Jesse Gordon Spencer is an Australian actor and musician. He is best known for his current portrayal of Dr. Robert Chase on the medical drama House

House (TV series)

House is an American television medical drama that debuted on the Fox network on November 16, 2004. The show's central character is Dr. Gregory House , an unconventional and misanthropic medical genius who heads a team of diagnosticians at the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in...

and for playing Billy Kennedy in the Australian soap-opera Neighbours

Neighbours

Neighbours is an Australian television soap opera first broadcast on the Seven Network on 18 March 1985. It was created by TV executive Reg Watson, who proposed the idea of making a show that focused on realistic stories and portrayed adults and teenagers who talk openly and solve their problems...

.

Early life and education

Spencer was born in Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. His parents Robyn and Rodney Spencer are the founders of the Australians Against Further Immigration

Australians Against Further Immigration

Australians Against Further Immigration was an Australian political party who described themselves as "eco-nationalists" and were against positive net immigration. The party was founded in 1989 and registered in 1990 by Rodney and Robyn Spencer, the parents of actor Jesse Spencer...

 political party and have run several times as candidates in federal and state elections for that party and for One Nation. He is one of four children with two older brothers, Tarney, who is an oculo-plastic surgeon, Luke, who is an orthopaedic registrar, and a younger sister, Polly, who is an anaesthetic registrar.

Spencer attended Canterbury

Canterbury, Victoria

Canterbury is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 10 km east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Boroondara...

 Primary School, Malvern

Malvern, Victoria

Malvern is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 8 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Stonnington. At the 2006 Census, Malvern had a population of 9,422.-History:...

 Central School and the private Scotch College

Scotch College, Melbourne

Scotch College, Melbourne is an independent, Presbyterian, day and boarding school for boys, located in Hawthorn, an inner-eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia....

. Whilst at Scotch he auditioned for the long-running soap opera, Neighbours

Neighbours

Neighbours is an Australian television soap opera first broadcast on the Seven Network on 18 March 1985. It was created by TV executive Reg Watson, who proposed the idea of making a show that focused on realistic stories and portrayed adults and teenagers who talk openly and solve their problems...

. He continued to work toward his VCE

Victorian Certificate of Education

The Victorian Certificate of Education or VCE is the credential awarded to secondary school students who successfully complete high school level studies in the state of Victoria, Australia. Study for the VCE is usually completed over two years, but it can be spread over a longer period in some cases...

 qualification while working on the show and graduated in 1997.

Career

Acting

As an actor, Spencer is well known in Australia and the UK as Billy Kennedy in the Australian soap opera Neighbours

Neighbours

Neighbours is an Australian television soap opera first broadcast on the Seven Network on 18 March 1985. It was created by TV executive Reg Watson, who proposed the idea of making a show that focused on realistic stories and portrayed adults and teenagers who talk openly and solve their problems...

, a role he played for six years from 1994 to 2000. He has since appeared in the drama Death in Holy Orders, as well as the films Winning London

Winning London

-Plot:Chloe Lawrence is a very driven teenager and leader of her high school's Model United Nations team. After performing particularly well in a competition, the team is selected to attend the international Model UN competition in London, United Kingdom. One of the team members, Randall, is...

, Uptown Girls

Uptown Girls

Uptown Girls is a 2003 comedy film directed by Boaz Yakin and adapted from the story by Allison Jacobs into screenplay by Julia Dahl, Mo Ogrodnik and Lisa Davidowitz. It starred Brittany Murphy as a 22-year-old living a charmed life as the daughter of a famous rock and roll musician...

and Swimming Upstream

Swimming Upstream

Swimming Upstream is a 2003 Australian film written by Tony Fingleton and directed by Russell Mulcahy. It stars Harry McKeon, Jesse Spencer, Geoffrey Rush, and Judy Davis. It shows the life of Fingleton from childhood to adulthood, and dealing with a topsy-turvy family...

.

Since 2004, he has been based in the United States playing the role of intensivist Dr. Robert Chase in House

House (TV series)

House is an American television medical drama that debuted on the Fox network on November 16, 2004. The show's central character is Dr. Gregory House , an unconventional and misanthropic medical genius who heads a team of diagnosticians at the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in...

