Jesse Spencer Biography
Jesse Spencer (Jesse Gordon Spencer) is an Australian actor and musician born on 12th February 1979 in Melbourne, Australia. He is popularly known for his role as Billy Kennedy on the Australian soap opera ‘Neighbours’ for which he received Silver Logie Awards for Most Popular TV actor.
Jesse Spencer attended Canterbury Primary School, Malvern Central School, and the private Scotch College. He gained a place at Monash University but deferred to pursue acting.
Jesse Spencer Career
Jesse Spencer began his musical career with the Australian Boys Choir, with them from 1986 to 1992. He plays the violin in Band from TV, a group which includes his former House co-star Hugh Laurie. They play at various events, giving the money they earn to the different charities. The band played on Idol Gives Back in April 2008.
While at Scotch College he auditioned for ‘Neighbours’. In 1994 he starred as Billy Kennedy in the Australian soap opera ‘Neighbours’ until 2000. He later reprised his role in 2005, in an episode celebrating the show’s 20th anniversary.
Jesse Spencer
Jesse Spencer has since co-starred in films such as Winning London, Uptown Girls and Swimming Upstream. From 2004 to 2012, he starred as Dr. Robert Chase on the Fox medical drama House. He played Chase for the show’s entire run, becoming the second longest-serving member of the title character’s team. In 2012, Spencer began starring as Capt. Matthew Casey in the NBC drama Chicago Fire.
Jesse Spencer Movies and TV Shows
- 2000: Lorna Doone as Marwood de Whichehalse
- 2001: Curse of the Talisman as Jeremy Campbell
- 2001: Winning London as Lord James Browning, Jr.
- 2002: Stranded as Fritz Robinson
- 2003: Swimming Upstream as Tony Fingleton
- 2003: Uptown Girls as Neal Fox
- 2003: Death in Holy Orders as Raphael Arbuthnot
- 2006: Flourish as Eddie Gator
- 2010: Tell-Tale as Lover
- 2013: Skum Rocks! as David Lockhart
- 2015: The Girl Is in Trouble as Nicholas Feinstein
- 1994: Time Trax as Young Bill
- 1994–2000, 2005: Neighbours as Billy Kennedy
- 1998: Hercules: The Animated Series as Triten, Jr.
- 2003: Death in Holy Orders as Raphael Arbuthnot
- 2004–12: House as Dr. Robert Chase
- 2012–present: Chicago Fire as Lieutenant/Captain Matthew Casey
- 2013: Phineas and Ferb as Liam
- 2014–present: Chicago P.D. as Lieutenant Matthew Casey
- 2017: Chicago Med as Lieutenant Matthew Caseys
Jesse Spencer Theatre
- 1991: The King and I as Louis
- 1992: Winnie the Pooh as Christopher Robin
- 1993: Scrooge as Older brother of Tiny Tim
- 1998–99: Peter Pan as Peter Pan
- 1999–2000: Jack and the Beanstalk as Jack
- 2003: The Modernists as Terrance
Jesse Spencer Wife
Jesse Spencer and Jennifer Morrison first met in 2004 at Vancouver International Airport, when they were on their way to film the pilot episode of House. They started dating in July 2004 and were engaged while on vacation in Paris during Christmas 2006. In August 2007 Spencer and Morrison announced they had called off their engagement.
Jesse Spencer Interview
Glamour: You played a doctor for eight years on House, and now you’re playing a firefighter. Is there a hero complex going on here?
Jesse Spencer: [Laughs] I don’t, but I think the people that cast me do! I guess it’s a good thing, but I certainly do not. I would hope that nobody ever would put their lives in my hands, ever.
Glamour: Could you ever see yourself being a firefighter?
Jesse Spencer: I mean, if I had fallen into it, sure. My uncle is a volunteer firefighter, which a lot are in Australia; 80 to 85 percent of all firefighters in Australia are volunteers to fight bush fires because the country is just too big to cover. It’s the only way they can even begin to fight that stuff because it’s just too big.
Glamour: Your brothers are surgeons. Do they ever look at you think, Damn, I should have followed his lead.
Jesse Spencer: Haha! Especially when I was doing House and earning TV money, and they’re actually really doing it and in debt trying to get through school and all that. But not to worry, they’re doing just fine now! [Laughs]
Glamour: How much training did you have to do prior to the pilot?
Jesse Spencer: When I started the pilot, I was flying in from House and had one hour at the fire academy, but then over time I kept going back and going back and hung out in the houses and did ride-alongs. It’s not easy what they do. A lot of it is dealing with people that haven’t taken their meds, etc. People want to think it’s cool, but it’s not. We’re actually doing it though. We get the Jaws of Life out, and we do it in one take. Or we try to at least. We’ve become a pretty efficient team. As a lieutenant, my job is to make sure everybody is doing what they’re supposed to do it, but watching my boys run in and do it and see how efficient we’ve become as a team is really cool. Sometimes I’m even surprised! Like, “This is a bunch of an actors doing this! That’s pretty cool!”
