Justin Jahnke was born on March 22, 1994 in Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA. He is the youngest sibling of 4 children born to David Jahnke and Debby Jahnke. Both parents are Green Bay natives and attended high school together. His father attended University of Wisconsin Green Bay for Finance and Economics. He works at Proctor and Gamble as a mechanic. His mother worked for an insurance company in Wisconsin, and grooms and shows dogs professionally. She was very involved in drama and musicals in high school and coached Justin in addition to appearing in 2 of his projects with him. His older siblings include, Ryan who is 10 years older and attended Iowa State for Aerospace Engineering and joined the Air Force as a pilot, Steffany who is 5 years older and is a nationally rated equestrian, and Jeremy who is one year his senior and who shares many of the same interests outside of acting. Justin attended Howe Elementary in Green Bay, Wisconsin through the third grade. His father took a transfer for work and moved to Montrose, Pennsylvania, a small community of 2500 people. Justin attended Lathrop Elementary from 4th grade through 6th grade, where he was a straight A student, despite missing school for modeling and acting assignments. He received the President's Award for his high grades in 2006.

Justin became interested in acting, when he was approached by a talent scout while showing his samoyed, Gabby, at a dog show in New Jersey. He attended an open call the following week at a top New York Talent Agency and was picked up right away. His first professional jobs were for modeling and print advertising.

He landed his first film role in The Red Ball (2006) as Timothy B Settle. This film was written and directed by 'Steven Turnwall' This was the third project he ever auditioned for and he was cast in a co-starring role as an eccentric wiz kid, whose ideas keep getting his friend and him in trouble. While filming this film, he was asked to audition for Suffer the Little Children (2006) which was based on the short story written by 'Stephen King' from his Nightmares and Dreamscapes collection. The story was adapted to screenplay and directed by Bernardo Villela and was produced by Mark Miller. Justin was cast for the supporting role of Edward.

Justin's first starring role came shortly after when he was asked to audition for Fall of the Traverser (2006) which was written and directed by Albert Thrower. Justin plays Burt Jr., a momma's boy, who is escorted into the woods for a camping trip by his friends in order to make a man out of him. He stumbles upon a world filled with monsters who are trying to take over the world, and gains the admiration of his buddies.

A number of films followed including Green Vapor (2006) which was written and directed by NYU student Tiffany Dukes. Justin stars as Emmitt, a young boy who is engrossed in comic book heroes and runs away from boarding school and meets what he believes to be his favorite heroine, Green Vapor. He believes that he has received super powers only to find out that his hopes are a lie. He was double cast in A Story of a Panic (2006) which was directed by Mark McConaughy, another New York University film student. He also appeared in Outside (2006) which was directed by Daniel Carbone. His first feature film was Jingle Berry (2006) where he appeared as Eric, a boy in the future.

Justin was teamed up with Rebecca Blaich who also appeared in Suffer the Little Children and was cast as his sister in Take Good Care of Honeybun (2006) which was written and directed by Gordon Wiener. This was a dark comedy and stars a Bulldog named Murphy.

His major film debut will be in You Have The Right To Remain Violent (2007) which is in pre-production. Justin was recently cast in the starring role of Zack Whitley in this independent feature film written by Joel A. Greenberg and Doug Klozzner.

Other interests are many and Justin enjoys boating and fishing and has recently started water skiing and wake boarding behind the family pleasure boat with his father. He also enjoys camping in Northern Wisconsin at his uncle's cabin.

Justin has been active in 4-H since the age of 5. He learned how to shoot Air Rifle and Pistol and .22 in addition to Archery through 4-H. He received a number of medals in tournaments. He enjoys building and launching rockets with his older brothers. He is an All Star Little League baseball player, as both a 3rd baseman, and also a pitcher. (He can throw a 70 mph fast ball). His greatest hope is to appear in a baseball movie. Justin also handles dogs and is active in Jr. Showmanship and Conformation handling at American Kennel Club events. He plays the recorder and saxophone in the school band, and was active in the traveling choir at his elementary school in Montrose.

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Justin Jahnke

Actor