Jaws Star Q&A at Cinestudio

Angelica Gajewski ‘26

Executive Bits & Pieces Editor

On Tuesday, March 4th, the Cinestudio celebrated 50 years, 2 months, and 4 Days of operation. To commemorate the achievement, the theater hosted a Q&A event with Joseph Jenkins, Blonde Extra with Mustache #4 in Steven Spielberg’s1975 classic film, Jaws. Jenkins can be seen in the background of the opening scene and has amassed 1 minute and 40 seconds on the big screen throughout his career. For five decades, the Cinestudio has been part of a rare group of independent theaters dedicated to film, however, only a few can claim to have hosted an icon as central to cinema history as Jenkins. 

Before the event, the Trinity Tripod managed to grab a quick interview with Jenkins, sending a freshman who had signed up for their mailing list during the involvement fair. Here’s what happened when we asked Jenkins a few of our most pressing questions:

F: Your self-written IMDB states that you were hand-selected by Steven Spielberg himself, can you tell us how that happened?

JJ: Well, while I was sitting around the fire, Spielberg looked at everyone and said “Good drinking”… it was when I realized I had found my talent. I will always remember when he said “Blonde extra with mustache number 4, move to the left” and when I moved it changed everything, watching him work really is a masterclass.

F: What drives you?

JJ: Some people want fame and money, I think being an actor is about something bigger, making people think, ‘Why do I feel like I’ve seen that guy everywhere?’

F: If you could change one thing about your career, what would it be?

JJ: I would have brushed my mustache more to the left during the third take of that first scene. It haunts me, wondering what could have been. 

F: What advice do you have for aspiring extras?

JJ: Blink and you’ll miss it…no seriously, I missed my own scene during the premiere. 

Later in the night during the audience question portion of the event, a student asked Joseph about his tumultuous journey through the Hollywood party scene as depicted on the Reddit thread Jaws Valium Incident. The background artist noted with a wise gaze, “Listen, Hollywood is a hard business. Sometimes these days are four, six, even eight hours long. I made a lot of mistakes trying to cope with those pressures.”

Since Jaws, Joseph has traveled to speak at every college in the tri-state area excluding Harvard University, Yale University, Columbia University, Barnard College, NYU, Princeton University, UConn, Wesleyan, and many more! His upcoming Substack article, “That Time I Held the Men’s Room Door on the Set of Jaws” will be released in the Spring of 2026 and will be the ultimate expression of Jenkins’ art of being an extra in both film and life. “I wasn’t just holding a door. I was holding Hollywood itself” Jenkins announced to our freshman reporter as they googled “Jaws?”.