Jason Priestley Biography

Jason Bradford Priestley (born August 28, 1969) is a Canadian-American actor and director. He is best known as the virtuous Brandon Walsh on the television series Beverly Hills, 90210 and for his current role starring as Richard "Fitz" Fitzpatrick in the show Call Me Fitz.

Early life

Jason Bradford Priestley was born on August 28, 1969 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. His mother is actress Sharon Kirk. He is a graduate of Argyle Secondary School in North Vancouver. He has a twin sister, Justine Priestley, and two step siblings, Karin and Kristi.

He became a naturalized American citizen in 2007.

Career

Priestley first started his television career guest-starring as Bobby Conrad a.k.a. Roberto Coronado Jr., a mobster's grandson, in the early 1987 episode "A Piece of Cake" from the final 4th season of the television series Airwolf, and appeared in two episodes of 21 Jump Street in 1987-8, then moved onto the 1989 short-lived sitcom Sister Kate which starred Stephanie Beacham. He played Todd, one of the fosterchildren under the care of Sister Kate, an English nun. In 1990, Priestley was chosen as Brandon Walsh on the hit series Beverly Hills, 90210. He also directed nineteen of the show's episodes. He remained on the show until 1998, when Brandon moved to Washington, DC. Brandon was the last Walsh to leave the show; however, Priestley would continue to serve as an executive producer until the show's cancellation in 2000.

Priestley joined the cast of Tru Calling as Jack Harper from 2004-2005. He was also a regular on the 2006 program Love Monkey. His television work also includes the WB show What I Like About You and a February 2006 appearance on Without a Trace. Priestley has also made several films, his most notable role perhaps being in 1997's Love and Death on Long Island, in which he played a teen idol struggling to be taken seriously as an actor. He directed the nineteenth episode in the ?nal season of 7th Heaven. He also directed two episodes of The Secret Life of the American Teenager "Slice of Life"and "Just Say No". They appeared on August 26, 2008 and September 9, 2008 on ABC Family.

On July 15, 2007 he returned to series television as one of the lead males in Lifetime Television's comedy-drama Side Order of Life. Priestley made a guest appearance on NBC's My Name Is Earl in 2008. He played Blake, Earl's better-looking and more successful cousin. That year, Priestley directed five episodes of Secret Life. Priestley directed the episode when Tori Spelling returned to 90210. In 2009, Priestley directed and co-produced all 12 episodes of the web-series The Lake on TheWB.com. In December 2009 along with Dougray Scott, Brian Cox, and Eddie Izzard, Priestley featured in The Day of the Triffids, written by Patrick Harbinson, whose credits include ER and Law & Order. The drama is based on John Wyndham's best-selling post-apocalyptic novel, The Day Of The Triffids.

Priestley directed his former co-star Luke Perry in the Hallmark Channel movie Goodnight for Justice, which aired in January 2011. He guest starred as one half of a con artist couple alongside Jennifer Finnigan in a sixth season episode of USA's Psych and also appeared in the music video "Boys" by Britney Spears. Priestley has been the title role and main character of the HBO Canada TV show Call Me Fitz since 2010, which completed its second season in December 2011. In August 2011, Priestly joined the cast of sci-fi television show Haven, in a recurring role during its second season. He also directed one episode.

Priestley's feature film directorial debut was the independent road trip comedy Cas & Dylan starring Richard Dreyfuss and Tatiana Maslany about an ailing man in his sixties who goes on the lam with a young woman.

In April 2013 Priestly opened in "Race", a David Mamet play in Toronto, Ontario at the Bluma Appel Theater.

Personal life

On May 14, 2005, Priestley married make-up artist Naomi Lowde. On July 2, 2007 the couple had a daughter, Ava Veronica. On April 13, 2009, Priestley announced that he and his wife were expecting their second child, a son, who was born on July 9, 2009 and is reportedly named Dashiell Orson.

On July 9, 2007, he revealed on Late Night with Conan O'Brien that he had become an American citizen several weeks earlier.

Priestley's sister, Justine, is also an actress, and appeared in a couple of episodes on the 90210 spin-off Melrose Place in 1996.

