Jared Padalecki

Jared Padalecki
Padalecki at Comic-Con in 2011
Born	Jared Tristan Padalecki (1982-07-19) July 19, 1982 San Antonio, Texas, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1999–present
Spouse(s)	Genevieve Padalecki (m. 2010)
Children	2

Jared Tristan Padalecki (born July 19, 1982)^[1] is an American actor. He grew up in Texas and rose to fame in the early 2000s after appearing on the television series Gilmore Girls as well as in several Hollywood films, including New York Minute and House of Wax. Padalecki plays Sam Winchester on The CW television series Supernatural.

Early life

Padalecki was born in San Antonio, Texas to Gerald and Sherri Padalecki.^[1][2] His father is of Polish descent, while his mother has German, Scottish, French, and English ancestry.^[3]

Education

He was a 2000 candidate for the Presidential Scholars Program.^[1] In 1998, Padalecki and his partner Chris Cardenas won the National Forensic League national championship in Duo Interpretation.^[4] Padalecki won Fox Broadcasting's 1999 "Claim to Fame Contest"; he subsequently appeared at the Teen Choice Awards, where he met an agent.^[1] After graduating from high school in 2000, he moved to Los Angeles, California to pursue an acting career, although he had originally planned to attend the University of Texas.^[1]

Career

Padalecki with Supernatural co-star Jensen Ackles

Padalecki's first role was a minor role in the 1999 film A Little Inside. In 2000, he was cast as Dean Forester on the television series Gilmore Girls, a role he played until 2005. Throughout the early 2000s, he also appeared in several made-for-television films, including Silent Witness, Close to Home, and the Disney Channel Original Movie A Ring of Endless Light.

Padalecki had an uncredited role as a high school bully in 2003's comedy Cheaper by the Dozen, which he played after being asked by fellow actor and friend Tom Welling, who played the part of Charlie Baker, and the director of the movie, who wanted someone larger than Charlie to pick on him. Padalecki originally auditioned for Welling's role, but gave it up in order to film a pilot titled Young MacGyver which was never picked up.^[5] In 2004, he appeared in the Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen comedy New York Minute as Trey Lipton, a cute boy to whom the Olsens' characters are attracted. He also landed a short role in the thriller Flight of the Phoenix alongside Dennis Quaid and Hugh Laurie. In 2005, Padalecki starred opposite Elisha Cuthbert, Chad Michael Murray and Paris Hilton in the horror film House of Wax in which he plays Wade, one of five teens who are slashed and killed. In the same year, Padalecki appeared in yet another horror film, Cry Wolf in which he played Tom.^[6]

The same year, Padalecki was cast as Sam Winchester on the CW series, Supernatural. Sam and his brother Dean (Jensen Ackles) drive throughout the United States hunting paranormal predators, sometimes with their father (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). The ninth season began broadcast on October 8, 2013 on the CW. The show is filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Padalecki also served as the host of MTV's horror reality series, Room 401 which was discontinued after only 8 episodes due to poor ratings.^[7]

He had the lead role in 2008's The Christmas Cottage, in which he played Thomas Kinkade.

Padalecki also had the lead role in the horror remake Friday the 13th film alongside Danielle Panabaker, which opened on Friday, February 13, 2009. He plays Clay Miller, a character who heads out to the doomed Camp Crystal Lake in search of his sister who has gone missing.^[8]

Personal life

Padalecki married his former Supernatural co-star Genevieve Cortese on February 27, 2010 in Sun Valley, Idaho. He and his wife are currently residing in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.^[9][10] The couple have two sons: Thomas Colton Padalecki, born March 19, 2012.^[11][12][13] and Shepherd Padalecki, born December 22, 2013.^[14]

Filmography

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jared Padalecki.

• Jared Padalecki at the Internet Movie Database
• Interview with Jared Padalecki at SuicideGirls.com
• Jared Padalecki on Twitter