Jonathan Tiersten was born in Queens on August 11, 1965 but then moved to Long Island and then New Jersey but and back to New York City again.

He was heavily into sports in highschool and took up wrestling. Then, he got his first gig in a Pepsi commercial came to his highschool as his two friends from highschool dragged him in to the principal's office to sing up for an audition as there were 1700 hopeful kids at the cafeteria hoping to land the role and a dozen of them including him won the parts that were needed. The commerical starred Gabe Kaplan (From TV's "Welcome Back Kotter") and the it was a basketball themed commerical.

Then afterwards got himself an agent and went in for an audition for the cult slasher film "Sleepaway Camp" and he knew that he had the part after reading it and never felt so right about a part before. He played the part of Ricky and it was filmed in 1982 starting in August through October.

He also studied drama for 4 years after the film at the New York University along with Adam Sandler and Molly Shannon whom they both went on to be regular's in the late night show "Saturday Night Live" and graduated with a degree in theatre.

In 1987 he got work in daytime television having supporting roles as he won the part as Jason in a popular afterschool special on ABC-TV called "Seasonal Differences", then did some minor roles in a CBS Schoolbreak Special plus a bit part on 3 episodes of the daytime soap called "Another World" in 1989. But then he walked away from acting. "I was sick of the business", he said at the time, he still had opportunities to continue working but was not interested as he had been earlier he wanted to get away from it as he could and to concentrate on music instead when in 1991 he decided to become a musician as he moved away from New York to Fort Collins, Colorado where he owned a bar for a few years.

Jonny's musical style is classic rock, folk and pop rock and his influences are David Bowie, The Rolling Stones and Neil Young.

Then he started his own guitar lessons and formed a solo band which he sang and played the guitar and was signed to a small label record company called Hapi Skratch Records and released his first solo album called "Heaven" which was a local hit in his area. He also had a progressive rock band for two years called "Gafiltophunk" which was his first band and they were working on a CD but it never saw the light of day.

Then he went on to form another local underground alternative-folk rock blues band called "Bambi's Apartment" (Although he never really felt he fit) and was signed to another small independent label company called D.A.M. Records, and before the millenium released "Who's Bambi?". Bambi's Apartment toured in L.A. California at one time in pubs and lounges as well as in Massachusettes, but are well liked in their regional area. Also, four of their songs were featured in an independent film called "Closing the Deal" that was played at the Breckridge Film Festival in L.A., California.

"Now the reason I got into music in the first place is another story. To get chicks, of course. Just kidding. Sort of… The real reason is boredom. Attention deficit, compulsive, manic, hyper, I don’t know what it is but I can’t stand being stagnant. I need something in my life to be creative or I sit around contemplating my existence or my navel far too often. Which is ironic because that is exactly what I do in my music. The difference is that something comes out of all my machinations. Sometimes I even like it. My three favorite things in this world are playing music, listening to music and being in a really cool bar. Get it?," was his major comment on why he got into music.

At present time, he disbanded with Bambi's Apartment after being together for 4 and a half years as well as reuniting with his fellow actors from "Sleepaway Camp" at the Fangoria Convention and signed autographs as well as answering questions. And after had a party at a nearby pub and performed solo for his fellow actors and fans. He also formed a new band with Bambi's Apartment's saxophonist Scott Perrie called "Ten Tiers" with bass guitarist Scott Ryan and drummer and keyboardist Rich Collin and will be touring their regional area of Colorado and who knows where else as well as plans to be releasing an album as his band have agreed under contract with Live Unsigned to do a video shoot for 9 of their original songs in mid-June of 2003 at a studio in Burbank, CA which is their purpose to sell new unsigned bands to independent and major record labels with the hopes of gettings the bands signed.

He's returned as Ricky in "Return to Sleepaway Camp" which was released to DVD in November of 2008 celebrating the 25th anniversary of the original film's release as well as performing on the soundtrack CD, and may give acting another shot sometime and has gotten an offer for representation from a well-known agent in New York which she wants him to come back for acting work. However his band is his first priority and they are working on seeing if they can get signed to a major recording company with a little help from the rock band CKY (As they plan to open for them) and his "Sleepaway Camp" former co-star Felissa Rose.
Jonny however did accept a cameo in an independent comedy titled "The Adventures of Getting Over the Girl" and also released a new CD with his band titled "Tied Up" and also performed live for an internet show that supported music throughout Colorado.
Ten Tiers is touring in gigs around Los Angeles and Seattle too. A busy guy with his career in music.