Race car driving

Priestley's hobbies include race car driving. He rallied a Toyota Celica All-Trac ST185 in the SCCA Pro Rally Series during the early to mid-1990s. He has provided commentary and interviews of racers for ABC's TV coverage of IndyCar racing. In 1999 he participated in the first Gumball 3000 rally, driving a Lotus Esprit V-8. On August 11, 2002, he was seriously injured during a practice run at the Kentucky Speedway when his Indy Pro Series car crashed into a wall at nearly 180 miles per hour. Luke Perry visited him in the hospital, as they are good friends in real life. After the accident he was initially transferred to University of Kentucky Chandler Medical Center where he was admitted to Trauma ICU in critical condition. After being stabilized he was then transferred to an Indianapolis hospital where he made a quick and full recovery.

According to a January 2008 Associated Press article, it was announced that Priestley would become a joint owner in a new IndyCar Series team. The new team was known as Rubicon Race Team managed by co-owner Jim Freudenberg. They initially entered a car in the 2008 Indianapolis 500. The car was prepared by Indianapolis-based Sam Schmidt Motorsports and the driver was Max Papis.

In the article, Priestley said, "I'm excited to be able to spend the month of May in Indy with my good friends and be a part of the greatest open wheel race," "It's been more than five years since my accident, and it's going to be so good to get to see everyone." Despite the team's enthusiasm, it suffered a crash during the second weekend of qualifying then had subsequent gearbox problems and failed to qualify for the race.

Priestley is an owner of the new FAZZT Race Team, which is competing full-time in the IndyCar Series in 2010 with Canadian racer Alex Tagliani. The number is 77 and the sponsor is Bowers & Wilkins speakers. In 2011 Sam Schmidt Motorsports bought out the team and welcomed the 77 to the stable. The team qualified on the pole with Alex Tagliani. In October 2011, 2 - Time Indy 500 Champion Dan Wheldon took the wheel starting in Kentucky. At the Las Vegas race, he lost his life in a 15 car mele in turn 2.

Promotional activity for Barenaked Ladies

Priestley is a big fan of the band Barenaked Ladies and went to many of their California concerts in the early to mid-1990s. He eventually met the band and in his desire to help them succeed, suggested that he direct the music video for "The Old Apartment", and used his fame to persuade American stations to air it. He did just that, and also invited the band to play at the "Peach Pit After Dark" on an episode of 90210. Lead singer, Ed Robertson, continues to cite him as being instrumental in their American success. His final notable contribution to the band came when he directed a feature-length documentary about the band's 1999 whirlwind of success entitled Barenaked in America, intending to capture on film the fun he had while riding around on the tour bus with the band.

Filmography

Movies

Film
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1986	The Boy Who Could Fly	Gary
1988	Watchers	Boy on Bike
1993	Calendar Girl	Roy Darpinian
	Tombstone	Deputy Billy Breckinridge
1995	Coldblooded	Cosmo Reif
1997	Love and Death on Long Island	Ronnie Bostock
	Hacks	The Dude
1998	Conversations in Limbo
	The Thin Pink Line	Hunter Green
1999	Choose Life	DJ
	Dill Scallion	Jo Joe Hicks
	Standing on Fishes	Jason
	Eye of the Beholder	Gary
2000	Lion of Oz	Lion	Voice Role
	Herschel Hopper: New York Rabbit	Xavier
	The Highwayman	Breakfast
2001	Zigs	David
	The Fourth Angel	Davidson
2002	Darkness Falling	Michael Pacer
	Cherish	Andrew
	Cover Story	JC Peck
	Time of the Wolf	Mr. Nelson
	Fancy Dancing	Asa Gemmil
2003	Die, Mommie, Die!	Tony Parker
2004	Chicks with Sticks	Steve Cooper
	Going the Distance	Lenny Swackhammer
2006	Hot Tamale	Jude
	Made in Brooklyn	D.J.

