Jason Thompson Biography

Jason Craig Thompson (born November 20, 1976) is a Canadian actor. He joined the cast of the American daytime drama General Hospital in December 2005 as neurosurgeon Dr. Patrick Drake. In 2007, Thompson became an original cast member of the General Hospital prime-time spin-off General Hospital: Night Shift while maintaining his day job on GH. On April 1, 2015, Thompson also portrayed original GH character Steve Hardy in a flashback for the show's 52nd anniversary.

Early career

He was discovered at 16 working at a restaurant in Edmonton, Alberta by model scout Kelly Streit of mode models. At 18 years old, Thompson left home to build a career in runway, print and commercial modeling. One of his most well-known ad campaigns are the three TV commercials for Gap he did with director Pedro Romhanyi in 1999: "Everybody in Cords", "Everybody in Leather" and "Everybody in Vests". Though modeling paid the bills and allowed Jason the opportunity to travel extensively, he admits that becoming an actor was never far from his thoughts.

Within a few years of committing to an acting career, Thompson has amassed various television, film and theatre credits. He has had lead roles in such plays such as The Academy, More Than You and Jakob. In film, Thompson had starring roles in Wishmaster: The Prophecy Fulfilled and Divide.

In television, Thompson has landed guest roles on television shows like Felicity, Flipper, and Castle.

Daytime career

Thompson's most popular role to date is as Dr. Patrick Drake on the ABC soap opera General Hospital. Since playboy Patrick Drake's first appearance on the show, he has flirted with various women (many who work at the hospital call him Dr. Hottie in reference to his good looks and as a tribute to fellow ABC hot doc Grey's Anatomy's Dr.McDreamy), saved many lives, and mended a contentious relationship with his father, Dr. Noah Drake (played by returning castmember Rick Springfield). In one storyline, Patrick donated a part of his liver to save his father's life. At the same time, Patrick began falling for his co-worker and friend, the HIV-positive Dr. Robin Scorpio, which brought up the question of whether Patrick could give up his womanizing ways. In July 2006, through an operating room mishap, Patrick was himself exposed to HIV, though his HIV test returned a negative result. After much resistance on Robin's part, Robin and Patrick were finally married and welcomed their baby girl, Emma Grace Scorpio-Drake

As part of ABC's Fan February promotions in 2007, Thompson switched places for a day with a first-grade teacher and taught her class in Irving, Texas. In October 2015, Thompson confirmed his exit from General Hospital. He last appeared on January 7, 2016.

In December 2015, it was announced Thompson would join The Young and the Restless as Billy Abbott; he began appearing on January 10, 2016.

Personal life

On April 5, 2015, Thompson married his longtime girlfriend, Paloma Jonas, in San Pancho, Mexico. Their first child, a son, was born in May 2016. In May 2017, Thompson announced that he and Jonas would welcome their second child, a daughter, in September 2017.

Awards and nominations

List of acting awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Title	Result
2011	Daytime Emmy Award	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series	General Hospital
2012	Daytime Emmy Award	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series	General Hospital
2013	Daytime Emmy Award	Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series	General Hospital
2014	Daytime Emmy Award	Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series	General Hospital
2015	Daytime Emmy Award	Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series	General Hospital