Jackson Rathbone V is an American actor and musician who plays Sokka in The Last Airbender. He has guest starred in various TV shows such as The O.C., Close to Home, and The War at Home, and is known for playing a supporting role in the ABC Family drama Beautiful People. He recently played the role of Jasper Hale in The Twilight Saga.
Rathbone was born in Singapore and has lived in places ranging from Indonesia to Midland, Texas. He started out in local theater in Midland, Texas with the youth actors program "The Pickwick Players", initially doing musical theater. 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, but instead went to Los Angeles to experiment with the big screen.
Rathbone has had guest roles on The O.C. and Close to Home. He also did extensive work for Disney 411, and interviewed up-and-coming personalities like Hilary Duff. His movie roles include work in Molding Clay (aka River's End), Pray for Morning, and Travis and Henry. In 2008, he played the character of Jasper Hale (a vampire) in the movies Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse, based on the best-selling novel by Stephenie Meyer.
When not busy pursuing a TV/film career, Rathbone also enjoys music, writing, singing and producing. He performs in a band called 100 Monkeys with two friends that he met in high school at Interlochen Arts Academy. He left the band on March 4th 2012.[1]
While shooting The Last Airbender, he and the 100 Monkeys band members stayed in a house. Jackson recalled that they would "jam in the kitchen, eating cheesesteaks and playing beer pong. It was kinda like a musician frat house."[2]
He studied martial arts as a kid then did a bit of Kung Fu and Krav Maga on The Last Airbender.[3]
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