Derek Jepsen was born in Santa Rosa, California. The son of a motorcycle mechanic and bank teller, he was discovered to have bi-cochlear hearing impairment, and started wearing hearing aids at 8 months old. He quickly gravitated toward sports, playing baseball, golf and riding motorcycles out in the hills.

 

It wasn't until after college that he discovered acting, quickly changing paths to attend DePaul University's MFA Acting Program in Chicago. He gravitates toward challenging roles where he can experiment with physical and vocal storytelling.

Derek enjoys many creative outlets including acting, improv, writing, photography, restoring motorcycles and cars, and music. He is self professed to be "surprisingly mediocre at a lot of things", noting that he always enjoys the challenge of something new.