Jeremy Sumpter achieved world fame in his early teens when he starred as the title character in the multi-award-winning live-action movie adaptation of Peter Pan in 2003. After that, he enjoyed success as a television actor, most notably in the CBS drama series Clubhouse and the critically acclaimed NBC drama series Friday Night Lights—all while still a teenager. He is the winner of two Young Artist Awards, a Saturn Award, and a Change the World Award (awarded in the Youth for Humanity category). Recently, he has been concentrating on movie roles again with parts in the likes of Blood, The UnBroken, and Sargasso.
Sumpter was born in California in 1989 but grew up in Kentucky. When he was 11 years old, he became a child model, signing with an agency and almost immediately winning awards for his work. He made his film debut in 2001 with a part in a psychological thriller called Frailty alongside the likes of Matthew McConaughey and Powers Booth. He was nominated for a Saturn Award for the role. He won a Young Artist Award for his next role, in the film Just a Dream. Then, in 2002, he was picked to play Peter Pan in a major new film production of the classic fairytale. The film was warmly received by critics and saw Sumpter win yet more awards.
Sumpter has remained busy in the years since and is now an actor with over 20 years’ experience despite only being in his early 30s. Arguably his biggest success since Peter Pan has been the role of J.D. McCoy in the third and fourth seasons of the cult sports drama Friday Night Lights. But who knows what the future holds?