A native of Richardson, Texas, Jensen Ackles was 19 as of March 1, 1997. He came to Los Angeles "on a whim" from Dallas, TX shortly after high school where he had been "a total
sports nut." After a few months in LA., he landed a guest-starring role in "Sweet Valley High" and shortly thereafter, was signed as a series regular on the NBC sitcom "Mr. Rhodes." At that point, he committed himself to an acting career. The choice was not a surprise to his family. His dad, Alan, has supported his household (wife Donn, sons Josh and
Jensen, and a daughter Mackenzie) by doing radio commercials and other voice-overs. As a young teen, Jensen was a catalogue model and did several commercials. Jensen was frankly "amazed that the auditioning process for this role took several weeks" before he landed a screen test and was finally chosen. 

According to Executive Producer Ken Corday, "When I saw Jensen's tape, I was very impressed  by his fresh approach to the material. For such a young actor, Jensen has a very exciting quality. He tested with both Christie Clark and Alison Sweeney and worked extremely well with both actresses. In fact, he and Alison have more than a physical       similarity, interestingly enough, both approach their performance from a comparable emotional level.  They should make an exciting brother/sister team." 

 The good-looking actor - who actually looks as if he could be Mike Horton's younger brother - is "thrilled and excited" to be on Days. He's also "very single and looking for a girlfriend." Hear that girls?