Rudy Pankow (; born August 12, 1998) is an American film and television actor. He is best known for his role as JJ Maybank on the

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

teen drama In film and television show, television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or docudrama, semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humour, humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional te ...

series ''

Outer Banks The Outer Banks (frequently abbreviated OBX) are a string of barrier islands and spits off the coast of North Carolina and southeastern Virginia, on the east coast of the United States. They line most of the North Carolina coastline, separatin ...

''.

Early life

Rudy Pankow was born and raised in Ketchikan, Alaska. His parents are Andrew and Penny Pankow. Rudy is the middle child; he has an older brother Alec Pankow and younger brother Henning Pankow. He began his interest in acting and production in middle school via YouTube. He attended Ketchikan High School, where he played soccer. Rudy is also certified in kayaking and can play the drums. Although he considered joining culinary school, Pankow decided to become an actor and joined the Michael Woolson Studio to improve his skills. After completion of the acting course, he started performing in theatre to gain more experience. During his time in theatre, he played roles in ''

The Nutcracker ''The Nutcracker'' (, ), Opus number, Op. 71, is an 1892 two-act classical ballet (conceived as a '; ) by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, set on Christmas Eve at the foot of a Christmas tree in a child's imagination featuring a Nutcracker doll. Th ...

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Mary Poppins Mary Poppins may refer to: * Mary Poppins (character), a nanny with magical powers * Mary Poppins (franchise), based on the fictional nanny ** Mary Poppins (book series), ''Mary Poppins'' (book series), the original 1934–1988 children's fanta ...

'' and ''

Oliver Twist ''Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress'', is the second novel by English author Charles Dickens. It was originally published as a serial from 1837 to 1839 and as a three-volume book in 1838. The story follows the titular orphan, who, ...

''.

Career

In 2020, Pankow began playing JJ Maybank on

's mystery

television series ''

''. The series is set in a community in the

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

and follows the conflict between two groups of teenagers in search of a lost treasure. Although it takes place in Outer Banks, the series was filmed in

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atla ...

. The show has been an international success for Netflix. In March 2023, ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

'' magazine reported that all three seasons made Netflix's global top 10 weekly list, with season three attracting 99 million hours viewed, while the second and first seasons garnered 27.7 million hours and 34 million hours viewed, according to Netflix data. In 2024, he starred as Romeo in the

American Repertory Theatre The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) is a professional not-for-profit theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1979 by Robert Brustein, the A.R.T. is known for its commitment to new American plays and music–theater explorations; to ne ...

’s ''

Romeo and Juliet ''The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet'', often shortened to ''Romeo and Juliet'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare about the romance between two young Italians from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's ...

''.

Personal life

Since 2020, Pankow has been in a relationship with Elaine Siemek, who has also been working on ''Outer Banks'' since the start of its production.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pankow, Rudy Living people American male television actors Male actors from Alaska 21st-century American male actors People from Ketchikan, Alaska American male film actors American male stage actors 1998 births