, alongside Hugh Laurie

Hugh Laurie

James Hugh Calum Laurie, OBE , better known as Hugh Laurie , is an English actor, voice artist, comedian, writer, musician, recording artist, and director...

 in the title role

Gregory House

Gregory House, M.D., or simply referred to as House, is a fictional antihero and title character of the American television series House, played by Hugh Laurie. He is the Chief of Diagnostic Medicine at the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, where he leads a team of diagnosticians...

. He also co-starred with his ex-fiancée Jennifer Morrison

Jennifer Morrison

Jennifer Marie Morrison is an American actress, model and film producer. She is best known for her role as Dr. Allison Cameron in House, whom she played for five-and-a-half years, and also as Zoey Pierson in the sixth season of How I Met Your Mother...

 in House and in the film Flourish

Flourish (film)

Flourish is a film written, produced and directed by Kevin Palys and starring Jennifer Morrison, Jesse Spencer, Leighton Meester and Ian Brennan .-Plot:...

.

Music

As of 2008, he plays violin in Band From TV

Band From TV

Band from TV is a charity cover band, whose members are all actors from American television series, who donate the proceeds of their performances and recordings to the charities of their choice.-Band history:...

, a music group which was formed by Greg Grunberg

Greg Grunberg

Gregory Phillip "Greg" Grunberg is an American television actor. He is best known from starring as Matt Parkman on the NBC television series Heroes. Other notable roles included the characters Sean Blumberg on Felicity and Eric Weiss on Alias , both created and produced by childhood friend J. J...

, and includes his House
co-star Hugh Laurie

Hugh Laurie

James Hugh Calum Laurie, OBE , better known as Hugh Laurie , is an English actor, voice artist, comedian, writer, musician, recording artist, and director...

. They play various events, putting the proceeds into the different charities that each member supports. The band also played on American Idol Gives Back alongside Desperate Housewives

Desperate Housewives

Desperate Housewives is an American television comedy-drama series created by Marc Cherry and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. Executive producer Cherry serves as Showrunner. Other executive producers since the fourth season include Marc Cherry, Bob Daily, George W...

star Teri Hatcher

Teri Hatcher

Teri Lynn Hatcher is an American actress, writer, and presenter. She is known for her television roles as Susan Mayer on the ABC comedy-drama series Desperate Housewives, and Lois Lane on the ABC comedy-drama series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman...

.

Spencer has played the violin since the age of 10 and also plays the guitar and piano.

Awards

He was nominated for Logie Awards in 1998 and 1999 for "Most Popular Actor" for Neighbours

Neighbours

Neighbours is an Australian television soap opera first broadcast on the Seven Network on 18 March 1985. It was created by TV executive Reg Watson, who proposed the idea of making a show that focused on realistic stories and portrayed adults and teenagers who talk openly and solve their problems...

. In 2005, he was nominated for "Choice TV Breakout Performance – Male" for House M.D. at Teen Choice Awards

Teen Choice Awards

The Teen Choice Awards, are an annual awards show that air on the Fox cable channel, that honor the year's biggest biggest achievements in music, movies, sports, television, fashion and more, voted by teen viewers aged 14 through 17. Winners receive an authentic full size surfboard designed with...

 and nominated in 2009 at Screen Actors Guild Awards

Screen Actors Guild Awards

A Screen Actors Guild Award is an accolade given by the Screen Actors Guild to recognize outstanding performances by its members. The statuette given, a nude male figure holding both a mask of comedy and a mask of tragedy, is called "The Actor"...

 for "Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series".

Spencer received a "Golden Boomerang" Award by Australians in Film at the 2nd Australians in Film Breakthrough Awards on 11 May 2006, for his work on House, alongside Jacinda Barrett

Jacinda Barrett

Jacinda Barrett is an Australian American model turned actress. She first became known to audiences as a cast member on The Real World: London before appearing in films such as Ladder 49, The Namesake, The Human Stain, and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason.-Early life and career:Born in Brisbane,...

