justin hartley

Justin Scott Hartley was born on January 29, 1977, in Knoxville, Illinois, and raised in Orland Park, Illinois. He developed an early interest in acting and pursued it seriously during his college years, attending Southern Illinois University Carbondale and the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he majored in history and theatre. After graduation, he relocated to Los Angeles to pursue a career in the entertainment industry.

Hartley began his professional acting career in 2002, securing a regular role on the daytime soap opera “Passions,” where he portrayed Fox Crane until 2006. In 2006, he took on the starring role of Aquaman in a CW television pilot. Later that year, he joined the cast of the CW series “Smallville” as Oliver Queen (Green Arrow), initially in a recurring capacity for seven episodes before becoming a regular cast member from 2008 to 2011. During his time on “Smallville,” Hartley also contributed behind the camera, co-writing the 2010 episode “Sacrifice” and directing the 2011 episode “Dominion.” Following “Smallville,” Hartley appeared in various television series, including “Chuck,” “Castle,” and “Hart of Dixie.” From 2013 to 2014, he had a recurring role as Patrick Osbourne in the ABC primetime soap opera “Revenge,” appearing in 13 episodes. He also held a recurring role in “Mistresses” from 2014 to 2016. In November 2014, Hartley assumed the role of Adam Newman in the CBS daytime soap opera “The Young and the Restless,” where he remained until September 2016 and received a 2016 Daytime Emmy Award nomination for Lead Actor in a Drama Series.

Hartley gained significant recognition for his role as Kevin Pearson in the NBC drama series “This Is Us,” which premiered in 2016 and concluded in 2022. For this role, he received multiple Critics Choice Award nominations for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (2019, 2020, 2021), and he and his co-stars won back-to-back SAG Awards for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series in 2018 and 2019. He also directed two episodes of “This Is Us.” In film, Hartley’s credits include “A Bad Moms Christmas” (2017), “Senior Year” (2022), and “The Noel Diary” (2022), which he also executive produced. In 2024, Hartley began starring as Colter Shaw in the CBS action drama series “Tracker,” a show he also executive produces. “Tracker” achieved significant success, becoming the #1 series on network television at the end of its first season. Off-screen, Hartley is a partner in Revel Spirits and has an overall pod deal with 20th Television through his production company, ChangeUp Productions.