Jesse Spencer

Jesse Gordon Spencer (born 12 February 1979) is an Australian actor.

Biography

Early life and education

Jesse Spencer was born in Melbourne, Australia. He has two brothers, Tarney (an oculo-plastic surgeon) and Luke (an orthopaedic surgeon), and a sister, Polly (currently an intern in medicine). His father Rodney Spencer is a general practitioner, who along with his wife, Robyn, founded the right-wing political party, Australians Against Further Immigration. Spencer attended Canterbury Primary School, Malvern Central School and Scotch College. Whilst at Scotch he auditioned for the long-running soap opera, Neighbours. He continued to work toward his VCE qualification whilst working on the show and graduated in 1997. He has also revealed in a magazine interview that he was once roommates with James McAvoy when he was living in London in his early twenties.

Career

Spencer is well known in Australia and the UK as Billy Kennedy in the Australian soap opera Neighbours, a role he played for six years from 1994 to 2000. He has since appeared in the drama Death in Holy Orders, as well as the films, Uptown Girls and Swimming Upstream. He is now based in the United States playing the role of Dr. Robert Chase in House, alongside Hugh Laurie in the title role. Jesse also co-starred with former fiancée Jennifer Morrison in the film Flourish.

Personal life

Spencer became engaged to House co-star Jennifer Morrison on 23 December 2006, after proposing in Paris. According to an interview with Spencer and Morrison in InStyle Weddings, the couple met in March 2004 at Vancouver International Airport where they were on their way to film the first episode of House before they began dating in July 2004. Morrison and Spencer also revealed that they were to marry on a private estate in Los Angeles later in 2007. However, in August 2007, the couple announced that they had called off their engagement ^[1]. Spencer has played the violin since the age of ten and also plays the guitar and piano. He is also a fan of Battlestar Galactica, according to a magazine interview.

Awards

Spencer received a "Golden Boomerang" Award by Australians in Film at the 2nd Australians in Film Breakthrough Awards on 11 May, 2006, for his work on House, alongside Jacinda Barrett, James Wan and Leigh Whannell ^[2]. In 2007, he was included in People Magazine's 100 Most Beautiful People issue.

Filmography

• Neighbours (1994–2000), Billy Kennedy
• Lorna Doone (2000), Marwood de Whichehalse
• Curse of the Talisman (2001), Jeremy Campbell
• Winning London (2001), James Browning
• Stranded (2002), Fritz Robinson
• Fear Itself (2002), Pilot
• Swimming Upstream (2003), Tony Fingleton
• Uptown Girls (2003), Neal Fox
• Death in Holy Orders (2003), Raphael Arbuthnot
• House (2004–present), Dr. Robert Chase
• Flourish (2006), Eddie Gator

References

External links

• Jesse Spencer at the Internet Movie Database
• Jesse Spencer at TV.com
• Official website