Justin Bruening

Infobox actor
name = Justin Bruening
birthname = Justin S. Bruening


birthdate = birthdate and age|1979|9|24
spouse = Alexa Havins (2005-present)

Justin Bruening is an American actor and former fashion model. In 2003, his acting career began when he was cast in the role of Jamie Martin on the daytime drama "All My Children", earning him a Soap Opera Digest Award in 2005 for the portrayal.

In late 2007, not long after leaving the role, Bruening was cast as Mike Traceur, the son of character Michael Knight, a new take on the original "Knight Rider" series.cite news |title=A familiar road to 'Knight'|publisher="The Hollywood Reporter"|accessdate=2007-11-02|url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3ia9c51f5ef29150aaddf737e574e01730]

Early life

Justin Bruening was born on September 24 1979 in Chadron, Nebraska.cite web| title=Soap Star Stats: Justin Bruening (Jamie, AMC)|publisher=soapoperadigest.com|accessdate=2007-09-15|url=http://soapoperadigest.com/soapstarstats/justinbrueningbio/] Raised in the small town of
St. Helena, Nebraska (a then-population of 85), he graduated from high school with only nine classmates.cite web| title=About the Actors: Justin Bruening|publisher=soapcentral.com|accessdate=2007-09-15|url=http://www.soapcentral.com/amc/theactors/bruening.php]

Following graduation, Bruening moved to San Diego, California. It was there that he was discovered by Sue Nessel, a talent scout for Scott Copeland International, at McDonald's in Escondido just north of San Diego. Soon there after, Copeland got him his first modeling job for Abercrombie & Fitch.

Career

Following his first commercial job, Bruening was encouraged to study acting by Copeland and was noticed by "All My Children" casting director Judy Wilson. Bruening originally auditioned for the role of J.R. Chandler on "All My Children", but was eventually cast in the role of James "Jamie" Martin in July 2003. For a brief time, in 2004 and 2005, Bruening also portrayed Jamie Martin on "All My Children" during a crossover storyline.

During his role of Jamie, Bruening was featured as "Daytime's Hottest Star" in "Teen People", "Us Weekly", "Star" and "J-14" magazines.cite news| title=Original 2003 to mid 2008 Cast Bios: Justin Bruening|publisher=abc.go.com|accessdate=2007-09-15] In addition to his work on soap operas, Bruening has had a guest appearance on "Hope & Faith" and a small part in the film "Fat Girls".

He was up for the role of Superman in "Superman Returns", but the part was won by Brandon Routh instead.cite web| first=Mala| last=Bhattacharjee |title=AZ You Like It|publisher=soapoperadigest.com|accessdate=2007-09-06|url=http://www.soapoperadigest.com/features/atwt/interviews/chandoroerig//]

He also appeared in the Britney Spears music video "Boys".

On November 2 2007, it was announced that he would be starring in a new rendition of the original "Knight Rider" series, portraying the original Knight Rider's son, Mike Traceur, for a two-hour film on NBC, the original having been portrayed by actor David Hasselhoff. Entertainment newspaper " cquote|...the choice of Bruening closely resembles Hasselhoff's casting a quarter-century ago.

Like Bruening, Hasselhoff was a soap star ("The Young and the Restless") with few other credits when he landed "Knight Rider." He was almost the same age as Bruening...

NBC decided after successful ratings for the film to continue the story as a series, and commissioned an official series for its debut for the 2008-2009 television season. [cite web|url=http://www.variety.com/VR1117983169.html|title=NBC offers escape with new slate|publisher="Variety"]

Gary Scott Thompson has been brought on to showrun [cite web|url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i6e3ee63e14562801115567c8b5d3a696|title=Knight Rider' gets showrunner|publisher="Hollywood Reporter"] and is commited to two years. [cite web|url=http://shadowyflight.com/news/2008/04/exclusive-interview-with-gary-scott-thompson.php|title=Exclusive Interview with Gary Scott Thompson - Part 2|publisher="Shadowy Flight"] Filming on the season began June 23, [cite web|url=http://shadowyflight.com/news/2008/06/principal-photography-on-knigh.php|title=principal photography on knight rider 2008 begins in two weeks|publisher="Shadowy Flight"] for a September 24 premiere. [cite web|url=http://www.knightrideronline.com/news/2008/04/knight_rider_wednesdays_at_8pm.php|title=Knight Rider - Wednesdays at 8pm|publisher=Knight Rider Online]

Personal life

Bruening proposed to former "All My Children" co-star Alexa Havins on the set of the soap opera. They were married on June 5, 2005. The two were friends first before becoming romantically involved.cite news | title=Chatterbox: AMC's Justin Bruening Answers Your Questions | date=2007-02-13 | publisher= "Soap Opera Weekly"| page = 28 ] After Bruening left "All My Children", Havins exited shortly after and the couple moved to Los Angeles.

In his spare time, Bruening collects Converse All-Star sneakers, and has 15 or 16 pairs. He says that he TiVos NBC show "Heroes", along with Showtime's "Dexter", The CW's "Smallville", and NBC's "Las Vegas".cite news | title=Culture Club | date=2007-02-27 | publisher= "Soap Opera Weekly"| page = 22 ]

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* [http://www.justinbruening.com/ Justin Bruening | The official Website]
*imdb name|id=1472010|name=Justin Bruening
* [http://www.soapcentral.com/amc soap.central.com]
* [http://abc.go.com/daytime/allmychildren Official ABC Page]