Jesse Abraham Arthur McCartney is an American actor, singer, and songwriter. He was born April 9, 1987 in Ardsley, New York, to Ginger (Sarber) and Scot McCartney. He has two younger siblings, Lea Joyce McCartney and Timothy (Timmy) Glover Mark McCartney. He has Scottish, English, German, and Irish ancestry. Jesse attended the public school system in Ardsley and graduated from Ardsley High School on June 22, 2005.
Jesse realized his love for singing and acting from doing community plays. He was in Oliver (1994), The King and I (1995 and 1997), A Christmas Carol (1998), with Roger Daltrey, and Salute to Broadway (2002). At the same time he was also part of the singing group Sugar Beats. In 1998 Jesse got the part of Adam Chandler Jr. on the show All My Children. He stayed on the show from 1998-2001 when they decided to age Jr. By then he had auditioned for a boy band and he was one of the 5 to get picked out of 500 that showed up and became 1/5 of Dream Street, who was signed to Edel Entertainment. Their first album was released July 10, 2001. The band lasted May 1999 until August 2002. The album went gold, but in 2002 they split due to a lawsuit concerning the producers. Jesse then decided to go solo.
Sugar Beats Producers Sherry Kondor and Bonnie Gallanter, along with Andrew Gold and Ginger McCartney then started JumpAhead Productions and signed him. Jesse then made an EP Called JMac which contained the songs "Beautiful Soul," "Don't You," and "Why Don't You Kiss Her." The EP was released July 22, 2003. He toured for a while with his band, consisting of Dillon Konder (lead guitar), Pete Chema (bass guitar), Katie Spencer (keyboards and background vocals), Sharisse Francisco and Karina LaGravinesse (both on background vocals). After touring he then started his full album which was released September 28, 2004. His song, "Beautiful Soul", was an instant hit. The album went Platinum on Febuary 24, 2005. He now has two singles out, "Beautiful Soul", which came out Febuary 14, 2005 and "She's No You" which came out June 7, 2005. He then auditioned for the TV show Summerland (2004), and was cast as Bradin Westerly. The show was the highest rated series on the WB Network during its 2 year run. On television, Jesse also guest starred on Greek, Law & Order SVU, and CSI: Las Vegas. He has recently joined the cast of Army Wives as Private Tim Truman.
He also co-wrote the smash hit "Bleeding Love" for singer Leona Lewis which was a #1 hit in 34 countries, the only song in over a decade to achieve this status. The song won ASCAP's song of the year and was nominated for a Grammy Award. His single, "Leavin'," landed him a #1 spot on the charts and was Top 40 Radio's most played song of 2008. "How Do You Sleep" followed in 2009, also charting in the top 10.
McCartney's film credits include the teen cult classic Keith, which won five international film festival awards, followed by Beware The Gonzo and Chernobyl Diaries. McCartney has voiced numerous animated characters for films, video games, and television series including all three Alvin and the Chipmunks films, Horton Hears a Who, Kingdom Hearts, and Young Justice.
