Jared Tristan Padalecki (born July 19, 1982) is an American actor. He grew up in Texas and came to fame in the early 2000s after appearing on the television series Gilmore Girls as well as in several Hollywood films, including New York Minute and House of Wax. Padalecki is best known for his role as Sam Winchester on the CW television series Supernatural. Padalecki was born in San Antonio, Texas. He is of Polish ancestry on his father's side. He has an older brother, Jeff, and a younger sister, Megan. He started taking acting classes at the age of 12. He attended James Madison High School in San Antonio and was named a candidate for the 2000 Presidential Scholars Program. In 1998, Padalecki and his partner Chris Cardenas won the National Forensic League national championship in Duo Interpretation. Padalecki won FOX's 1999 "Claim to Fame Contest"; he subsequently appeared at the Teen Choice Awards, where he met his current manager. After graduating from high school in 2000, he moved to Los Angeles, California to pursue an acting career, although he had originally planned to attend the University of Texas. Padalecki's first credit was a minor role in the 1999 film A Little Inside. In 2000, he was cast as Dean Forester on the successful series Gilmore Girls, a role he played until 2005. Throughout the early 2000s, he also appeared in several made-for-television films, including Silent Witness, Close to Home, and the Disney Channel Original Movie A Ring of Endless Light. Padalecki had an uncredited part as a high school bully in 2003's comedy Cheaper by the Dozen, which he played after being asked by fellow actor and friend Tom Welling, who played the part of Charlie Baker, and the director of the movie, who wanted someone bigger than Charlie to pick on him.

Padalecki originally auditioned for Welling's role, but gave it up in order to film a pilot titled Young MacGyver which was never picked up. In 2002,Padalecki was cast in the Disney Channel Original Movie A Ring of Endless Light alongside Ryan Merriman in which he plays Zachary Grey a teen who vies for his classmate's attention.In 2004, he appeared in the Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen comedy New York Minuteas Trey Lipton a cute boy who the Olson's characters are attracted to.He also landed a short role in the thriller Flight of the Phoenix alongside Dennis Quaid and Hugh Laurie. In 2005, Padalecki starred opposite Elisha Cuthbert, Chad Michael Murray and Paris Hilton in the horror film House of Wax in which he plays Wade, one of 5 teens who are slashed and killed. In the same year, Padalecki appeared in yet another horror film, Cry Wolf in which he played Tom. The same year, Padalecki was cast as Sam Winchester on the WB series, Supernatural. Sam and his brother Dean (Jensen Ackles) drive throughout the United States hunting paranormal predators, sometimes with their father, (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) until he is killed by the same demon who killed their mother.

The sixth season began broadcast on September 24, 2010 on the CW. The show is filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Padalecki also served as the host of MTV's horror reality series, Room 401 which was discontinued after only 8 episodes due to poor ratings. He had the lead role in 2008's The Christmas Cottage, in which he played Thomas Kinkade. Padalecki also had the lead role in the horror remake Friday the 13th film alongside Danielle Panabaker, which opened on Friday, February 13, 2009. He plays Clay Miller, a character who heads out to the doomed Camp Crystal Lake in search of his sister who has gone missing.

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