Broadway voice behind 'Laurel/Yanny' speaks out on The Dress, the arts and more

You may not know his name yet, but you certainly know his voice.

At least if you've been on the Internet in the last week.

Jay Aubrey Jones is the voice behind the infamous "Laurel/Yanny" audio clip that has been driving wedges through office relationships, friendships and even marriages, as some people hear "Laurel" clear as day, while others hear only "Yanny," and a select few hear both. It's an "auditory illusion," experts say. Everyone from celebrities to President Donald Trump has weighed in on the matter.

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It's officially "laurel," for the record, one of tens of thousands of clips Jones recorded for Vocabulary.com 11 years ago. In fact, Jones is pretty sure he's never said "Yanny" in his life.

"I don't think so. Except to talk about the musician (Yanni), but I don't think I've mentioned him all that much," he said.

Jones is a veteran Broadway and television actor and opera singer. He grew up in Atlantic City, and is "completely and utterly floored by all this," he says.

Here's five things to know about him.

1) His life has been insane since the clip started going viral

"All of a sudden, I'm getting all of these interview requests from places all over the world, even television and radio in Brazil and Sweden and Australia.

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"It's all very, very funny. The power of the Internet — who knew? On my Facebook page, people are writing in, 'Please settle this, because it's causing martial strife.' And I'm thinking 'oh children, please.' But it's really quite amusing, quite unexpected and really very astonishing."

2) He heard about the debate on TV — and had no idea it was him

"I first found out about the whole controversy while I was getting dressed last Wednesday, and I had the 'Today' show on and they were talking about the controversy. I really wasn't paying attention because I was more concerned about getting dressed and making sure I heard the weather and any sort of any transit problems. It didn't dawn on me that it was my voice that people were listening to. I go to my temp job and I'm happily working, and all of a sudden I get this somewhat frantic text message from the producer of Vocabulary.com and he says, 'Please call me, please call me, it's time-sensitive.' And I'm thinking, 'What in the world is going on?' I called him back and he said, 'Had you heard about the Laurel/Yanny controversy?' I said I did, but hadn't paid too much attention. And he said, 'It's your voice that did it.' "

3) He has a controversial view on "The Dress"

The "Laurel/Yanny" Internet debate has been called the biggest thing since 2015's "The Dress" controversy — remember teams black/blue and gold/white?

"That was very much on my radar," Jones said. "When they started talking about (the clip), I thought this was a variation on that, not even realizing I was the voice behind this."

And his take on "The Dress"?

A rare outlier: He saw gold and blue.

4) He once won $10,000 on "$20,000 Pyramid"

"I grew up watching game shows, I have been a game show fanatic ever since I was a very small child," he said.

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In college, he and some friends formed a game show group, and would play against each other, while other students watched. So when he moved to New York in 1976, he fulfilled a dream and attended a taping of "$20,000 Pyramid."

He was selected to try out as a contestant and a few weeks later got a call to come in and play.

His celebrity teammate was Debralee Scott of "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman," his celeb opponent was comedian Soupy Sales. When all was said and done, he walked away with a cool $10,000.

5) He's a Broadway and theater veteran

Jones understudied Old Deuteronomy in the original run of "Cats" on Broadway, going on 193 times in the role in his long stint in the show.

He also was seen understudying Twimble and Wally Womper in the mid-1990s revival of "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" with Matthew Broderick and Megan Mullally.

He enjoyed the more recent revival of that show, calling Daniel Radcliffe's performance as J. Pierrepont Finch "wonderful."

While he says experiencing a revival is an odd sensation, "I just went with it because the direction, choreography and cast was right for that production, just as the company and direction and everything I experienced when I did the show ... was right for the production I was in. And so I was just able to sit back and enjoy it rather than sit there, arms crossed on my chest, scowling, and go 'Oh yeah? Prove it.' "

He'll be seen this summer as Doc in Tennessee Williams’ "Small Craft Warnings" at Regeneration Theatre in Manhattan.

While he's always known he loved performing, it took a little soul-searching for him to pursue the arts, which he studied at Syracuse University.

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"I was thinking, 'Will I make a living?' But then later on, as I was looking at schools to apply to, I thought to myself, 'You know, I've only got one life and I don't want to wake up one bright, shiny morning when I'm 40 and wonder what would have happened had I really gone for what I realized was my true life's calling.' "

Ilana Keller: @ilanakeller; 732-643-4260; ikeller@gannettnj.com