Jonathan Bennett (actor)

Bennett was born in Rossford, Ohio to David Bennett, a Toledo physician, and Ruthanne Bennett (née Mason). He has two half-brothers, Brian and Brent and one half-sister, Lisa.^[3][4] Both of Jonathan's parents have passed away. His mother died November 30, 2012, at the age of 67,^[3] and his father died of brain cancer on April 28, 2014 at age 73.^[4]

Jonathan attended Eagle Point Elementary School in Rossford.^{[citation needed]} His first acting experience was in a play in the seventh grade while living in North Carolina. Shortly after that, he moved back to Rossford, where he attended and graduated from Rossford High School.^[5] He graduated in 1999 and attended Otterbein College, where he was a student of the theatre program. After dropping out of college, he moved to New York to pursue acting.

After moving to New York, he was cast on the ABC soap opera All My ChildrenasJ.R. Chandler from 2001 to 2002. Since then, he has appeared in various television dramas, including Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Deception, Smallville, and Veronica Mars. Bennett co-starred in the hit comedy Mean Girls with Lindsay Lohan^[5] where he played Aaron Samuels, the love interest of Lohan's character Cady Heron. He subsequently co-starred in the family comedy Cheaper by the Dozen 2 with Piper Perabo and the romantic comedy Lovewrecked with Amanda Bynes. Bennett appeared in the direct-to-video prequel The Dukes of Hazzard: The Beginning where he played Bo Duke. Also in 2009, he appeared as Nick in the Hallmark original movie Elevator Girl with his Mean Girls co-star Lacey Chabert and Ryan Merriman.

In 2009, Bennett starred as the title character in National Lampoon's Van Wilder: Freshman Year,^[5] which was released straight to DVD.

Bennett posed for a bondage-themed print advertising campaign by Declare Yourself, a campaign encouraging voter registration among youth for the 2008 United States presidential election. In the ads by photographer David LaChapelle, Bennett has three screws through his upper and lower lips, symbolically pinning his mouth shut. The ads drew some media attention.

On September 4, 2014, Bennett was announced as one of the celebrities competing on the 19th seasonofDancing With The Stars. He was paired with professional dancer Allison Holker.^[6][5] Bennett's personal motivation for joining the DWTS cast was in memoriam of his parents; his father having recently died from brain cancer, and his mother died the year prior, and they were both fans of the show.^[5] Bennett and Holker were eliminated on Week 6 of competition and finished in 9th place.^[7]

Bennett supports the Love is Louder project and uploaded a video of himself talking about the bullying that he had gone through. Bennett stated, "Of all people, I know how mean people can be to each other. I mean, we made a whole movie about it [referencing Mean Girls]. It happened to me in high school, it happened to me in college [and] it still happens to me today. And I’m not gonna lie, it sucks. Sometimes it really sucks. But it doesn’t have to forever because there are people out there who love you, and love is a lot louder than hate.”^[8]

• Jonathan BennettatIMDb
• Jonathan BennettatAllMovie

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