Jonathan Jackson

Best known to viewers as free-spirited Lucky Spencer on the daytime soap "General Hospital" (1963-), award-winning child actor Jonathan Jackson left the star-making soap and successfully segued into the world of feature films, including "The Deep End of the Ocean" (1999) and "Tuck Everlasting" (2002).

Born in Orlando, FL on May 11, 1982, to parents Rick, a doctor with a private practice, and his mother, Jeanine, a homemaker, Jackson spent his early childhood in Florida before the family relocated to the Vancouver, WA area. When Jackson was nine years old, he and his family vacationed at Universal Studios in Hollywood, which prompted the youth to contemplate a career in show business. With his older brother Richard already checking out the show biz scene, Jackson and his mother soon followed him to L.A. After landing a few commercials, Jackson beat out hundreds of hopefuls in 1993 to land the role of a lifetime - the son of Luke and Laura Spencer, played by soap icons Anthony Geary and Genie Francis, who were returning to "General Hospital" after a nine-year absence.

Jackson's Lucky was paired on "GH" in a pre-teen love story with young Emily Quartermaine, played by future "Joan of Arcadia" star Amber Tamblyn. The young actor developed an immediate bond with his co-stars and remains close with Geary to this day. The youth showed that he had the acting chops to work alongside his famous TV parents by earning his first Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Younger Leading Actor in 1995.

As Jackson grew older, the writers provided him with more adult material. When the soap's scribes revisited the controversial storyline in which Luke raped Laura back in the late 1970s, Lucky was thrown into the forefront of it as the teen grappled with, not only his father's long ago crime against his mother, but the sexual attack on his girlfriend Liz as well. Jackson was so identified with the role he had played since childhood, that when the actor opted to leave the show in 1999, the writers did not recast Lucky for a year so that viewers would be more willing to accept his successor (Jacob Young) in the role.

Jackson left the serial after five years (working 48 weeks per year at the end of his tenure) and began branching into feature films. He was considered for the role of young Anankin Skywalker in "Star Wars: Attack of the Clones," but the part went to Hayden Christensen. Instead, Jackson landed the role of Michelle Pfeiffer's troubled teenage son in "The Deep End of the Ocean" (1999) and as a young man who spirals into drug abuse in the ABC movie "Trapped in a Purple Haze" (2000).

Post-soaps, Jackson moved on to regular work in feature films, appearing most notably as young Jesse Tuck in Disney's family-oriented adaptation of Natalie Babbitt's enduring children's classic. Jackson beat out dozens of other hopefuls for the role when director Jay Russell was impressed by the timeless quality of his performance. His other work included the independent feature "True Rights" (2000), which co-starred his brother Richard Lee, the film "Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights" (2004) and the TV movie "A Little Thing Called Murder" (2006), co-starring Judy Davis.

A singer as well as an actor, Jackson formed a band called "Enation" (whose previous incarnations were "Jono and the Rock," "Scarlet River" and "Scarlet Road.") whose songs were often played on "GH" during his tenure on the legendary soap.