Media & Arts
Jensen Ackles
Dallas-born and Richardson-raised Jensen Ackles built a long television career from soap opera to Supernatural, later expanding into directing, producing, music and Texas-based brewing.
- Roster rank
- #218
- Category
- Media & Arts
- Subject type
- Person
- Profile source
- Published Texas Icons profile
Texas story
Life and career
Jensen Ross Ackles was born in Dallas in 1978 and grew up in Richardson. He began modeling and acting while young, then moved into television with roles including Days of Our Lives, Dark Angel and Smallville before Supernatural became the defining long-form role of his career.
Ackles played Dean Winchester across fifteen seasons of Supernatural and also directed episodes. Later work includes The Boys and producing, while he maintained Texas ties that include family and the Family Business Beer Company venture in Central Texas.
Defining work
What to know
- Supernatural
- Days of Our Lives
- The Boys
- Smallville
- Radio Company
Timeline
Key milestones
- 1978Born in Dallas, Texas.
- 1996Graduates from high school in Richardson.
- 2005Supernatural premieres.
- 2020Supernatural concludes after fifteen seasons.
- 2020sExpands work in producing, music and The Boys franchise.
Texas connections
Places in the story
Dallas
Birthplace.
Richardson
Childhood and school years.
Dripping Springs area
Central Texas business connection through Family Business Beer Company.
Legacy
Why the story lasts
Ackles became one of the central performers in an unusually long-running genre television franchise and expanded behind the camera during that run.
His Dallas/Richardson upbringing gives the Texas connection a deeper basis than a birthplace-only label.
Sources
Research trail
Cross-linked profiles