Jonathan Tucker Biography

Jonathan Moss Tucker (born May 31, 1982) is an American film and television actor. He is known for his roles in the films The Virgin Suicides (1999), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003), Hostage (2005), In the Valley of Elah (2007), and The Ruins (2008). He has appeared in the television series The Black Donnellys (2007) and Parenthood (2011-2013). As of October 2014, he co-stars in the DirecTV drama series Kingdom created by Byron Balasco.

Early life

Tucker was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to parents Maggie Moss, a public relations and marketing analyst and executive, and Paul Hayes Tucker, a professor of art at the University of Massachusetts and a leading expert on Claude Monet. His paternal great-grandfather was historian and ambassador Carlton J. H. Hayes. His aunt and uncle, Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim, founded the Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale University, where they remain as co-directors.

His father is of Irish Catholic background and his mother is Jewish.

Tucker was raised in Charlestown, Massachusetts, but attended The Park School in Brookline, Massachusetts. He attended the Boston Ballet and played Fritz in their production of The Nutcracker for 5 years starting when he was in the third grade. He was featured in a Boston Ballet calendar and attended The Thacher School in Ojai, California. Tucker said of his ballet experience, "Ballet is one of the more difficult rigors that I've ever done. The Ballet instructors are some of the most intimidating people I've met."

Career

Tucker first started off in film by appearing in the early 90s films Botte di Natale (1994), Two If by Sea (1996) and Sleepers (1996) before being cast in the 1999 film The Virgin Suicides as Tim Weiner.

He starred as Matthew in the 2000 comedy film 100 Girls. A year later, he co-starred in Sundance hit The Deep End with Tilda Swinton and Josh Lucas. In 2003, Tucker was cast in the much anticipated re-imagining of the 1974 horror film of the same name, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre produced by Michael Bay and directed by Marcus Nispel. In 2004, he appeared in the films Stateside and Criminal.

In the 2005 film Hostage, Tucker worked alongside Bruce Willis and Ben Foster. Tucker plays Dennis Cooper, one of the brothers that, along with their mysterious accomplice Mars, holds a family hostage. Tucker was directed by Paul Haggis twice in 2007: first, he starred as Tommy Lee Jones's son in the film In the Valley of Elah as a soldier who is permanently changed by war after returning from Iraq; he also played Tommy Donnelly in the critically acclaimed NBC TV series The Black Donnellys.

In 2008, he was cast in The Ruins, a thriller based on the best selling book by Scott Smith and directed by Sundance award-winner Carter Smith. Tucker said he practiced Transcendental Meditation to offset the loneliness while filming the movie in Australia.

He portrayed emerging artist Patrick Angus in the 2009 film An Englishman in New York, opposite John Hurt as Quentin Crisp. The biographical drama chronicles Crisp's later years spent in New York City. The Hollywood Reporter announced that Tucker was cast in the 2010 thriller film The Next Three Days with Russell Crowe and Elizabeth Banks, continuing his relationship with Haggis

It was announced in November 2011, that Tucker signed on to the TV series Parenthood. He played the role of Mayor Bob Little from 2011 to 2014.

Tucker currently co-stars on the DirecTV drama series Kingdom. He plays Jay, a mixed martial artist and son of trainer, Alvey Kulina, for which he was nominated Best Supporting Actor by Entertainment Weekly: "One of the most underappreciated actors on one of the most underappreciated shows, Jonathan Tucker"?s turn as Jay Kulina is one of the most electric performances on television."

Tucker also appeared in the final five episodes of the TV series Justified on FX as the crazy-eyed Boon "? a cross between Billy the Kid and Travis Bickle .

Continuing his relationship with Bryan Fuller, Tucker next stars at Low-Key Lysmith in Starz's upcoming Neil Gamon adaption "American Gods."

Tucker co-wrote the song "Champagne Problems" on Nick Jonas's 2016 album Last Year Was Complicated.

Personal life

Jonathan Tucker is married to Tara Tucker, daughter of Pulitzer Prize-winning economic historian Liaquat Ahamed. They were married on June 16, 2012.

Tucker is the founder of the "Pegasus Fund." The Pegasus Fund supplements the academic journey of top-performing students in under-served communities by sending them to summer camp as a means to help them prepare for the new geographic and social environments of the private secondary schools they plan to attend.

Filmography

Film

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1994	Troublemakers	Moses Junior	a.k.a. The Fight Before Christmas and Botte di Natale
1996	Two If by Sea	Todd	a.k.a. Stolen Hearts
1996	Sleepers	Young Tommy Marcano
1999	'	Tim Weiner
2000	100 Girls	Matthew
2001	'	Beau Hall
2001	Ball in the House	JJ
2003	'	Morgan
2004	Stateside	Mark Deloach	a.k.a. Sinners
2004	Criminal	Michael
2005	Hostage	Dennis Cooper
2005	Bee Season	Student (uncredited)
2006	Love Comes to the Executioner	Heck Prigusivac
2006	Pulse	Josh
2007	Cherry Crush	Jordan Wells
2007	Day 73 with Sarah	David	Short film
2007	In the Valley of Elah	Mike Deerfield
2008	'	Jeff
2009	'	Patrick Angus
2009	Veronika Decides to Die	Edward
2010	Flying Lessons	Billy
2010	Meskada	Shane Loakin
2010	'	David

Television

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997	Early Edition	Tony	Episode: "Frostbite"
1998	Mr. Music	Rob Tennant	TV movie
2001	'	Chad Baldwin / "James Tucker"	Episode: "Vanished: Part 1 & 2"
2002	Philly	Eli Wexler	Episode: "The Curse of the Klopman Diamonds"
2003	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Peter Arnz	Episode: "Crash and Burn"
2003	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Ian Tate	Episode: "Abomination"
2004	Six Feet Under	Bruno Baskerville Walsh	Episode: "Falling into Place"
2005	Masters of Horror	Jak	Episode: "Dance of the Dead"
2006	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	Drew Ramsey	Episode: "Wrongful Life"
2007	'	Tommy Donnelly	13 episodes
2010	White Collar	Avery Phillips	Episode: "Hard Sell"
2011	Criminal Minds	Raymond Donovan	Episode: "The Thirteenth Step"
2011	Royal Pains	Shaw Morgan	2 episodes
2011-2013	Parenthood	Bob Little	10 episodes
2012	Perception	Brady McGraw	Episode: "Nemesis"
2012	Person of Interest	Riley Cavanaugh	Episode: "Triggerman"
2012	Ro	Jordan	5 episodes
2014	Hannibal	Matthew Brown	2 episodes
2014	High Moon	Stanislav 'Stan' Stavin	TV movie
2014-present	Kingdom	Jay Kulina	Main role
2015	Justified	Boon	5 episodes
2017	American Gods	Low Key Lyesmith	Upcoming series