Jay Footlik

Jay Kerry Footlik (October 19, 1965)^[1] is an American actor and a lobbyist for Qatar^[2][3] and Morocco.^[4][5]

Jay Footlik
Born	(1965-10-19) October 19, 1965 (age 59)

He served as Special Assistant to United States President Bill Clinton^[3] and as a senior Middle East advisor to John Kerry.^[5]

Early life and education

Footlik was born in 1965 in Skokie, Illinois.^[6] As a child his family suffered from financial struggles, still sending him to Hebrew School at Niles Township Jewish Congregation.^[6] He graduated fron Niles North High School.^[7]

He earned a B.A. in political science from UCLA, specializing in US foreign policy and the Middle East (1988). He also has a law degree from Loyola Law School of Los Angeles (1994) and is a member of the Maryland State Bar Association.^[8][9]

Career

On Theatre and on screen

At age 12 Footlik had his first professional theatrical appearance in "Working" by Studs Terkel, adapted and directed by Stephen Schwartz at Goodman Theatre in Chicago.^[6] He later performed in numerous Chicago productions at Marriott's Lincolnshire Theatre and others. He has appeared on movies such as: Teen Wolf (1985),^[6] Iron Eagle (1986)^[6] and Redemption Day (2021); and on television in Chicago Story (1982), The Judge (1986) and Dig (2015).

In politics

He held a senior position on Bill Clinton’s successful campaign for president in 1992 and was later a Special Assistant to Clinton while he serves as the United States President.^[8] He was also special liaison to the American Jewish community in Clinton's administration.^[6][10][11]

He was later Senior Middle East Advisor for John Kerry’s Presidential campaign in 2004,^[8] and Director of Constituency Outreach for Joe Lieberman’s presidential campaign in 2008.^[8][12][13]

Footlik was a candidate for United States Congress in Illinois's 10th congressional district, losing to Dan Seals in the primary in 2008.^[14]

More Information

Footlik serves on the board of trustees of the American Council of Young Political Leaders (ACYPL) and is a founding board member of SAFE (Securing America's Future Energy), an organization dedicated to reducing America's dependency on oil.^[8][15]

In 2024 He consulted to Israeli families of hostages held by Hamas, meeting them in Washington DC and organizing for them to meet with Qateri officials.^[16]

In 2025 he was named as being involved in Israeli Qatargate scandal, allegedly transferring money from Qatar to Israeli prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's spokesperson Eli Feldstein via businessman Gil Birger.^{[17][2][18][3][19][20][21]}

Personal life

Footlik has three daughters and lives in suburban Washington, DC.

He is a member of the Democratic Party.^[22]