Jacobs was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her parents, Martina Magenau Jacobs and William F. Jacobs Jr., work respectively in alumni relations at Carnegie Mellon University and as an investment banker. She was raised in Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania by her mother. Her family owned the Erie Brewing Company in Erie, Pennsylvania, where her grandfather, John Martin Magenau Jr., served as President and CEO until it closed in 1978.\n', '

Jacobs began studying acting at the age of eight, and attended acting classes on Saturdays at the Pittsburgh Playhouse while growing up. She performed with the Pittsburgh Public Theater, where she was a perennial contender in the Public\'s Shakespeare Monologue Contest, leading her to be cast as Titania in its production of A Midsummer Night\'s Dream.\n', '

After graduating from Mt. Lebanon High School in 2000, Jacobs moved to New York City to attend the Juilliard School, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2004.\n', '

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