Jalen Thomas Brooks (born October 11, 2001) is an American actor. He is known for his recurring roles in the short lived

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

legal drama, ''

Rebel A rebel is a participant in a rebellion. Rebel or rebels may also refer to: People * Rebel (given name) * Rebel (surname) * Patriot (American Revolution), during the American Revolution * American Southerners, as a form of self-identification; ...

'' and

The CW The CW Network, LLC (commonly referred to as The CW or simply CW) is an American commercial broadcast television network which is controlled by Nexstar Media Group through a 75% ownership interest. The network's name is derived from the firs ...

's ''

Walker Walker or The Walker may refer to: People *Walker (given name) *Walker (surname) *Walker (Brazilian footballer) (born 1982), Brazilian footballer Places In the United States *Walker, Arizona, in Yavapai County *Walker, Mono County, California * ...

'', a reboot of the iconic 1990s action series, ''

Walker, Texas Ranger ''Walker, Texas Ranger'' is an American action fiction, action Crime drama, crime television series created by Leslie Greif and Paul Haggis. It was inspired by the film ''Lone Wolf McQuade'', with both the film and the series starring Chuck Norr ...

''. He also had a brief recurring role in the

TNT Troponin T (shortened TnT or TropT) is a part of the troponin complex, which are proteins integral to the contraction of skeletal and heart muscles. They are expressed in skeletal and cardiac myocytes. Troponin T binds to tropomyosin and helps ...

drama, '' Animal Kingdom''. Brooks made his feature film debut in the 2023 horror film, ''

Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in October and November in the United States, Canada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Germany. It is also observed in the Australian territory ...

''.

Early life and education

Jalen Thomas Brooks was born on October 11, 2001. in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. He has one brother. Brooks was raised in

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

, where he attended Liberty High School in

Henderson, Nevada Henderson is a city in Clark County, Nevada, United States, about southeast of downtown Las Vegas. It is the List of cities in Nevada, 2nd most populous city in Nevada, after Las Vegas, with 317,610 residents. The city is part of the Las Vegas V ...

, and played basketball growing up. Brooks even had letters from college scouts as early as his freshman year in high school. He ultimately gave up basketball due to boredom and physical exhaustion. He credited ''

The Hunger Games ''The Hunger Games'' are a series of Young adult fiction, young adult Dystopian fiction, dystopian novels written by American author Suzanne Collins. The series consists of a trilogy that follows teenage protagonist Katniss Everdeen, and two ...

'' (2012) with piquing his interest in acting as he saw kids his age. Brooks began training in theater courses which he admits were intimidating. Instead, he later enrolled in a film acting course. He likened film acting to a team sport like basketball. Brooks studied at DreamTraxx Acting Academy in Vegas. There he found an agent and began taking auditions.

Career

Brooks credited his mother for his career as his family resided in Las Vegas, Brooks and his mother would often commute for his auditions in Burbank. In 2019, Brooks made his television debut in an episode of The CW's ''

Supergirl Supergirl is the name of several fictional superheroines appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The original, current, and most well known Supergirl is Supergirl (Kara Zor-El), Kara Zor-El, the cousin of superhero Superman. Th ...

''. Fresh off a recurring role as Blaise on

's ''Animal Kingdom'', Brooks was cast in the recurring role of Sean in

's ''Rebel'' on February 9, 2021. While the series was short lived, Brooks appeared in 8 out of the 10 episodes. On October 22, 2021, it was announced that Brooks had been cast as Colton Davidson on

's ''Walker''. At the time, Brooks had just wrapped ''Rebel'' and he was looking to take a break when his manager urged him to audition for ''Walker'' instead. He was shocked when he booked the gig and said "It was honestly the best decision in my life, just to do it." Having grown up on ''

Supernatural Supernatural phenomena or entities are those beyond the Scientific law, laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin 'above, beyond, outside of' + 'nature'. Although the corollary term "nature" has had multiple meanin ...

'', the actor was excited to work opposite

Jared Padalecki Jared Tristan Padalecki (born July 19, 1982) is an American actor. He is best known for playing the role of Sam Winchester in the TV series ''Supernatural''. He rose to fame in the early 2000s after appearing on the television series '' Gilmore ...

and fellow ''Supernatural'' alumni,

Mitch Pileggi Mitch Pileggi (; born April 5, 1952) is an American actor. He played Horace Pinker in '' Shocker'', Walter Skinner on ''The X-Files'', Colonel Steven Caldwell on ''Stargate Atlantis'', Ernest Darby in '' Sons of Anarchy'', and Harris Ryland i ...

. Brooks had briefly met his ''Walker'' co-star

Odette Annable Odette Juliette Annable (; born May 10, 1985) is an American actress. She is known for various roles in film and television, including as Dr. Jessica Adams in the Fox medical drama series ''House'', Beth McIntyre in the monster film ''Cloverfi ...

when they both worked on ''Supergirl''. Brooks would appear in 20 episodes of the series. In February 2023, Brooks booked a starring role

Eli Roth Eli Raphael Roth (born April 18, 1972) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, and actor. As a director and producer, he is most closely associated with the horror genre, namely splatter films, having directed the films ''Cabin Fev ...

's ''

''. The film was released on November 17. In 2024, Brooks was cast in the

Max Max or MAX may refer to: Animals * Max (American dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog * Max (British dog), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of the OBE) * Max (gorilla) ...

drama series, ''

The Pitt ''The Pitt'' is an American medical procedural drama television series created by R. Scott Gemmill, and executive produced by John Wells and Noah Wyle. It is Gemmill, Wells and Wyle's second collaboration, having previously worked together o ...

''.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Brooks, Jalen Thomas 2001 births Living people American male film actors American male television actors Male actors from Las Vegas Male actors from Los Angeles 21st-century American male actors