Jesse Hartman is an American musician, film maker and actor, living in New York's East Village.
Hartman formed the band Sammy with Luke Wood (where Hartman co-wrote, sang, and played guitar and keyboards), releasing Debut Album (1994), Kings of the Inland Empire (1995) and Tales of Great Neck Glory (1996).
He then went on to form the rock/electro group Laptop in 1997, releasing an EP, End Credits, in 1997, followed by the single "Gimme The Nite" in 1998. "End Credits" garnered airplay on BBC Radio 1's Evening Session. The song used samples of Hartman's ex-girlfriend's answering machine. The Laptop single Nothing to Declare spent one week at #74 in the UK Singles Chart in June 1999.[1]
Hartman was then signed to a recording contract by Island Records and released two singles ("Nothing to Declare" and "I'm So Happy You Failed", both in 1999), before leaving the label. He eventually joined Trust Me Records and released the albums Opening Credits (2000), The Old Me vs. The New You (2001), and Don't Try This At Home (2003). As of 2022, Hartman has been working on new Laptop material to release in 2024 and beyond.
As a filmmaker, Hartman has written and directed Happy Hour (1993, Best Short Film Award Berlin Intl. Film Festival) and House of Satisfaction (2008), made documentaries for MSNBC's Edgewise (1997, opening night selection of Rotterdam Intl. Film Festival), and co-produced Kelly Reichardt's indie hit feature River Of Grass.
As an actor, Hartman has been in Larry Fessenden's vampire film Habit and his own House of Satisfaction.