Glamour: There’s not a fireman’s pole on the show. I think that bothers my dad because he mentioned it to me the other day. [Laughs]
Jesse Spencer: Although there is a fake one. It’s a single-story firehouse, so that’s why.
Glamour: Does that disappoint you? [Laughs]
Jesse Spencer: I’m actually glad we don’t because it brings it into the 21st century. That’d be like having a Dalmatian around. It has its place and time in history, but you know what? A lot of firehouses in Chicago actually have them because when tourists come in, they want the pole! So they do it for tourists.
Glamour: Chicago is one of my favorite places in the world. What are the fans like there?
Jesse Spencer: They are crazy about the show there. We’re kind of…we’re not anonymous in Chicago at all. They’re so proud of Chicago and love their hometown. It was so funny in season one when no one knew who we were, and now that’s totally changed.
Glamour: What do you like to do there?
Jesse Spencer: We go to a lot of Chicago Blackhawks games. We go to Soldier Field to see the Bears.
Glamour: What Chicago institutions do you enjoy eating at?
Jesse Spencer: The Palm is great. Gibsons is always a classic. Benny’s Chop House. Shaw’s Crab Shack—I love Shaw’s! Sunda and Japonais are great for sushi. As for pizza, I can’t do deep-dish. I made the mistake of being extremely hungry and going to eat a deep-dish pizza and ate the entire thing with a glass of wine. Do you know how much cheese that is?! I came home threw it all back up. It was not food poisoning; it was just too much cheese for me. You’re just not meant to eat a whole pie! I paid for it severely.
Glamour: OK, I have a solution. Go to Pizano’s for their thin crust.
Jesse Spencer: Oh, Pizano’s, I love that place!
Glamour: And Stella Barra for the best pizza ever and Summer House Santa Monica, which is oddly enough in Chicago and not in Santa Monica. [Laughs]
Jesse Spencer: That’s funny! I’m going to put these into my phone right now. I’ll check it out! Thank you!
Glamour: Your American accent really is on-point. How long did it take you to perfect it?
Jesse Spencer: It’s still a work in progress. We never stop working on it because you can always improve upon it. I have a dialect coach who is fantastic, and she helps flatten it out and get it in that Midwest area. Obviously being surrounded by the dialect is the best thing there is, and we are. It’s like being a musician though…you’re always working on it.
Glamour: I know you can’t tell me much about Casey and Dawson, but tell me everything.
Jesse Spencer: I know you can’t tell me everything, but tell me everything! [Laughs] It is really fun. I really like her being under my command. I really enjoyed it. It kind of got my masculinity going. It got my blood going. It was fun to yell at her and order her around. It was kind of a turn on. [Laughs] I liked it!
Glamour: Do you think they are meant for each other?
Jesse Spencer: I think probably, but I don’t know if they’re going to be able to work it out if she stays on the truck. It’s timing and placement. If she was a different house, I think it would work, but with her ambition…it’s gonna take precedence over the relationship, and Casey respects that, but it’s hard as well. But that’s fun interplay between us, especially since we’re now broken up.
Glamour: What do you enjoy most? Playing the physical scenes or the emotional ones with underlying subtext?
Jesse Spencer: Both. If we’ve been doing a lot of physical stuff outside, it’s fun to go in and just do a scene between two people. But the physical stuff is fun too, and this show is both of that. There’s nothing more fun than breaking a door down. Your adrenaline gets going no matter how many times you’ve done it. It’s just fun. We get to break stuff! It’s great!
Glamour: I can’t believe my dad actually came up with this next question because I didn’t even think he knew this. He wants to know if Lady Gaga visits the set a lot because of Taylor Kinney.
Jesse Spencer: [Laughs] Yes! Taylor and I live in the same building in real life. So we hang out, and she comes around and hangs out on set. I mean, she’s busy, but when she can, she comes. She can cook! She cooked us dinner once. It was pasta, and it was amazing. Her parents, I think, own a restaurant. It’s funny because we eat on set a lot or on the run, so to have someone actually cook you dinner is a treat. I was like, “OK, I like this girl!”
Glamour: Speaking of girls, how is dating in Chicago? It just seems better out there than here in Los Angeles.
Jesse Spencer: I think it’s better [in Chicago]. It’s more…I feel like the Midwest is more…how do I say it? The temperament of the Midwest is kind of like Melbourne [Australia] in a way. It has this industrial side and a city center, a good community, they love their spots, so I fit right in in Chicago. I think it’s a great town to date! Absolutely! L.A. is not a dating town. I agree with you.
Source: Glamour.com