Jackson was born on June 11, 1978, in Vancouver to parents John and Fiona. His mother is a casting director. Jackson's father is from Texas,[3] and his mother is a native of Ballyfermot, a surburb of Dublin, Ireland. She immigrated to North America in the late 1960s. He has a younger sister, Aisleagh, and two older half brothers, Jonathan and Lyman.[4] He was raised Roman Catholic.[5][6]
Jackson lived in California until the age of 8. He moved to Vancouver with his mother and younger sister. He attended Ideal Mini School and later switched to Kitsilano Secondary School. He attended high school with actor Ryan Reynolds.[7]
Jackson started acting in a small role in the film Crooked Hearts in 1991. The next year, he played the role of Charlie in a musical version of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. At this point, with the help of the play's casting director Laura Kennedy, he joined the William Morris Agency.[8] Soon after, he landed the role of Charlie (#96) in The Mighty Ducks series, playing a young and aspiring hockey player.
From 2008 to 2013, Jackson played the lead role of Peter Bishop in the science-fiction series Fringe,[13] created by J. J. Abrams, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman.[14] The series was the second-highest rated new show of the 2008–2009 season after The Mentalist. BuddyTV ranked him #9 on its "TV's 100 Sexiest Men of 2010" list,[15] #19 in 2011[16] and #14 in 2012.[17]
Jackson was nominated for a Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for the film One Week.[18] He won the award on April 12, 2010.[19] He held and hosted the satirical Pacey-Con in 2010, directly across the street from the Comic-Con, sporting a bowling shirt and giving out fan fiction, written by Dawson's Creek fans, to those waiting in the Comic-Con entrance line. Footage of the event was recorded for a video, entitled 'Pacey-Con', which he was filming for Will Ferrell's Funny or Die celebrity humor website.[20] In 2013, Jackson appeared in the IFC film Inescapable with Marisa Tomei and Alexander Siddig.[21] Jackson wrote the first story from the comic book trilogy Beyond the Fringe, titled "Peter and the Machine".[22] Jackson starred in the successful television show The Affair, where he played Cole Lockhart, the protagonist husband of the unfaithful Alison Lockhart.[23]
In March 2018, Jackson made his theatrical debut on Broadway in Children of a Lesser God, where he played James Leeds, an unconventional teacher at a school for the deaf who gets in a conflicted professional and romantic relationship with a deaf former student, Sarah Norman (Lauren Ridloff). The play ran through May 2018.[24]
In 2019, Jackson starred as defense attorney Mickey Joseph in the miniseries When They See Us.[25]
Jackson was cast as Dr. Christopher Duntsch, a neurosurgeon who was convicted of intentionally maiming his patient, in Dr. Death which was based on the podcast of the same name, replacing Jamie Dornan.[27]
In 2023, Jackson played the lead in the series Fatal Attraction with Lizzy Caplan, inspired by the 1980s thriller film of the same name.[28]
Jackson was in a relationship with Dawson's Creek co-star Katie Holmes during the first two seasons of the show's run. Holmes said that Jackson was her first love.[29]
From 2006 to 2016, he was in a relationship with German actress Diane Kruger.[30]
Jackson began a relationship with British actress Jodie Turner-Smith in 2018. They married on August 18, 2019.
On April 13, 2020, the couple welcomed their daughter.[31][32] In October 2023, it was revealed that Turner-Smith had filed for divorce from Jackson.[33]
In December 2023, Jackson and fellow actor Lupita Nyong'o confirmed they are dating.[34] In October 2024, Nyong'o announced they were no longer together.[35]
Jackson owns his childhood home in Topanga, California.[36] He previously lived in Wilmington, North Carolina, where Dawson's Creek was filmed, and in New York City, where Fringe filmed its first season. In 2009, he moved back to Vancouver to shoot four seasons of the show before the last episode was aired on January 18, 2013.
^"Late Night with Conan O'Brien", Joshua Jackson interview May 14, 2002 (Joshua Jackson answers the Conan O'Brien question about fans websites; "Yeah, you know, I'm Irish Catholic, I have a lot of family members, that's a lot of websites.") Retrieved on April 23, 2010.
^Slotek, Jim (May 28, 2003). "Mighty Canuck". Canoe.ca. Archived from the original on February 2, 2014. Retrieved February 1, 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
Canadian Film Awards 1968–1978, Genie Awards 1980-2011, Canadian Screen Awards 2012–present. Separate awards were presented by gender prior to 2022; a single unified category for best performance regardless of gender has been presented since.
