Biography for
Jonathan Brandis More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

13 April 1976, Danbury, Connecticut, USA

Date of Death

12 November 2003, Los Angeles, California, USA (suicide by hanging)

Birth Name

Jonathan Gregory Brandis

Nickname

The J-Man
Jon

Height

5' 9½" (1.77 m)

Mini Biography

Born in Danbury, Connecticut, USA, to Greg and Mary, Jonathan Brandis began his career at age 5, acting in television commercials. He appeared in small parts in several films and TV shows before his first starring role in the 1990 film The Neverending Story II: The Next Chapter (1990). He starred in popular films such as Ladybugs (1992) and starred as Lucas Wolenczak in Steven Spielberg's television series "SeaQuest 2032" (1993). He doubled up his high school courses so he could finish a year early for his role on SeaQuest. He died in November 2003.

IMDb Mini Biography By: nd3

Trade Mark

Bright blue eyes

Trivia

He co-wrote the "SeaQuest 2032" (1993) episode "SeaQuest 2032: The Siamese Dream (#2.19)" (1995).

He performed in more than 85 commercials.

He claimed that his dad was one of the main inspirations in his life, having taught him about the "business from an early age".

Attended a special actors school and graduated after doubling his high school classes.

Dated Monica Keena. [2000]

Auditioned for the role of Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002).

An avid Pez collector.

At the 15th Annual Youth in Film Awards, he won Best Youth Actor in a Leading Role in a Television Series for "SeaQuest 2032" (1993).

Was an only child.

Coincidentally, his date to the high school prom was Clueless (1995) star Brittany Murphy, another actress who died at a young age. Jonathan died in 2003 at age 27, and Brittany died in 2009 at age 32 from pneumonia.

After his death dozens upon dozens of Internet communities and memorial websites were devoted to him.

The Slainesville Boys (2004), completed in 2003, would have been his directorial debut.

He was friends with childhood neighbor, actress Juliette Clarke.

Was considered for "Saved by the Bell" (1989).

An action figure was created based on his character, Lucas Wolenczak, from "SeaQuest 2032" (1993).

In the start of his teenage-life, he was considered a bit short. This phenomenon was in fact due to that he was actually also growing as an adult. During filming Sidekicks (1992) he had the same height as Mako, (5' 4"). He then seriously grew in his late teenage years. In the last season of "SeaQuest 2032" (1993) when he was about 19 years old, he reached the height 5'9". He then kept this height for some few years until during filming of Outside Providence (1999) when he finally received his adult height of 6'.

As a teenager, in hopes of preparing for a directing career as well as an acting career, he filmed movies starring his friends using a home video camera.

Was set to direct an episode of "SeaQuest 2032" (1993), but the show was canceled before he had the chance to do so.

Considered Roy Scheider to be the person of the biggest influence on him as an actor.

Personal Quotes

Teen magazines keep writing that my eyes 'twinkle' when I talk. Look, I'm a guy. I don't twinkle, you know! You can say that my eyes 'sparkle' maybe, but not 'twinkle' alright? Got that teen magazine writers?!

I want to direct, I want to be part of something creative, something with quality. My biggest fear as an actor is being involved in something mediocre, or being mediocre myself. I've taken classes on screen-writing and, of course, I read a lot of scripts. Writing is what I'd really like to move towards. Right now, though, it just doesn't pay the mortgage.

My friends would probably describe me as silly. And honest. And that I think about things a bit too much.

[speaking in 1994] I want to be remembered as an actor who put in some good work in the beginning of his career, even better work at the end of his career and slowly, successfully made the transition into writing and directing.