Date of Birth

19 December 1982, San Antonio, Texas, USA

Birth Name

Jared Tristan Padalecki

Nickname

Jare
J-Rod
Moose
Jerry

Height

6' 5½" (1.97 m)

Mini Biography

Jared Padalecki was born in San Antonio, Texas, to Sherri (Kammer), a teacher of English, and Gerald Padalecki, a tax accountant. He is of Polish (father) and German, English, Scottish, and French (mother) descent. Jared started to take acting lessons when he was 12. Then, he won the "Claim to Fame" Contest in 1999 and got to appear on the Teen Choice awards. Jared lived in San Antonio, Texas and attended James Madison High School. He was named a candidate for the year 2000 Presidential Scholars Program. After graduating in the year 2000, he moved to Los Angeles, California to pursue an acting career. He played "Dean Forester" on Gilmore Girls (2000) on the WB starting in 2000 and ending in 2005. From 2005 to 2020, he portrayed "Sam Winchester" on the CW's Supernatural (2005). He also has several feature film credits.

Trivia

• Has the same manager as Freddie Prinze Jr..
• Won Fox TV's "Claim To Fame" Contest and got to present at the 1999 Teen Choice Awards.
• Has been taking acting classes since he was 12.
• Graduated from James Madison High School in 2000.
• Older brother is named Jeff, younger sister is named Megan.
• Born in 1982, he is the youngest cast member of the TV series Gilmore Girls (2000), approximately a year younger than Alexis Bledel.
• Has two dogs.
• Was considered for the role of Superman/Clark Kent in the proposed relaunch of the Superman film franchise.
• He is four years younger than his TV older brother, Jensen Ackles. They are real life best friends.
• He and classmate Chris Cardeans together won the National Forensics League national championship in Duo Interpretation in 1998.
• He and his Supernatural (2005) co-star Jensen Ackles were voted People Magazine's "Sexiest Ghostbusters" in 2005.
• His father is of Polish descent. His mother has German, Scottish, French, and English ancestry.
• One of his rivals on Gilmore Girls (2000) was Tristan. Tristan is his actual middle name.
• His mother Sherri was an English teacher at East Central High School in San Antonio, the same school attended by, Henry Thomas.
• Was engaged to long-term girlfriend Sandra McCoy and proposed in Paris while on holiday during the writers strike (October 2007-March 2008). However, in June 2008 at the "Supernatural" Dallas convention, he announced that they were no longer engaged or together.
• He and former Supernatural (2005) recurring guest star Genevieve Padalecki were married on February 27, 2010, in her hometown of Sun Valley, ID. Jensen Ackles, who plays "Dean Winchester", the older brother to Jared's character "Sam Winchester" on Supernatural (2005), was one of the groomsmen. Jared's real-life older brother, Jeff Padalecki, was best man.
• Had his first son with wife Genevieve Padalecki. named Thomas Colton Padalecki, who was born on March 19, 2012.
• Known on sets for his love of playing pranks on his co-stars.
• An exceptionally skilled chess player.
• Had the same speech coach in high school as Matt Bomer.
• On the set of Cheaper by the Dozen (2003) he met Tom Welling, who played Clark Kent on Smallville (2001). Before the start of Supernatural (2005), his co-star Jensen Ackles also played on "Smallville".
• Was a final candidate for the role of Clark Kent/Superman in McG's abandoned reboot. One of his rivals for the part was Henry Cavill, who was cast before it was scrapped and got to play the role in Man of Steel (2013).
• Both he and his Supernatural (2005) co-star Jensen Ackles are natives of Texas.
• His second son with wife Genevieve Padalecki was born on the evening of 22 December 2013 at home and was named Austin Shepard Padalecki.
• Tried out for Clark Kent/Superman in Superman Returns (2006), Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) and Conan in Conan the Barbarian (2011).
• He and Supernatural (2005) co-star Misha Collins both use sign language with their children. At the 2012 Salute to "Supernatural" convention in New Jersey, the two joked about their reactions to Signing Time! (2002) and "Baby Signing Time".
• Was enrolled as a freshman at the University of Texas at Austin. When he got a job working on Gilmore Girls (2000), he dropped out of school.
• Became a father for the third time at age 34 when his wife Genevieve Padalecki gave birth to their daughter Odette Elliott Padalecki on March 17, 2017.

Trademarks:

• Mole
  
• Triangular nose
  
• Sideburns
  
• Puppy dog eyes
  
• Deep baritone voice
  
• Towering height
  

Quotes

• [on the happiest place on earth] Anywhere I can be with my family.
• [his superstitions] Whenever I drive under a yellow light, I always kiss my finger and tap it on the roof of the car. And I do that when I get onto a plane as well!
• [on what scares him the most] I'm so happy with my family, my career and my friends, and I'd like for them to be here forever, so I guess loss is what scares me the most.
• I'm a little self-conscious about my body. I love to wear hoodies because you can get cozy and eat some food and your belly doesn't show!
• [on love] Don't place expectations on someone. Enjoy the time you have together, and let it go where it goes.
• I love cookies baking. During the winter, they have these candles that smell like cookies, and I always buy like a hundred of them.
• Just be yourself and the right guy will come along, whether it be today, tomorrow, or next year. It'll happen!
• [on battling depression] I, in the past, have had my own struggles of not [being] so happy with where I am in life, which is strange and I think it goes to show . . . maybe a lot of people don't know this, but Season 3 [of Supernatural (2005)], we were shooting an episode, and I went back to my trailer to get changed and just kind of broke down. A doctor came to set and talked to me for about 30 minutes or 45 minutes and said, "Jared, I think you're clinically depressed. I think I should write you a note and we can shut down production for five days and then we can take it from there . . . I say constantly that there's no shame in dealing with these things . . . there's no shame in having to fight every day, but fighting every day, and presumably, if you're still alive to hear these words or read this interview, then you are winning your war. You're here.