Name: Monroe Jackson Rathbone V
Nicknames: Jay, J. Action
Date Of Birth: December 14, 1984
Place Of Birth: Singapore
Children: Monroe Jackson Rathbone VI (Born July 5, 2012)
Parents: Jack and Randee Rathbone
Siblings: 3 sisters – Ryann Rathbone, Kelly Garrett Rathbone, Brittney Rathbone

JACKSON RATHBONE was born in Singapore and, because of his father’s job, was lucky enough to be able to live in various countries around the world. Growing up, he lived such places as Medan and Jakarta (Indonesia), London, Connecticut, California, Norway, and Texas, where the family finally settled. Rathbone immediately joined the local community theater and was accepted into the young actors program, The Pickwick Players. In addition to acting, he was very involved in many extracurricular activities, including basketball, track, soccer, baseball and, the pastime of Texas, football. He even started a band and a mobile DJ business (after acting, music is Jackson’s next passion). After trying to juggle so many activities, Jackson decided to stick with what made him the happiest, acting and music.

Rathbone moved to northwest Michigan to attend the prestigious Interlochen Arts Academy as a high school theater major. He grew to appreciate classical theater and flourished in Shakespearean plays. The summer between his junior and senior year, he performed in the Southwest Shakespeare Festival as Ferdinand in “The Tempest.”

Upon graduation from Interlochen, with plans to attend the Royal Scottish Academy as a theater major in the fall, he decided to give Los Angeles and the film industry a try for the summer and signed with manager Patch Mackenzie at Cutler Management, who sent him to study film acting with Jeremiah Comey. In short order, he landed a recurring role on “Disney 411,” interviewing Disney Channel stars, and signed with the Paradigm talent agency.

Opting for a career in film, Jackson decided to stay in L.A. rather than attend the Royal Scottish Academy. He quickly booked several television commercials, along with substantial roles in TV, the Hallmark telefilm “Close to Home” and the series “The O.C.” and “The War at Home” among them. Feature film work followed, in the independent films “Molding Clay” and “Pray for Morning.” He next landed a series regular role in the ABC Family series “Beautiful People”—he was able to keep up his musical pursuits via the internet while filming in Toronto.

Rathbone was chosen by Girls’ Life magazine as “The Hottie” of the month, and was featured in Popstar and ELLEgirl. Usually cast as a leading man, Jackson also enjoys the challenge of character parts, which he had in the features “Big Stan” and “Senior Skip Day.”

After having completed the role of Jasper Hale in the runaway hit features “Twilight” and “New Moon,” along with the lead in the horror film “Dread,” he appeared in guest-starring roles in the series “The Cleaner” and “Criminal Minds.” The following year, he appeared in the third “Twilight” installment, “Eclipse,” again reprising the role of Jasper. Released the same week as “Eclipse”, he also appeared as Sokka in the on-screen adaption of Nickelodeon’s Avatar: “The Last Airbender”. Both films were successes at the box office despite receiving a mixed to negative reviews from critics.

Aside from acting, Jackson has also started a production company with his manager, PatchMo Entertainment. In his off-time from acting, Jackson writes music. He’s performed at The Gardenia in Hollywood and with his band, 100 Monkeys, at clubs like The Mint and The Viper Room around Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Vancouver and all over the country.

In early 2012, both Jackson and Jerad Anderson announced they would be leaving the group.