Justin Whalin
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Justin Garrett Whalin (born September 6, 1974) is an American drama teacher, administrator, and former actor. He portrayed the teenage
Andy Barclay Andrew "Andy" Barclay is a fictional character and one of the primary protagonists of the '' Child's Play'' horror film series. He was introduced in '' the original Child's Play'' and has become one of the lead archenemies of the series’ ant ...
in ''
Child's Play 3 ''Child's Play 3'' is a 1991 American slasher film and the third installment in the '' Child's Play'' film series. The film is written by Don Mancini and directed by Jack Bender. Brad Dourif once again reprised his role as Chucky from the previ ...
'', Ridley Freeborn in ''
Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) originally created and designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical ...
'', and
Jimmy Olsen Jimmy Olsen is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Olsen is most often portrayed as a young photojournalist working for the ''Daily Planet''. He is close friends with Lois Lane and Superman, Clark Kent ...
in the American television series '' Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman''.


Early life

Whalin was born in the
Sunset District The Sunset District is a neighborhood located on the West Side of San Francisco, California, United States. Location The Sunset District is the largest neighborhood within the city and county of San Francisco. Golden Gate Park forms the neighb ...
of
San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
,
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 ...
. His mother, Terry Villanueva, is a teacher and school administrator who owns and operates two L.A. area schools: The Learning Castle and La Cañada Preparatory. His father, Craig Whalin, is a real estate appraiser. His parents divorced when he was seven years old and both remarried. He has a younger half-brother and an older stepbrother and stepsister. He studied acting at the
American Conservatory Theater The American Conservatory Theater (ACT) is a nonprofit theater company in San Francisco, California, United States, that offers both classical and contemporary theater productions. It also has an attached acting school. History The American ...
(A.C.T.) in San Francisco, and attended Lowell High School. After years of commuting between Los Angeles and San Francisco, he and his mother relocated to L.A. permanently when he was fifteen years old. He completed his high school education through U.C. Berkeley's homeschooling program.


Career

Whalin worked as an actor from the age of eleven, when he appeared in a production of the play ''
The Little Prince ''The Little Prince'' (, ) is a novella written and illustrated by French writer and aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. It was first published in English and French in the United States by Reynal & Hitchcock in April 1943 and was published po ...
'' at
San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
's Victoria Theatre. His first TV role was on ''
General Hospital ''General Hospital'' (often abbreviated as ''GH'') is an American daytime television soap opera created by Frank and Doris Hursley which has been broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC since April 1, 1963. Originally a half-hour seria ...
'', after he caught the attention of a casting director who was giving an acting class. He starred in the 1993
CBS Schoolbreak Special ''CBS Schoolbreak Special'' is an American anthology series for teenagers that aired on CBS from December 1978 to January 1996. The series began under the title ''CBS Afternoon Playhouse'', and was changed during the 1984–85 season A season ...
production '' Other Mothers'', for which he won a
Daytime Emmy The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York-based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NA ...
. He went on to star in '' Miracle at Midnight'' opposite
Mia Farrow Maria de Lourdes Villiers "Mia" Farrow ( ; born February 9, 1945) is an American actress. She first gained notice for her role as Allison MacKenzie in the television soap opera ''Peyton Place (TV series), Peyton Place'' and gained further recogn ...
and
Sam Waterston Samuel Atkinson Waterston (born November 15, 1940) is an American actor. Waterston is known for his work in theater, television, and film. He has received numerous accolades including a Primetime Emmy Award, Golden Globe Award, and Screen Actor ...
. He also auditioned to play Billy Loomis in '' Scream''. Whalin was cast as the young ''
Daily Planet The ''Daily Planet'' is a fictional newspaper appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with Superman. The newspaper was first mentioned in ''Action Comics'' #9 (November 13, 1939) – Underworld Politics ...
'' photographer
Jimmy Olsen Jimmy Olsen is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Olsen is most often portrayed as a young photojournalist working for the ''Daily Planet''. He is close friends with Lois Lane and Superman, Clark Kent ...
in the TV series '' Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman'' from 1994 to 1997. Whalin said that initially the only
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he got on the show was from people complaining that he was not as good as
Michael Landes Michael Christopher Landes (born September 18, 1972) is an American actor of television and film. Personal life Michael Christopher Landes was born to Patricia and Bernard Landes on September 18, 1972, in The Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the no ...
(who played Olsen during the show's first season), and that it was not until around his fifth episode that he began to see an even mix of positive and negative fan reactions. He enjoyed the role, though he said it often seemed limited to delivering exposition; a reoccurring motif of the series was that Lois and/or Clark would ask Jimmy to research a suspicious person or organization, and in a later scene Jimmy would rattle off the requested names, dates, addresses, and backstory. When Whalin was first cast, the producers had planned a Jimmy Olsen-centric episode in which Jimmy heads to
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to look for his long-lost father, but it was never produced, though the show did get Olsen-centric episodes in season 3 ("The Dad Who Came in From the Cold") and 4 ("AKA Superman"). Whalin quit acting in 2009 to work as a social studies/drama teacher and administrator at The Learning Castle and La Cañada Preparatory, his mother's exclusive schools in the Los Angeles area.


Filmography


Film


Television


Awards


References


External links

*
''Film-Reviews.net'' interview
(25 July 2007) {{DEFAULTSORT:Whalin, Justin 1974 births American male child actors American male film actors American male television actors Living people Male actors from San Francisco 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors American Conservatory Theater alumni