dr. Aaron Perlut and Dr. Dan Callahan, the leaders of the American Mustache Institute, who would later indoctrinate Della Valle as "Chairman Emeritus".
In 2007, Della Valle appeared on the reality show
Miami Ink
''Miami Ink'' was an American reality show that ran on TLC from 2005–2008 and follows the events that took place at a tattoo shop in Miami Beach, Florida. The show led to several spin-offs, including the shows ''LA Ink'', ''London Ink'', ''N ...
. While getting tattooed by tattoo artist
Chris Garver
Chris Garver (born September 11, 1970) is an American tattoo artist and television personality, best known for his appearance on the TLC reality television show ''Miami Ink''.
Biography
Garver was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, w ...
, he discusses plans for his band's album in progress.