John Murice Jackson (born June 1, 1950) is an American

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), lit ...

, best known for playing Rear Admiral A. J. Chegwidden on the CBS series '' JAG'' and also as a special guest star on its spinoff '' NCIS'' and recurring cast to its spinoff '' NCIS: Los Angeles''. John was forced to use his middle initial "M." for his professional name because there was already a "John Jackson" registered with the

Screen Actors Guild The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide. On March 30, 2012, the union leadership announced that the SAG membership voted to me ...

when he joined the union and SAG rules prohibit two or more members from using exactly the same name.

Early life

Jackson was born in

Baton Rouge, Louisiana Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the List of capitals in the United States, capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, it is the county seat, parish seat of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, E ...

, and raised in

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the List of cities in Texas by population, fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the List of United States cities by population, 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, T ...

. He played

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

at Arlington Heights High School in Fort Worth, graduating in 1968. After graduating from the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

, Jackson taught social studies at LBJ High School in Austin, Texas.

Career

Jackson started acting in his late 20s, at a community theater. In 1980, Jackson went to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, and later to

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywoo ...

, to further his acting career. He had small roles in a number of television and

motion picture A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

productions, most notably a recurring role in the series '' Wiseguy.'' In 1986, he appeared in the TV film '' Blind Justice'', starring Tim Matheson. In 1987, Jackson had a small role in the ''

MacGyver Angus "Mac" MacGyver is the title character and the protagonist in the TV series ''MacGyver''. He is played by Richard Dean Anderson in the 1985 original series. Lucas Till portrays a younger version of MacGyver in the 2016 reboot. In both p ...

'' episode "Birth Day" as LA police sergeant Meechum who recognizes MacGyver's flag help signal, saying he does so because he spent four years in the Navy. In 1992, Jackson played Captain West, a senior JAG officer, in the American drama film '' A Few Good Men''. In 1996, Jackson took on the role of

Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star " admiral" rank. It is often rega ...

A.J. Chegwidden (the Judge Advocate General of the Navy) in ''JAG'', which he would continue to play for nine consecutive years. Jackson was Johnny B./Eli Ferguson in '' The Spitfire Grill''. His mother was played by Ellen Burstyn. Jackson had a recurring role as FBI Deputy Director Sam Cullen in the first season of Fox series '' Bones''. Jackson appeared in the series finale of ''

Jericho Jericho ( ; ar, أريحا ; he, יְרִיחוֹ ) is a Palestinian city in the West Bank. It is located in the Jordan Valley, with the Jordan River to the east and Jerusalem to the west. It is the administrative seat of the Jericho ...

'' as the ambassador of

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

to the

Allied States of America ''Jericho'' is an American post-apocalyptic action drama television series, which centers on the residents of the fictional city of Jericho, Kansas, in the aftermath of a nuclear attack on 23 major cities in the contiguous United States. It wa ...

. Jackson portrayed C-130 pilot Gus in the NBC series '' Knight Rider'' and has recently appeared on ''

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'', also referred to as ''CSI'' and ''CSI: Las Vegas'', is an American procedural forensics crime drama television series that ran on CBS from October 6, 2000, to September 27, 2015, spanning 15 seasons. This wa ...

''. Jackson returned to the role of retired admiral A.J. Chegwidden, now a civilian lawyer, in the '' NCIS'' season 10 finale, broadcast on May 14, 2013 and again as a recurring character on '' NCIS: Los Angeles'' in its 8th and 9th seasons.

Personal life

Jackson is married to Jana Gale Hawkins Jackson. They have a son, former Major League Baseball player Conor Jackson, and a daughter, Katherine.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, John M. 1950 births American male film actors American male television actors 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors Living people Players of American football from Baton Rouge, Louisiana Male actors from Austin, Texas Male actors from Baton Rouge, Louisiana Texas Longhorns football players Players of American football from Texas