, James Wan

James Wan

James Wan is a Malaysian-born Australian producer, screenwriter, and film director of Chinese heritage. He is widely known for directing the horror film Saw and creating Billy the puppet. He also directed Dead Silence, Death Sentence and Insidious.-Life and career:Wan was born in Kuching, Sarawak,...

 and Leigh Whannell

Leigh Whannell

Leigh Whannell is an Australian screenwriter, producer, and actor, best known for his work on the Saw franchise.-Life and career:...

. In 2007, he was included in People Magazine's 100 Most Beautiful People issue.

Personal life

Spencer met his former House

House (TV series)

House is an American television medical drama that debuted on the Fox network on November 16, 2004. The show's central character is Dr. Gregory House , an unconventional and misanthropic medical genius who heads a team of diagnosticians at the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in...

co-star Jennifer Morrison

Jennifer Morrison

Jennifer Marie Morrison is an American actress, model and film producer. She is best known for her role as Dr. Allison Cameron in House, whom she played for five-and-a-half years, and also as Zoey Pierson in the sixth season of How I Met Your Mother...

 in March 2004 at Vancouver International Airport

Vancouver International Airport

Vancouver International Airport is located on Sea Island in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada, about from Downtown Vancouver. In 2010 it was the second busiest airport in Canada by aircraft movements and passengers , behind Toronto Pearson International Airport, with non-stop flights daily to...

 where they were on their way to film the pilot

Pilot (House)

"Pilot", also known as "Everybody Lies", is the first episode of the U.S. television series House. The episode premiered on the Fox network on November 16, 2004. It introduces the character of Dr. Gregory House —a maverick antisocial doctor—and his team of diagnosticians at the fictional...

 of House before they began dating in July 2004. They were engaged on 23 December 2006 in Paris. Spencer and Morrison also revealed that they were to marry on a private estate in Los Angeles later in 2007. However, in August 2007, the couple announced that they had called off their engagement.

