J.D. Pardo made his acting debut in 2001 in the TV series Titans, where he appeared for two episodes. Three years later, he was cast in the film A Cinderella Story, as well as the drama series American Dreams as Pvt. Carlos Perez. He then moved on to star on Clubhouse and later in the movie A Girl Like Me: The Gwen Araujo Story as Edward Araujo, Jr./Gwen Amber Rose Araujo, his most famous role thus far.
In 2007, Prado became part of Hidden Palms though the series was short-lived. In the same year, he played Sean Salazar in the mini-series Drive. In 2012, he was cast as a half-vampire in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 and on the NBC series Revolution as Nate.