American actor Jonathan Tucker was born on May 31, 1982 in Boston, Massachusetts. Raised in the city’s Irish neighborhood of Charlestown, he was a member of the Boston Ballet as a young child, having been part of their production of The Nutcracker when he was in third grade. He made his screen debut in 1994, with a supporting role in the Western comedy Troublemakers.
Tucker’s film appearances were occasional during the 1990s, as he was taking his studies, eventually graduating in 2001 at the Thacher School in Ojai, California. In 1996, he had a minor role in the drama Sleepers, which starred Kevin bacon, Billy Crudup and Robert de Niro. A year later, he made his television debut, as a guest in the television series Early Edition. In 1999, he had another minor role in the Kirsten Dunst starrer, The Virgin Suicides. He took his first starring role in the 2000 comedy 100 Girls, where he plays a college student looking for a girl he had sex with during a black out.
Tucker continued to get roles in different films, such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Stateside, Criminal, Hostage, and Cherry Crush. He also made guest appearances in several television shows, notably in The Practice, Philly, CSI, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Six Feet Under.
Tucker recently took on the starring role in the NBC drama The Black Donnellys. He plays the role of Jimmy Donnelly, the oldest of four Irish-American brothers who are involved with organized crime. He feels that, being the eldest, he should be the leader of the four, but he is known for making numerous bad decisions, and his temper always gets in the way of his jobs. This leads the other brothers to look up to Tommy (Tom Guiry), which generates friction between the two.