Credits

Film
Year	Film	Role	Notes
2000	Lorna Doone Lorna Doone (2001 film) Lorna Doone is a 2001 romance/drama television movie version of Richard Doddridge Blackmore's novel of the same name. The film won the Royal Television Society's Television Award for Best Visual Effects by Colin Gorry.- External links :*...	Marwood de Whichehalse	Made-for-TV movie
2001	Curse of the Talisman	Jeremy Campbell	Made-for-TV movie
	Winning London Winning London -Plot:Chloe Lawrence is a very driven teenager and leader of her high school's Model United Nations team. After performing particularly well in a competition, the team is selected to attend the international Model UN competition in London, United Kingdom. One of the team members, Randall, is...	Lord James Browning Jr.
2002	Stranded	Fritz Robinson	Made-for-television movie
2003	Swimming Upstream Swimming Upstream Swimming Upstream is a 2003 Australian film written by Tony Fingleton and directed by Russell Mulcahy. It stars Harry McKeon, Jesse Spencer, Geoffrey Rush, and Judy Davis. It shows the life of Fingleton from childhood to adulthood, and dealing with a topsy-turvy family...	Tony Fingleton Tony Fingleton Anthony 'Tony' Fingleton is a former Australian swimmer. He won silver medal in 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games. He had invitation to participate in 1964 Summer Olympics but he rejected and went to study in Harvard University...	Based on an autobiography
	Uptown Girls Uptown Girls Uptown Girls is a 2003 comedy film directed by Boaz Yakin and adapted from the story by Allison Jacobs into screenplay by Julia Dahl, Mo Ogrodnik and Lisa Davidowitz. It starred Brittany Murphy as a 22-year-old living a charmed life as the daughter of a famous rock and roll musician...	Neil Fox
	Death in Holy Orders	Raphael Arbuthnot	Made-for-television movie
2006	Flourish Flourish (film) Flourish is a film written, produced and directed by Kevin Palys and starring Jennifer Morrison, Jesse Spencer, Leighton Meester and Ian Brennan .-Plot:...	Eddie Gator
2010	Tell-Tale Tell-Tale (film) Tell-Tale is a 2009 thriller film inspired by the Edgar Allan Poe short story The Tell-Tale Heart. It is directed by Michael Cuesta and stars Josh Lucas, Lena Headey, and Brian Cox and is produced by Tony Scott and Ridley Scott.-Plot:...	Lover
2011	The Girl Is in Trouble	Nicholas	filming
Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1994	Time Trax Time Trax Time Trax was an American/Australian co-produced science fiction television series that first aired in 1993. A police officer, sent through time into the past, has to track down and return convicted criminals who have escaped prison in the future...	Young Bill	Episode: "A Close Encounter"
1994–2000	Neighbours Neighbours Neighbours is an Australian television soap opera first broadcast on the Seven Network on 18 March 1985. It was created by TV executive Reg Watson, who proposed the idea of making a show that focused on realistic stories and portrayed adults and teenagers who talk openly and solve their problems...	Billy Kennedy	Regular role (1994–2000; 2005)
1998	Hercules: The Animated Series Hercules: The Animated Series Hercules is an animated series based on the 1997 film of the same name and the Greek myth. The series follows teenage Hercules training as a hero as well as trying to adjust to life. With his free-spirited friend Icarus, his future-seeing friend Cassandra and his teacher Philoctetes , he battles...	Triten Jr.	Episode: "Hercules and the Son of Poseidon"; voice
2002	Always Greener Always Greener Always Greener was an Australian television drama/comedy series that aired on the Seven Network which followed the fortunes of two families, one from the city and the other from the country, when they decide to switch homes and start a new direction in life for themselves...	Kyle	Episode: "A Death in the Family"
2004–present	House House (TV series) House is an American television medical drama that debuted on the Fox network on November 16, 2004. The show's central character is Dr. Gregory House , an unconventional and misanthropic medical genius who heads a team of diagnosticians at the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in...	Dr. Robert Chase	Regular role (Seasons 1-present)
2005	Blue Heelers Blue Heelers Blue Heelers is an Australian police drama series which depicted the lives of police officers stationed at the fictional Mount Thomas police station in a small town in Victoria.- Overview :...	Lee Cruickshank	Episode: "Dangerous Animals"
Theatre
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1991	The King and I The King and I The King and I is a stage musical, the fifth by the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. The work is based on the 1944 novel Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon and derives from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, who became governess to the children of King Mongkut of Siam in...	Louis	State Theatre, Melbourne, Australia.
1992	Winnie the Pooh	Christopher Robin	The Alexander Theatre (Monash), Australia.
1993	Scrooge	Older brother of Tiny Tim	The Princess Theatre, Melbourne, Australia.
1998–1999	Peter Pan Peter Pan Peter Pan is a character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie . A mischievous boy who can fly and magically refuses to grow up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood adventuring on the small island of Neverland as the leader of his gang the Lost Boys, interacting with...	Peter Pan	Hammond Productions (London), White Rocks Theatre, Hastings, UK.
1999–2000	Jack and the Beanstalk Jack and the Beanstalk Jack and the Beanstalk is a folktale said by English historian Francis Palgrave to be an oral legend that arrived in England with the Vikings. The tale is closely associated with the tale of Jack the Giant-killer. It is known under a number of versions...	Jack	Artist Management Group production – Wolverhampton Grand Theatre, UK.
2003	The Modernists	Terrance	The Crucible Theatre, Los Angeles, California
Music videos
Year	Song Title	Role	Artist
2009	"Still Have My Heart"	Dentist	Caitlin Crosby Caitlin Crosby Caitlin Crosby is an American singer-songwriter and actress.-Life and career:While in junior high school, Crosby began playing music in church bands. During her teenage years, she was accepted into Beverly Hills High School theater program, where she first began her acting career...
2010	"Say Goodbye"	Boyfriend	Katharine McPhee Katharine McPhee Katharine Hope McPhee is an American pop singer, songwriter, actress, model, and television personality. She gained fame as a contestant on the fifth season of the Fox reality show American Idol in 2006, eventually finishing as the runner-up.Her self-titled debut album was released on RCA Records...

External links