He graduated in history and archeology at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of the University of Zagreb in 1996 and later in submarine archeology at Accademia per metodologia e tecnica di archeologia subacquea in Italy.
He served as the Croatian Minister of Culture between 2010 and 2011. Jasen Mesić was the mayoral candidate of Croatian Democratic Union for the 2009 local elections in Zagreb. He received 39,623 votes or 13.17% and was eliminated in the first round.