Jensen posing for the camera in his younger days.

The Child Model
Before Jensen became an actor, he was actually a child model between the ages two to four, and then went back to it at the age of 10. Jensen’s former modelling career was quite the source of embarrassment for him when he was at school. “When I was in middle school, some of my so-called friends found a catalogue ad I did for Superman pyjamas. They made as many copies as they could and pasted them up all over the school,” Jensen told Teen People magazine.

Jensen's High School Graduation Picture

The Former Kleptomaniac
A while back, when in London promoting the Supernatural DVDs, Jensen did admit to being a bit of a thief in his younger days. “A few buddies and I used to sneak into dark alleys and break windows to steal stuff. One time we stole a bunch of tennis rackets and other tennis equipment,” he told a Norwegian magazine.

Jensen and LeAnn Rimes on Days Of Our Lives

The Former Soap Star
Although there’s sometimes a disdain towards soap stars, Jensen joins the few elite who have broken away from soap operas and made it to the big leagues. Stars such as Ryan Phillippe, Amanda Seyfried, Justin Hartley, Jesse Metcalfe, all got their big breaks on soap operas. In 1997 Jensen got his big break on Days of Our Lives as Eric Brady, the twin brother to the duplicitous Sami Brady. During his stint on Days of Our Lives , Jensen was nominated three times for a Daytime Emmy Award, and also won the Soap Opera Digest Award for Outstanding Newcomer in 1998. So it’s safe to say Days of Our Lives was an excellent stepping stone for Jensen.

Jensen and Kristin Kreuk as Jason Teague and Lana Lang on Smallville

From Supporting Cast to Leading Man
After leaving Days Of Our Lives, it would still be sometime before Jensen would make it big. Making the leap from daytime soap operas to primetime television isn’t always easy and to begin with, Jensen had guest roles on shows such as Sweet Valley High and Mr Rhodes , as well as the mini-series Blonde , a biopic about Marilyn Monroe. Jensen became a bit more recognized with more extended guest roles on shows such as Dark Angel where Jensen played Alec in season two, and Dawson’s Creek , where Jensen played CJ during season six. Jensen finally got a bit more recognition when he joined

Jensen as CJ on Dawson's Creek

the cast of Smallville in season four, playing Lana Lang’s new love interest Jason Teague. “I’ve been so fortunate to be teamed up with Jensen Ackles as Jason Teague. It’s been wonderful to work with him. Jensen is positive, confident, and a very good actor. He has this ability to keep things really fresh and interesting and there’s a lot of good chemistry between us,” said Kristin Kreuk [Lana] to SFX magazine, when Jensen joined the Smallville cast. Ironically, Jensen auditioned for the role of Clark Kent but lost out to Tom Welling. Yet it wasn’t until he finally got the role of Dean Winchester on Supernatural , that Jensen finally got to step out of the shadows of supporting character roles and become a leading man. In fact, at the time that he got the role, Jensen still had one more year left on his contract with Smallville , so Smallville writers had to find a way to write Jensen’s character Jason Teague, out earlier and thus the good guy went bad.

Jensen as Dean Winchester in Season 1 through 4 of "Supernatural"

Hailing from Texas, Jensen is quite the chivalrous gentleman.

The Texan Gentleman
Hailing from Dallas, Texas, Jensen is a true Southern gentleman. “Jensen is a really great actor. It would have been interesting to see him in the role of Clark Kent. He really knows how to take care of the other actor. Typically you only see that in much older actors,” says Annette O’Toole who played Martha Kent on Smallville . Jensen himself says “I’m just an old fashioned guy,” and admits to being a true gentlemen and opening doors for females when in a restraint. “I still believe in chivalry,” he told Bop magazine.

What keeps Jensen grounded is his family.

The Family Guy
Family plays a very important role in Jensen’s life, and the cause he most believes in is a strong family foundation. His parents are Donna and Alan, who is an actor. “I have great parents,” Jensen said to Bop magazine. “I’m so lucky to have them.” Jensen also has an older brother named Joshua, and a younger sister named Mackenzie.

Jensen may have missed out on life experiences such as college but through acting, Jensen has learnt just as valuable life experiences.

Making the Most Out of Life
The life of an actor isn’t always an easier one. Even when you make it big there are certain things that you have to give up. When Jensen was offered the role of Eric Brady on Days of Our Lives, it meant giving up the experience of going to college. Luckily for Jensen, his philosophy in life allowed him to see things with a great perspective. On his experience with acting, Jensen says “What I enjoy most is travelling to different places and meeting new people. For me, it’s all about life experiences, and I’m very grateful that acting allows me so many interesting and fulfilling ones.”

The Believer
Just like how he makes the most out of the opportunities he’s been given, Jensen is also a firm believer in things happening for a reason and believing in his work. “Every role I chose to audition for I really want it... if I didn’t want it, I wouldn’t try for it,” he says. Jensen is also religious and lets those beliefs guide him as well. “I consider myself a non-denominational Christian. I grew up in a Bible church and still hold those beliefs very close to me,” says Jensen.

Jensen is all about embracing your fear and facing the unknown.

The Fearless Wonder
Jensen also believes in making the most out of life and not wasting it. “I used to be scared of uncertainty; now I get a high out of it,” says Jensen. For Jensen, the best way to make the best outn of life is to overcome any fears you may have. “I can’t think of a specific phobia. I’m not scared of heights, drowning, or flying. If something does scare me then it pisses me off so I want to figure out why and I want to overcome it,” he told AXM magazine.

...Jensen and Jared onscreen. ...Jensen and Jared offscreen.

