Highlights
- The original Jake from State Farm, played by Jake Stone, was an actual employee of State Farm who answered a casting call and landed the role.
- The new Jake from State Farm, Kevin Miles, replaced the original Jake because he got another job and was no longer working for State Farm as an insurance agent.
- Speculation suggests that State Farm switched Jakes to appear "woke," but the company stated that they replaced Jake to find someone who could really embrace the spokesperson role.
This article was updated in October 2023.
Actually enjoying TV commercials might sound really weird and like an unpopular opinion, but viewers can't deny that the "Jake from State Farm" commercials are pretty entertaining.
In fact, the short commercial entitled "State of Unrest" has spawned countless memes since its inception. Not only did Saturday Night Live spoof it a few years later, but the commercial has lived on much longer than State Farm could have anticipated it would.
While the insurance company is probably still patting its marketing team on the back, some fans weren't happy when the original Jake from State Farm disappeared when Kevin Miles joined the State Farm crew back in 2020. Since then, his fame has not only grown on our TV screens, but also on his social media. Miles currently has over 100k+ followers on Instagram and 25k+ followers on TikTok. He has also acted in Tall Girl 2, iCarly, and The Boulevard in the year 2022, adding even more accreditation to his name.
So why did the insurance giant replace Jake, and who is the new Jake, really?
Who Originally Played Jake From State Farm?
A common question about the State Farm commercials is: what happened to the original Jake? After all, fans definitely noticed that the newest State Farm face, also named "Jake," is a completely different guy.
As it turns out, the original Jake - whose name really is Jake - was an actual employee of State Farm. The story goes that Jake Stone answered a casting call that State Farm put out while he was working as an insurance agent for the company.
Ultimately, he landed the role and spoke those iconic two lines, and the rest was history. Of course, Jake's gig with State Farm is now history, as the new face of the company has replaced him in all the commercials and advertisements.
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The main reason why State Farm decided to nix their original khaki-wearing Jake? Well, he got another job. While he was working as an agent for State Farm and appeared in their commercials, Jake also reportedly worked as a bartender.
At the time, the 26-year-old was working two jobs and living life. As he explained in a follow-up to his brief stint of fame, "I'm just putting on my khakis, one leg at a time."
But by the time someone tracked him down for an interview, Jake no longer worked for State Farm as an insurance agent. He'd become a seasonal city employee in a local town and continued working as a bartender.
And yet, fans got to see the OG Jake again when the new Jake debuted; the pair even exchanged dialogue. Of course, Jake's only line was "Uh, yeah," but it was enough to make viewers chuckle with nostalgia. After that brief appearance, though, OG Jake was nowhere to be found. But why?
Jake From State Farm Was Fired... Sort Of
Though Jake Stone seems to have quit State Farm on good terms -- he did reappear in a 2020 commercial despite not working for them anymore -- and now he's no longer the spokesperson of the company.
Instead, someone new is the visible face of the company. And some speculate that there's a specific reason why State Farm switched up its Jakes: they're trying to appear "woke." Of course, that's only speculation, and State Farm even released a statement saying that they only replaced Jake because they needed someone to really embrace the spokesperson role.
The new Jake has an intensive film schedule, rubs elbows with big-name celebs (like Drake!), and knows absolutely nothing about insurance, by his own admission.
He's essentially a pretty face (and a nice voice) who embodies the brand, and that's what State Farm wanted -- not an actual employee who would wind up being a meme and, essentially, a joke.
Who Is The Actor Who Plays Jake From State Farm?
So is Jake from State Farm really named Jake? Not anymore. Nowadays, the actor who plays Jake from State Farm is a guy named Kevin Miles. Don't worry, though –- he's fully invested in the job, and he's a pro.
The catch is that he is an actual actor, whereas the original Jake was an employee of State Farm. He's relatively new to Hollywood, though, so he may very well be one of those actors who gets a start in the industry because of TV commercials.
The new guy has fully embraced the role, explaining in an interview that he's excited to see just how far he can take Jake's character. And it seems like State Farm is totally game for stretching Jake from State Farm into one big branding move worldwide.
Then again, the State Farm spokesperson did say that while Jake embodies the spirit of State Farm, "Jake" could be a person of any gender or race. So does that mean Jake may eventually become someone else?
Who knows -- but for now, let's just enjoy the celebrity-rich commercial content that State Farm is putting out. They're definitely doing their part to make commercial breaks entertaining again.