Jackson Rathbone

Monroe Jackson Rathbone V (born December 21, 1984) is an American actor. He is known for his role as Nicholas Fiske, on the ABC family drama Beautiful People. He has had guest roles in The OC, which his Twilight co-stars Nikki Reed and Cam Gigandet also starred in, and Close to Home. He has also been in movies, such as Molding Clay, Pray for Morning and Travis and Henry. He did extensive work for Disney 411, interviewing up-and-coming personalities like Hilary Duff. He played the character of Jasper Hale in the movies Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse, based on the best-selling novels by Stephenie Meyer. Recently, he also starred as Sokka in the film adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Early life
Rathbone was born in Singapore and has lived in places ranging from Indonesia to Midland, Texas. He started out in local theatre in Midland with the youth actors program "The Pickwick Players", initially doing musical theatre. For his junior and senior years of high school, Rathbone attended the Interlochen Arts Academy, a private school for the arts in Michigan, where he majored in acting. After graduation, he had planned to go to the Royal Scottish Academy, but went instead to Los Angeles to experiment with the big screen. He immediately signed onto Disney 411, and had a leading role in the ABC family drama Beautiful People, which premiered in fall 2005.

When not busy pursuing a TV/film career, Rathbone also enjoys music, writing and producing. He performs in a band, called 100 Monkeys, with two friends that he met at Interlochen Arts Academy.

In late 2008 he was approached for the role of Sokka in M. Night Shymalan's The Last Airbender. Rathbone had been a fan of the show and the character Sokka, and was looking forward to "something a bit more funnier, a little less serious than Jasper".

Rathbone maintains close friendships with his Twilight co-stars Kellan Lutz, Nikki Reed and Ashley Greene, whom he knew before shooting.