Justin Chambers

Justin Willman Chambers (born July 11, 1970) is an American actor and former fashion model,^[2] known for his role as Dr. Alex Karev in the ABC medical drama series Grey's Anatomy.

Early life

Chambers was born in Springfield, Ohio, the son of Pamela Sue (Willman) and John William Eugene Chambers II.^[1][3] He has a fraternal twin brother named Jason, one older brother John Jr. (Chip), and two older sisters, Mia and Susan. He and his twin brother visited hospitals often as children due to frequent bouts with pneumonia.^[4] He attended Southeastern High School in South Charleston, Ohio, and later Springfield Clark JVS.

Career

Chambers was discovered by a modeling scout on the Paris Metro and went on to represent Calvin Klein in a fragrance campaign. He worked throughout Europe, Japan, and the United States for Calvin Klein, Armani, and Dolce & Gabbana.^[5] After deciding on an acting career, he moved to New York, where he studied at the HB Studio.^[2] Studios and Ron Stetson Studios for four years. That landed him a few television roles, including recurring role in soap opera Another World as Nicholas Hudson, and New York Undercover. In 1998 he was cast as series regular in the short-lived CBS primetime soap opera Four Corners. Chambers also appeared in several television movies, such as Harvest of Fire, Rose Hill, and Seasons of Love

Chambers starred in several movies, notably Liberty Heights (1999, as Trey, alongside Adrien Brody),The Wedding Planner (2001, as Massimo, alongside Jennifer Lopez), The Musketeer (2001) Southern Belles (2005), The Zodiac (2005), and the HBO original movie Hysterical Blindness (2002). In 2003, Chambers was cast as one of the leads in the CBS crime drama Cold Case but left after appearing in only four episodes.

In August, 2004, Chambers was cast as surgical intern Alex Karev in Shonda Rhimes's medical drama series Grey's Anatomy, opposite Ellen Pompeo, Sandra Oh, Katherine Heigl, and T. R. Knight.^[6] In 2006, along with other cast members, he was awarded a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series.^[2] In 2009, he also guest-starred on the Grey's Anatomy spin-off, Private Practice, for the Grey's Anatomy/Private Practice crossover event.^[7]

Personal life

In 1993, he married Keisha Chambers, a former model agency booker; they have five children together:^[5] Isabella (b. December 1994), twins Maya and Kaila (b. June 1997), Eva (b. March 1999) and Jackson (b. January 2002). In late January 2008, Chambers admitted that he suffered from a biological sleep disorder. The actor checked himself into Los Angeles's UCLA Medical Center to treat exhaustion due to the sleep disorder after a period of getting only two hours of sleep each week.^[8]

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Justin Chambers.

• Justin Chambers at the Internet Movie Database