Born on January 29, 1977 in Knoxville, Illinois, Justin Hartley is an actor best known for his roles on the daytime drama Passions and the popular CW series Smallville. Hartley grew up in Orland Park, Illinois as the second of four children. A sports buff from his childhood, he is an avid basketball player but also played soccer and baseball at Carl Sandburg High School, which he attended. He proceeded to attend Southern Illinois University and the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he graduated with a degree in theater and history. In 2003, he started dating his Passions co-star Lindsay Korman. The two was engaged after six months and was subsequently married in 2004.
Hartley’s most well-known role is his four-year portrayal of Fox Crane on the daytime drama Passions on Fox. For his role, he was twice nominated for a Soap Opera Digest Award for Favorite Triangle and Outstanding Younger Lead Actor.
Hartley played the titular role of Aquaman in a television pilot of the CW. While the show wasn’t picked up for regular programming, the pilot was made available online. Later that year, he had a seven-episode run as the billionaire Oliver Queen, the alter-ego of Green Arrow, on Smallville. In June, 2008, his return to Smallville was confirmed as a regular castmember.
An animated micro-series called Smallville Legends: The Oliver Queen Chronicles was launched by Sprint Wireless. As the title implies, the series follows the Green Arrow’s origins as a young boy. Hartley bagged the starring role of Ben on a new series called Eight Days a Week opposite Christina Milian and Mario Lopez but it was canceled prior to its premiere. His other screen credits include a guest appearance on an episode of the CBS procedural CSI: NY, Spellbound, Red Canyon, and Spring Breakdown.