Jonathan Jackson

Jackson was born in Orlando, Florida, the son of Jeanine (née Sharp), an amateur ventriloquist and businesswoman, and Dr. Rick "Ricky Lee" Jackson, a family physician, country musician and Congressional candidate in the state of Washington. Jackson was raised in Battle Ground, Washington, with his brother Richard Lee Jackson, now an actor and musician, and his sister Candice Jackson, now a lawyer, an author, and formerly served as an official in the Trump administration as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Strategic Operations and Outreach in the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) of the U.S. Department of Education, the Office's Acting Assistant Secretary from April 2017 to July 2018; and the Deputy General Counsel of the Department of Education from July 2018 to January 2021. Jonathan attended Meadow Glade Elementary School.

In 1991, Jackson's family took a trip to Universal Studios Hollywood, where both Richard and Jonathan decided to pursue acting. The brothers took acting lessons in nearby Portland, Oregon, before moving part-time to Burbank, California with their mother in 1993.After doing various commercials, within six months Jackson won a role on the ABC Daytime soap opera General Hospital. Jackson continued his studies as he worked, graduating high school at age 16.