Christopher Jackson is used to having Hamilton lyrics shouted at him when he walks down the street. “Someone walked past me just yesterday, [saying], ‘Hey George. How are you doing?” says the actor, who skyrocketed to fame after playing President George Washington in the original Broadway cast of Hamilton.

But he doesn’t mind. “What am I going to complain about? I think it's pretty awesome,” he says happily. After Hamilton, where he helped create the character of Washington with his longtime friend Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jackson moved to the world of television; he played lawyer Chunk Palmer in the CBS legal drama Bull from 2016 to 2022. It was good work; it was filmed in New York, so Jackson didn’t have to uproot his family. Plus, Bull and the HBO series And Just Like That kept him close to Broadway.

Just two months ago, Jackson was walking up Eighth Avenue and saw a poster of his longtime friend Mandy Gonzalez in Sunset Blvd.—the two had played lovers in In the Heights. “And then seeing my sign down the street, I was like, ‘Oh, well, that's just too perfect. And I texted that to her, too. I was like, ‘We're back together again on Broadway!’ It's great.” Indeed, you can never keep Nina and Benny apart.

Jackson is currently playing another smooth crooner in Hell's Kitchen on Broadway, where he’s making the audiences swoon nightly with his renditions of Alicia Keys’ “Fallin’” and “If I Ain’t Got You.” It marks the Tony nominee’s return to Broadway full-time in over a decade. Even though Jackson got his start on Broadway, in the original Broadway cast of The Lion King, where he understudied Simba, he admits this return has been an adjustment. “Matinees are always harder,” he admits. “I remember walking up the stairs to my dressing room yesterday and taking a moment pausing as I got to the top to, obviously, catch my breath because, you know, [I’m almost] 50.” But in that pause, Jackson also felt immense gratitude, “I was so glad that I could feel tired.”

He reminded himself after a decade on the screen, he had actively sought out that live experience again—sure, it may require him to push a piano offstage at one point, but he’s happy to do it. “Being in the theatre is home,” remarks Jackson serenely. “Being around other people and interacting with the audiences is the most comfortable place I know because I've spent a majority of my adult life doing that…To say something funny, and have 1,000 people react to it with you. That, to me, is a special kind of communion, and I relish it.”

In Hell’s Kitchen, Jackson plays Davis, a musician and absentee father to the main character Ali, who is struggling to figure out who she truly is. As the father of a teenage girl himself, Jackson immediately felt an affinity for the role—even if he doesn’t entirely agree with Davis’ choices.

“Oh, man, playing the dirtbag dad is so fun,” exclaims Jackson. He then adds, more seriously, that he does understand that struggle of balancing having a family with being an artist—a struggle that Davis falls short of, and where Jackson admits he’s not always perfect. “I know that I wouldn't have been able to pursue the things that I have been able to pursue if it weren't for the support of my family. It's a burden on them, to be sure. But I juggle a lot, and sometimes I'm really good at it, and sometimes I leave a lot to be desired. But I'm doing my best.”

Jackson’s coming back to Broadway in an auspicious time. Hamilton is currently celebrating its 10th anniversary, an occasion that has included numerous events for Jackson to show up to—from performing with the original cast at the Tony Awards June 8, to hosting the musical’s first autism-friendly performance June 29 (Jackson’s son CJ is on the spectrum), to singing the national anthem at Yankee Stadium August 25.

It’s not an exaggeration to say that Hamilton changed Jackson’s life. It opened up a new chapter in his career, helping him finally break into television. To Jackson, the show also helped change the entertainment industry—proving that shows written by and led by artists of color couldn’t just survive on Broadway, but thrive.

“There have been a lot of cultural shifts since Hamilton. People of color and writers and artists of color have felt more empowered, and there's been more of a wider reception for the brilliance that has come out of our community. I think also the audiences have experienced the shift, in which they're ready to hear those stories and ready to look at that kind of art,” says Jackson. “I don't think Hamilton was solely responsible for Purpose or A Strange Loop. I don't think one particular piece of art could spawn all of these other instances where we've seen such brilliance emerge. But, did it help? Sure. I think it absolutely contributed to it.”

After working together on In the Heights and Hamilton (and singing one of Miranda’s songs in Moana), does Jackson think he’ll work with Miranda again? Jackson’s answer is immediate: “That's a no brainer. Lin could call me up from Timbuktu and be like, ‘Hey, can you put a vocal on this thing?’ And I'll say, ‘Yep, I'll go to my studio.’” But it’s not just about making work; the two are family, with Jackson’s children calling Miranda “Uncle Lin.” “My relationship with [director Thomas Kail] and Lin has taught me about the power of of being open and curious, and whatever you're doing, always looking to find a deeper meaning for it."

And Jackson has getting encouragement from those friends on his newest project: a musical that he’s writing the songs for called The Crossover. It's based on the Kwame Alexander novel about two twin basketball prodigies who are coming of age. Jackson is writing it alongside Candrice Jones and Alexander; the musical will get a world premiere at Chautauqua Theater Company at a to-be-announced date. Though he’d written songs before (including for a forthcoming solo album), Jackson’s never written a musical.

He’s welcoming this challenge: “Luckily, I have really dope friends to bounce ideas off of and have been assured that they won't let me lose my way. So I'm excited about just putting myself out there. That's how we do new things.”

Doing new things can be a theme for the next phase of Jackson’s life. He’s turning 50 years old September 30, and he’s looking forward to trying out directing and producing. And his daughter, Jadelyn, is 16 and wants to become a performer as well; Jackson’s been taking her with him to Hell’s Kitchen so she can get a behind-the-scenes look at the making of a Broadway show, and all the different people involved. When asked what advice he gives to young people starting out, he gives a long and passionate answer.

“I tell every young person that wants to pursue art in any form, that they need to become the best reader that they know. It's hard to really absorb the world through 20-second Tiktok clips. You’ve got to be able to know what the world is, and what it can be. It's the artist's job to, what's the adage, ‘comfort the inflicted, and inflict the comfortable.’ So the only way you can do that is by having a perspective of the world. You can't break a character down if you don't read well…You need to make sure that you are informed. And then just be prepared, to work really, really hard all the time until you figure out what your voice is.”

It’s good advice, one borne from three decades in the business. And it's an ethos on artistry that Jackson plans on continuing to live by as he enters this new chapter.

“One of the benefits to being an artist is that you never stop, you don't ever retire,” remarks Jackson happily. “I don't ever want to stop doing what I'm doing, and I don't ever want to stop doing stuff that'll make a difference in the world. It's a big ocean, and I feel like I'm still just starting to row.”