Brothers On and Off
They may play brothers on screen, but off-screen, Jensen and Jared Padalecki are just as close. They also live together. “We’re pretty similar. We have similar interests and similar hobbies, and we’re both pretty laid-back guys. We take our work very seriously. We like to work on our characters and like to have a good time and like to keep the mood on the set fun. And we just got – we just clicked,” says Jared Padalecki. “Jared and I are lucky to get along so well without having any effort to make. One day, the producers came to see us and told us they had never worked with actors who got along so well. It gives us the opportunity to make the relationship between Sam and Dean have credibility. I think the audience feels how much Jared and I like being together,” says Jensen.

Jensen is all about action when it comes to filming Supernatural.

The Action Man
Being on Supernatural and chasing and kicking demon butt means that there’s a lot of action and stunts involved, but for Jensen who estimates that he does 95% of his own stunts, that’s the highlight of his job. “They’ll [producers] usually let me do it, unless it’s big stuff like a wire-jump off a building – that could be a catastrophe. But Jared [Padalecki] and I would rather have a day of action than a day of two brothers sitting in a motel room pouring their hearts out,” Jensen told TV Guide magazine.

Jensen as Priestly in Ten Inch Hero.

The Movie Star
Jensen has mainly worked in TV, but did star in the straight to DVD movie Devour , as well as showing his comedic skills in the independent film Ten Inch Hero , in which Jensen played the smart mouthed and Mohawk wearing Priestly. Set for release in upcoming weeks, the horror remake My Bloody Valentine 3-D , which also stars Jamie King and Kerr Smith, will finally see Jensen up on the big screen commercially. In the film, Jensen plays Tom Hanniger, an inexperienced coal miner who caused an accident in the tunnels that trapped and killed five men and sent the only survivor, Harry Warden, into a permanent

Jensen in My Bloody Valentine 3-D.

coma. Exactly one year later, on Valentines’ Day, Warden woke up and murdered 22 people with a pickaxe before he was killed. 10 years later, Hanniger returns to town, haunted by the deaths he caused and grappling with the past. At this time, a crazed killer is on the loose, hacking people to death with a miner’s mask and pickaxe. Could Harry Warden be alive and out for revenge? There is much anticipation about this film with its cutting-edge 3-D projection and effects.

You can take the boy out of Texas, but you can't take the Texas out of the boy - Jensen's dream role would be as a cowboy in a Western film.

The Aspiring Cowboy
Jensen’s dream role would be in a Western film. “When I saw six, I used to wear my leather belt with two plastic colts and I walked all around the house playing cowboy,” says Jensen.

The Hidden Musician
Music-wise, Jensen says he’s a fan of singer song-writers and admits “I have a buddy of mine who’s a musician and I play the guitar and sing quite a bit with him.”

Jensen in A Few Good Men.

The Theatre Star
In 2007, Jensen starred in the theatre adaptation of the film A Few Good Men, alongside Lou Diamond Phillips. The production, where Jensen played Daniel Kaffee, originated by Tom Cruise in the film, was performed in Jensen’s home state of Texas. At the time, Jensen commented on filling Tom Cruise’s shoes to Star-Telegram : “My biggest trepidation is finding my own take on it. I’m so familiar with the movie that when I’m reading the lines, I keep hearing the movie’s version in my head. Trying to shake that out of my head and bringing my own take to the role is going to be my biggest challenge.” This wasn’t the first time that Jensen had performed in theatre, as he was involved in a few productions during high school. In fact it was his high school theatre work that made Jensen realise how much he enjoyed acting.

The Sports Fanatic

Jensen loves his sports.

Jensen is quite the sports fanatic. His favourite sport to watch is basketball, while his favourite sport to play is soccer. His teams are the Cowboys and the Dallas Mavericks. Jensen would love to play Tiger Woods in a movie one day so he can be paid just to play golf. Jensen introduced Supernatural co-star Jared Padalecki, to the sport and also used to play with former Smallville co-stars Tom Welling [Clark] and Michael Rosenbaum [Lex]. In high school, Jensen played on the baseball and lacrosse teams. During lunch breaks on the Supernatural set, Jensen and the crew sometimes play street sometimes play street hockey. Other sports that Jensen has tried include surfing, snowboarding, and horse riding. Being the sports fanatic that he is, if Jensen wasn’t an actor he would have studied sports medicine.

The Sex Symbol

Women everywhere may swoon over him, but the title 'sex symbol' makes Jensen uncomfortable.

He makes females around the world swoon, and with his handsome looks it’s no wonder why! “Jensen has that ‘nice Texan boy’ look, the handsome quarterback you’d love to go to prom with. He and jared get along like brothers. They have the same sense of humour. They’re both so fit, the on-set gym follows them wherever they go. Jensen has flawless skin – even if he hasn’t slept the night before. It makes me jealous!” says Nicki Aycox, who has appeared alongside Jensen in Supernatural . However the man himself told YM Magazine “I’m not Mr. debanoir Suave...I’m just a regular boy who goofs around, pulls pranks, makes jokes. That doesn’t sound very hot to me.” Besides, Jensen is already taken – he’s been dating his Ten Inch Hero co-star Daneel Harris, for quite some time now.

Keeping It Real

Jensen Ackles - Keeping It Real

Jensen says that his greatest fear is changing who he is and becoming “too Hollywood”. Jensen prefers just to keep it low- key and be a homebody. “Some people will go to the opening of an envelope. They live their lives in the public eye and get off on it, they need it. They need that kind of adoration. If their name isn’t in the tabloids once a week they feel like a failure. I choose to live a more private life, as does Jared. We just don’t believe in that sort of thing of ‘ it doesn’t matter what they’re saying so long as they’re talking about you,” he told AXM Magazine.

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