Jared Padalecki Biography
Summary
"Jared Tristan Padalecki" (born July 19, 1982) is an American actor. He grew up in Texas and came 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 has most recently become known for his starring role as Sam Winchester on the CW television series "Supernatural" starring alongside Jensen Ackles.
Biography
Early life
Padalecki was born in San Antonio, Texas, the son of Sharon L. 'Sherri' (née Kammer), a high school English teacher at East Central High School, and Gerald R. Padalecki (nicknamed Gerry), a tax supervisor and accountant. He is of Polish and other European American ancestry. He has an older brother, Jeff, and a younger sister, Megan. He started taking acting classes at the age of 12.
School
He attended James Madison High School in San Antonio and was named a candidate for the 2000 Presidential Scholars Program. In 1998, Padalecki and his partner Chris Cardenas won the National Forensic League national championship in Duo Interpretation. Padalecki won FOX's 1999 'Claim to Fame Contest'; he subsequently appeared at the Teen Choice Awards, where he met his current manager. 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.
Career
Padalecki's first credit was a minor role in the 1999 film "A Little Inside". In 2000, he was cast as Dean Forester on the successful 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 "A Ring of Endless Light".
Padalecki (right) with his " co-star in 2008
Padalecki had an uncredited part 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 both wanted someone bigger than Welling 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. In 2004, he appeared in the Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen comedy "New York Minute", and also had a role in the thriller "Flight of the Phoenix". In 2005, Padalecki stars opposite Elisha Cuthbert, Chad Michael Murray and Paris Hilton in the horror film "House of Wax", and appeared in another horror film, "Cry Wolf". The same year, Padalecki was cast as Sam Winchester on the WB series, "Supernatural". The second season of "Supernatural" began airing on September 28, 2006 on the CW, with the third beginning on October 4, 2007 and the fourth on September 18, 2008. The show is filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Padalecki also served as the host of MTV's horror reality series, "Room 401".
He appeared in 2008's "The Christmas Cottage", in which he played Thomas Kinkade.
Padalecki had the lead role in the new "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.
External links
(Interview with Jared Padalecki) at SuicideGirls.com
Credit
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article about Jared Padalecki.
