Filmography at a Glance

General Hospital - Lucky Spencer
Camp Nowhere - Morris "Mud" Himmel
Legend of the Ruby Silver - Matthew Rainie
The Prisioner of Zenda - Rudy/Oliver
TJ's Reel Extreme CD-ROoM - Travis Jett
Deep End of the Ocean - Vincent Cappadora
Boy Meets World - Ricky Ferris
Trapped in a Purple Haze- Max Hanson
True Rights - Charlie Vick
Crystal Clear (also Director) - Eddie
Skeletons in the Closet - Seth
Insomnia (US - 2002) - Randy

Lucky Spencer was Jonathan's first major character on Showbiz. After being cast from among several hundred other candidates, Jonathan made his debut as Lucas Lorenzo Spencer, JR. (Lucky) on October 29, 1993 on the popular ABC Soap Opera General Hospital.
Lucky is the son of Luke & Laura Spencer considered to be the most famous couple in Daytime Television. Jonathan's character is an adventurous 16 year old, who shares his dad's love for danger. Lucky has a younger sister, Leslie Lu, and an older half brother, Nikolas, son of Laura and Stefan Cassadine, one of the Spencer's arch-enemies. Lucky isn't exactly fond of Nikolas, since he was conceived when his mother was held captive on the Cassadine's island.
Lucky is friends with Emily Quartermaine, a rich kid who has in occation helped him get out of trouble. He is also a very good friend of Lizzie Webber a rebellious girl who's had her share of trouble with her family, and their relationship is almost romatical. Lizzie is saintly Sarah's sister, and Lucky used to have a crush on Sarah who was Nikolas girlfriend!

Lucky became a much more popular character once he and Lizzie got together, making them the cutest couple in Port Charles at the time. He stood by Lizzie in the hard times, including when she was raped. He later "died" a ridiculous death because he left a candle burning in his room! The character Lucky was later resurrected but played by another actor.

About playing Lucky, Jonathan says "Lucky lives every boy's dream... He has loving parents, a loyal dog, and even a little bit of danger." Not to mention the love of Lizzie, but he didn't know that back then.

For his portrayal of Lucky, Jonathan won the 1998 Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Younger Actor in a Drama Series! He was nominated in 1999, 1997, 1996 and 1995, which he also won. The Daytime Emmys were on May 15th, just four days after JJ's birthday. Winning it again must have been a great present for him!

For pictures, audio and even a video download of Jonathan's acceptance speech, go to Angie's General Hospital Page.

Jonathan left General Hospital in 1999 to pursue his acting career in films. We hope he has the success of some of the more succesful GH alumni like Demi Moore. Even though it was stated at one time that his role would not be recast, he was later replaced in the popular role of Lucky by Jacob Young.

In a curious twist of fate, Jonathan was rumored to be a sure-fire casting choice for the role of Anakin Skywalker, following the Skywalker footsteps of Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) who was also a Port Charles "resident".

Mud is a bright kid who devises a plan along with his friends to avoid being sent to Computer Camp , who among other camps want to avoid Military & Acting Camp... so they create their own, kids only camp. They then have to convince their parents about this camp first, so they blackmail former teacher Dennis Van Welker (Lloyd) into helping them. Several situations arise in which Mud must lead the other kids into the perfect charade.

Camp Nowhere is available on both Video and LaserDisc from Hollywood Pictures.

Jonathan is back on the small screen for Trapped in a Purple Haze, a movie about a nice boy who seems to have it all, until he finds himself trapped in the world of heroin addiction. When it comes to junky films, this is as tame and cliched as they come, but as always Jonathan manages to deliver a great performance. Another good point in the movie is the always excellent Colm Feore (32 Short Films about Glenn Gould, The Red Violin) here as Jonathan's laissez-faire father.