Television

TV
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1987	Airwolf	Bobby	A Piece of Cake
	21 Jump Street	Tober Brian	Mean Streets and Pastel Houses, Two for the Road
	Danger Bay	Derek	Deep Trouble
1988	MacGyver	Danny	Blood Brothers
1989	Teen Angel	Buzz Gunderson
	Quantum Leap	Pencil	Camikazi Kid
	Sister Kate	Todd Mahaffey
1990	Teen Angel Returns	Buzz Gunderson
1990"2000	Beverly Hills, 90210	Brandon Walsh	Series Regular until 1998, 1 guest appearance, 246 episodes
1992	Saturday Night Live	Host	Jason Priestley/Teenage Fanclub
	Drexell's Class	Teen Priest	Cruisin'
	Eek! The Cat	Bo Diddly Squat	Voice Role
1994	Kings Island 20th Anniversary Special	Host	TV Special
1995	Choices of the Heart: The Margaret Sanger Story	Narrator	TV-Movie
	Biker Mice from Mars	Jack McCyber	Virtual Unreality Hit the Road, Jack
1997	Vanishing Point	The Voice	TV Movie
	The Outer Limits	Anthony Szigetti
1998	Superman: The Animated Series	Reep Daggle/Chameleon Boy	New Kids in Town
2000	Common Ground	Billy	TV Movie
	Homicide: The Movie	Det. Robert Hall
	The 11 O'Clock Show	Himself	4.41
	Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye	Jarred	TV Movie
2001	Spin City	Scott	In the Company of Dudes
2002	Jeremiah	Michael	...And the Ground, Sown with Salt
	Tom Stone	Doug	Little Bitty
	Warning: Parental Advisory	Charlie Burner	TV Movie
	The True Meaning of Christmas Specials	Santa Dude	TV Special
2003	8 Simple Rules	Carter Tibbits	Every Picture Tells a Story
2004	Rides	Host	Documentary
	I Want to Marry Ryan Banks	Ryan Banks	TV Movie
	Sleep Murder	Peter Radwell
	Quintuplets	Steve Chase	Thanksgiving Day Charade
2004"2005	Tru Calling	Jack Harper
2005	Colditz	Flying Officer Rhett Barker	TV Movie
	Murder at the Presidio	Tom
	What I Like About You	Charlie	The Perfect Date Halloween
	Snow Wonder	Warren	TV Movie
2006	Hockeyville	Himself
	Love Monkey	Mike Freed
	Without a Trace	Allen Davis	Crossroads
	Above and Beyond	Sir Frederick Banting	Miniseries
	Shades of Black: The Conrad Black Story	Jeff Riley	TV Movie
	Masters of Horror	Alan	The Screwfly Solution
2007	Subs	Mr. Clayton	Pilot
	Luna: Spirit of the Whale	Ted Jeffries	TV Movie
	Medium	Walter Paxton	Head Games Heads Will Roll Everything Comes to a Head
	Don't Cry Now	Nick	TV Movie
	Termination Point	Caleb Smith
	Everest '82	John Lauchlan	Miniseries
	Side Order of Life	Ian Denison
2008	The Other Woman	Pete	TV Movie
	My Name Is Earl	Cousin Blake	Earl and Joy's Anniversary
	A Very Merry Daughter Of the Bride	William	TV Movie
2009	Expecting a Miracle	Pete Stanhope
	The Day of the Triffids	Coker	TV Series
2010"Present	Call Me Fitz	Richard "Fitz" Fitzpatrick
2011	Haven	Chris Brody
	Dear Santa		Director
	Stephen King's Bag Of Bones	Marty	TV Series
2012	Psych	Clive	TV Series episodes: Neal Simon's Lover's Retreat
2013	How I Met Your Mother	Himself	TV Series episodes: P.S. I Love You (How I Met Your Mother)

Awards and nominations

Gemini Awards

• 2003: Nominated, "Best Performance or Host in a Variety Program or Series" - The True Meaning of Christmas Specials (shared w/co-stars)

Golden Globe Awards

• 1993: Nominated, "Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series (Drama)" - Beverly Hills, 90210
• 1995: Nominated, "Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series (Drama)" - Beverly Hills, 90210

Young Artist Awards

• 1990: Nominated, "Best Young Actor Supporting Role in a Television Series" - Sister Kate