Monroe Jackson Rathbone, V (born December 14, 1984), better known as Jackson Rathbone, is an American actor and musician. He is perhaps best known for his role as Jasper Hale in The Twilight Saga and for playing Sokka in The Last Airbender.Rathbone was born in Singapore, the son of American parents Randee Lynn (née Brauner) and Monroe Jackson Rathbone IV. His great-grandfather, Monroe Jackson Rathbone II, was the chairman of Standard Oil of New Jersey, which later became Exxon Rathbone is also distantly related to Civil War general Stonewall Jackson. Because of his father's job at Mobil Oil, Rathbone has lived in places ranging from Indonesia to Midland, Texas. He started out in local theater in Midland with the youth actors program "The Pickwick Players", initially doing musical theatre. For his junior and senior years of high school, Rathbone attended the Interlochen Arts Academy, a private school for the arts in Michigan, where he majored in acting. After graduation, he had planned to go to the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, but went instead to Los Angeles to experiment with film acting.
After being in Los Angeles for a short time, Rathbone was cast in Disney 411, where he interviewed up-and-coming personalities like Hilary Duff and the sister duo Aly & AJ. He has also had guest roles on The O.C. and Close to Home. His film roles include work in Molding Clay, Pray for Morning, and Travis and Henry. In 2005, he scored the role of Nicholas Fiske in ABC Family's original series Beautiful People. In a 2008 interview, he stated it was his first leading man role and was his most difficult role to fit into.
In 2008, he played Jasper Hale in the film Twilight, based on the best-selling novel by Stephenie Meyer. He reprised his role in the sequels to Twilight, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn. In 2009, Rathbone played Jeremy in S. Darko. In addition to that role, he won kudos for his performance as a serial killer on Criminal Minds. Rathbone played the role of Sokka in The Last Airbender, a 2010 film based on the animated series. The Last Airbender has caused controversy because of the casting of white actors like Rathbone to play characters that some fans felt were depictions of Asians or Inuit. Rathbone stated, "I think it's one of those things where I pull my hair up, shave the sides, and I definitely need a tan. It's one of those things where, hopefully, the audience will suspend disbelief a little bit."
Variety reported Rathbone would soon star in an upcoming indie film drama, Truckstop, which will begin filming in September. Rathbone will be playing the role of Charles, "a man with cerebral palsy who takes care of his dying father while working at truckstop, where he befriends a troubled young prostitute." Rathbone appeared in an episode of No Ordinary Family on November 9, 2010.
Rathbone was recently cast as the lead in a new upcoming teen action series, Aim High. He will portray the role of Nick Green, a high school junior who's just starting a new school year as one of the country's 64 highly trained teenage operatives. Filming took place in November 2010 and the series is slated to premiere in 2011. In May 2011 Rathbone began shooting Live at The Foxes Den, a film in which he plays the lead role of lawyer Bobby Kelly.
Rathbone has a production company, PatchMo Entertainment, and a record company, Happy Jack Records.