The story goes something like this: Max Hanson is a priviledged young man with a passion for ice hockey. However, her mother doesn't think that is the best path for her son and she tries to persuade him to follow an artistic career. Max meets Molly, an attractive and interesting girl (Carly Pope, from WB's Popular) who drags Max into a world of partying and drugs. Max is infatuated with her and blindly follows her even when he becomes addicted to heroin (joining the ranks of Matt Dillon and James Le Gros in Drugstore Cowboy and Vincent Kartheiser in Another Day in Paradise as the best looking dope fiends in filmdom). Max and Molly eventually begin stealing to support their habit and Max runs away from home. Tragedy soon follows and Max's parents have to save him and help him get back on track.

In all, this is your average melodramatic take on the downfall of a young man into a life of drugs. It is above average for a made for TV movie but it is unable to evade the very clear moralizing and unsubtle say-no-to-drugs theme. Not as well executed as most other films on the subject, I would recomend Drugstore Cowboy, Another Day in Paradise and Trainspotting over it any day. However, it has a major saving grace: JJ and Colm.

It is also interesting to note that the cast includes Hayden Christensen, the Vancouverite who eventually beat Jonathan to the coveted role of Anakin Skywalker. I would have loved to see JJ and Natalie Portman together, as I consider them the best actors of their generation. Thankfully, though, we don't have to see JJ in such a loved franchise put to shame by cheesy CGIs and bad screenwriting.

The official site has a full description of the story, sans reviewing/editorializing. It is not currently available on video and was produced by Pearson TV.

Jonathan plays Charlie VIcks on the independent film True Rights, written and directed by debuting filmmaker Meg Thayer. In this films he once again joins forces with brother Richard Lee Jackson, who plays Reynolds Portman. I know little about the film, except that it never had wide release and is still not available in video. It has played in festival circuits throughout the US, winning the Best Feature and Directing awards at the Brooklyn Film Festival and winning the Audience Award at the Dances With Films festival.

In this film, Jonathan plays the leader of a radical militia living in the woods, somewhat of a stretch from his previous roles (isn't he a bit young?). As for the plot, it has to do with a couple of Hollywood producers searching for material for a shocking new product dealing with reality and human tragedy. They are always followed by their documentary crew, which makes this film something of a mockumentary (best example of this style is This is Spinal Tap, though maybe The Blair WItch Project made an art out of it). I know it is some kind of satire on Hollywood and that it includes both dark humour and a dramatic subplot involving a silent film director (I thought they were all dead -- the first "talkie" was shot in 1927 and silent films quickly faded after that) which may give it something of a Sunset Boulevard feel.

The film currently has no distributor, so it is unlikely to get wide national release in the near future. Hopefully this will not be the case. For now the best bet is to try and catch it on a film festival.

Besides acting, the Jackson brothers also provided four songs for the film's soundtrack, including the title song.

Eddie is Jonathan's role in Crystal Clear a 16 min. short film which also marks his directing debut. The film was codirected by his brother Richard, who also acts and produced by their own production company. The film also stars William Rottuno and Maurice Benard, who played Sonny on General Hospital.

The film is about Vincent, a 24 year old who has to deal with an alcohol problem, with the help of his firend, played by Richard and his estranged brother, Eddie. Quoting from the official site: "William Rotunno stars in this dramatic short film written and directed by the Jackson Brothers centering on the devastating effects of alcoholism and the internal battle that wages between perception and the reality of ones self image."

With strong talent like this it was easy for the film not only to get accepted into festivals, but also to win the Coen Brothers Award for Duo Filmmaker's and the Award for Best Narrative Short Drama at the Brooklyn Film Festival. Pretty good for a first film (I am still struggling after 8 shorts and a few commercials... some people get all the breaks!).

Now, if True Rights is hard to get a glimpse of, this will provide a much tougher task. Sadly, short films get hardly any exposure outside of the Festival circuits, altough sometimes they become available if they win enough awards or their filmmakers are notable enough. Hopefully this will be the case.

Disclaimer: This page is not in any way, sponsored,
approved or in any way connected to Jonathan Jackson. Please send your fan mail directly to him, as I have no contact, electronic or otherwise with Jonathan.