Joshua Jackson

Joshua Jackson was a Canadian actor who first rose to prominence as a teen heartthrob during the youth-oriented days of the late nineties, but as he got older, soon revealed himself to be a daring character actor whose chameleonic nature kept him in the cultural conversation well into the mid-21st century. Born in Vancouver, Canada on June 11, 1978, Jackson's mother was a casting director, which lead to the young man developing an interest in acting. He made his film debut in the indie drama "Crooked Hearts" (1991) at the age of 12, before starring as Charlie in a musical stage version of "Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory," which lead to him landing a deal with the William Morris Agency. Soon after, Jackson booked his first lead role, playing Charlie (#96) in the hit youth hockey family film "The Mighty Ducks" (1992). After giving school a very half-hearted, non-committal try, Jackson landed what would be his breakout role, playing Pacey Witter, underachieving best friend to aspiring filmmaker Dawson Leery (James Van Der Beek) and tough "girl next door" Joey Potter (Katie Holmes) on the teen primetime soap opera "Dawson's Creek" (WB,1998-2003). A smash hit and cultural lightning rod upon its premiere, largely due to its frank take on teenage sexuality and witty fast-paced dialogue (courtesy of the show's creator, "Scream" [1996] scribe Kevin Williamson), "Dawson's Creek" made all of its young cast into superstars overnight. Taking advantage of his newfound fame, Jackson stayed busy on the downtime between the first and second season, appearing in a number of films, including "Cruel Intentions" (1999), "The Skulls" (2000), "The Safety of Objects" (2001), and "The Laramie Project" (2002), as well as a very meta cameo playing "himself" in the star-studded heist comedy "Ocean's Eleven" (2001). After "Dawson's Creek" ended in 2003, Jackson became a familiar face in the world of independent film, appearing in such projects as "Americano" (2005), "Shadows in the Sun" (2005), "Aurora Borealis" (2005), and "One Week" (2008), as well as Emilio Estevez's historical drama "Bobby" (2006) and the Thai horror remake "Shutter" (2008). During this time, he also began a long-term relationship with German actress Diane Kruger (best known to American audiences for her turn in Quentin Tarantino's WWII thriller "Inglourious Basterds" [2009]), which would last for nearly ten years. He also returned to television, taking a lead role in J.J. Abrams' sci-fi series "Fringe" (FOX, 2008-2013), a cult hit which lasted for five seasons. After "Fringe" ended, Jackson moved on to another series, co-starring in four seasons of the infidelity drama "The Affair" (Showtime, 2014-19), before making his Broadway debut in a production of "Children of a Lesser God." Jackson could most recently be seen playing defense attorney Mickey Joseph in Ava DuVernay's acclaimed miniseries "When They See Us" (Netflix, 2019), and in the miniseries adaptation of Celeste Ng's acclaimed novel "Little Fires Everywhere" (Hulu, 2019).