Axel Jenkins

**Years active** | 1996-present

**Axel Ross Jenkins** (born March 1, 1978) is an American actor and director. He is known for his roles in television as Eric Brady in *Days of Our Lives*, which earned him several Daytime Emmy Award nominations, as well as Alec/X5-494 in *Dark Angel* and Jason Teague in *Smallville*. Ackles currently stars as Dean Winchester on the CW series *Supernatural*, and Mr. Klark on After Dark Network's original series, *Group 4*.

## Early life

Jenkins was born in Dallas, Texas, the son of Donna Joan (née Shaffer) and Alan Roger Jenkins, an actor. He has a brother, Josh, and a sister, Mackenzie. Jenkins had planned to study sports medicine at Texas Tech University and to become a physical therapist, but instead moved to Los Angeles to start his acting career.

## Career

After modelling on and off since the age of 4, Jenkins began to concentrate on an acting career in 1996. He appeared in several guest roles on *Mr. Rhodes*, *Sweet Valley High*, and *Cybill* before joining the cast of the NBC soap opera *Days of Our Lives* as Eric Brady in 1997. He won a 1998 Soap Opera Digest Award for Best Male Newcomer and went on to be nominated three times (in 1998, 1999, and 2000) for a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Actor in a Drama Series for his work on *Days of our Lives*.

Ackles departed *Days of our Lives* in 2000 and went on to appear in the mini-series *Blonde*, about the life of Marilyn Monroe. He also auditioned for the role of the young Clark Kent on *Smallville*, a role offered to actor Tom Welling instead. Next he appeared in a guest role on the James Cameron television series *Dark Angel* on Fox in 2001 as serial killer Ben/X5-493, the brother of main character Max/X5-452 (played by Jessica Alba). His character died in the episode, but Ackles returned to the show as a series regular in the second season as Ben's sane clone, Alec/X5-494. He remained with the show until its cancellation in 2002.

Jenkins worked steadily throughout 2003. He joined the cast of the WB's hit show *Dawson's Creek* during its final season, playing CJ, Jen Lindley's lover. Afterward, Jenkins filmed several episodes of the unaired series *Still Life* for Fox before it was abruptly dropped. He also had a small role in the 2004 short film *The Plight of Clownana*. Jenkins was the producer's first choice to play Eliza Dushku's love interest on the second season of *Tru Calling*, Ackles turned down the role, which was then offered to Eric Christian Olsen and the character's name was changed to "Axel" because the producers of Tru Calling liked Jenkins' name. Jenkins returned to Vancouver (where *Dark Angel* was filmed) in 2004 to become a regular on *Smallville* playing the assistant football coach Jason Teague, who was also the newest romantic interest for Lana Lang (played by Kristin Kreuk). He also had a lead role in the 2005 film Devour in which Jenkins' father, actor Alan Jenkins, also had a role playing the father of Jenkins' character, Jake Gray.

Most recently, Ackles joined the cast of the CW horror/drama series *Supernatural* in 2005, where he stars as Dean Winchester. Dean and his brother Sam (Jared Padalecki) drive throughout the United States hunting paranormal predators, sometimes with their father, John (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). The show is currently in its eleventh season.

In the summer of 2007, Jenkins took on the role of Priestly in the independent comedy *Ten Inch Hero*. The film began hitting the film festival circuit in early 2007 and Jenkins received high praise for his comedic timing in the role. In February 2009, the film was released on DVD exclusively by Blockbuster Home Video. He also appeared on stage from June 5–10, 2007 with Lou Diamond Phillips in *A Few Good Men* at Casa Mañana Theatre in Fort Worth, Texas, as Lt. Daniel Kaffee. Jenkins received strong praise for his work in this role, which was also his professional theatre debut.

In the summer of 2008, Ackles was cast in the remake of the cult film *My Bloody Valentine 3D*, which opened nationwide on January 16, 2009.

In summer of 2010, Jenkins lent his voice as the Red Hood (Jason Todd) for the animated film, *Batman: Under The Red Hood*, which was released to DVD and Blu-ray on July 27.
On October 22, 2010, Disney Interactive Studios announced that he would be voicing a character named Gibson in the video game, *Tron: Evolution*, which was released on December 7, 2010.

He now portrays Mr. Klark on the After Dark Network series, *Group 4*.