Dolly Jacobs
Dolly Jacobs (born c. 1957[1] in Sarasota, Florida[2]) is an American circus aerialist. She is the daughter of famed circus clown Lou Jacobs and former New York fashion model turned circus performer Jean Rockwell Jacobs.[1] She began her circus career in 1975 and has been working ever since. She was a featured performer with Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus.[1][3] She left Ringling in 1984 for the Big Apple Circus where she worked until 1985 and again during 1987 and 1988.
![](../I/Dolly_Jacobs_2016.jpg.webp)
She and her husband, fellow circus performer Pedro Reis, founded Circus Sarasota in 1997.[2][4]
In 2012, Jacobs received the Florida Folk Heritage Award.[2] She is a recipient of the 2015 National Heritage Fellowship awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts, which is the highest honor in the folk and traditional arts in the United States.[5] She is the first circus performer to receive the prestigious NHF award.[2] She has also won a Silver Clown award at the International Circus Festival of Monte Carlo.
References
- "Dolly Jacobs Is the Hot Star of the New Dynasty of the Circus". People magazine. April 4, 1977. Retrieved August 1, 2012.
- "Folk Heritage Awards Recipient: Dolly Jacobs". Florida Folklife Program, Division of Historical Resources, Florida Department of State.
- Kurt Lassen (February 22, 1977). "Dolly Jacobs Continues A Tradition". The Telegraph.
- History of Circus Sarasota Archived March 4, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
- "NEA National Heritage Fellowships 2015". www.arts.gov. National Endowment for the Arts. Archived from the original on September 28, 2020. Retrieved February 7, 2021.