by Quick Facts of Jonathan Brandis
- Full Name: Jonathan Brandis
- Gender: Male
- Birth Country: Danbury, Connecticut, United States
- Net Worth: $400 thousand in 2003 prior to his death
- Height: 1.75 m
- Father: Gregory Brandis
- Birth Name: Jonathan Gregory Brandis
- Date of Birth: April 13, 1976
- Nationality: American
- Mother: Mary Brandis
- Award: Young Artist Award (1994) for seaQuest DSV
Jonathan Gregory Brandis was a well-known American actor who started his career as a child model. Brandis moved on to commercials and eventually made his way to television and films. He was as famous as modern-day Justin Bieber.
Jonathan Brandis, Birth, Early Life, & T.V.
Famous actor Jonathan Brandis was born on April 13, 1976, in Danbury, Connecticut, to Gregory Brandis, a food distributor, and firefighter and Mary Brandis, his mother. He attended a vocational school in Valley and graduated in 1993.
He started acting from a very young age, and at the age of two, he was featured as a child model for Buster Brown shoes. Brandis started playing in television advertisements at the age of four.
Why was Jonathan Brandis Famous?
Brandis became a young male role model who was pretty famous among female viewers those days. His acting debut came from his ABC soap opera One Life to Live in 1982 as Kevin Buchanan.
In 1990, the protagonist Bill Denbrough’s role in Stephen King’s supernatural horror mini-series “It” gave him the most needed recolonization. In 1990, Bastian Bux starred in The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter. He starred as Lucas Wolenczak, a teen prodigy on the NBC series SeaQuest DSV, at the age of 17 in 1993.
At the height of his popularity, Brandis reportedly received over 4,000 fan mails each week. So due to the numerous female supporters, he had to be taken to the seaQuest DSV’s set by three studio security guards.
Early Career
At six, Brandis won Kevin Buchanan’s part in a soap opera One Life to Live. He moved to L.A. at the age of nine, and took part in concerts like Blossom, L.A. Law, Who the boss?, The Wonder Years, Full House, Kate & Allie, Murder, She Wrote, and many more.
At the age of 14, Brandis was cast as Bastian Bux in The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter, which was his career’s very first lead role in T.V. That same year, Brandis performed together with Tim Curry as a teenager in Denbrough as “Stuttering Bill.” Critics praised his character, and he is still remembered for Denbrough which was based on a 90s epic horror novel of the same name.
Professional Career
Brandis then appeared with action figure Chuck Norris in a comedy role and again worked with Rodney Dangerfield in Ladybugs. His role with Chuck established him as a versatile actor. Around 17 years of age, in Steven Spielberg’s futuristic science fiction series SeaQuest DSV, which is Brandis’ best-known role as scientific prodigy Lucas Wolenczak. The role pushed him into the status of a teen idol.
He co-wrote and created an episode of the series “The Siamese Dream” during his stint on SeaQuest DSV.
In Disney’s animated series Aladdin voiced the famous “Mozenrath,” an evil young sorcerer and necromancer. Brandis appeared in the television movie Her Last Chance, starring Kellie Martin after SeaQuest DSV was canceled in 1996.
His next role was in Born Free: A New Adventure, which was a T.V. film. Chris Noth starred as his on-screen dad who was shot in South Africa. He acted in Outside Providence and Ride with the Devil in 1999. He then starred in the Bad Girls produced in 2000, due to distribution issues, the movie was later released in 2005. Brandis played a tiny part in Hart’s War as well.
He was cast in 111 Gramercy Park, an ABC sitcom that wasn’t picked by the network, the following year. Puerto Vallarta Squeeze, starring Harvey Keitel and Scott Glenn, was the last of his career’s acting credits.
Brandis has also directed several independent movies and written screenplays in addition to acting. Shortly before his death, he produced and directed a short film “The Slainesville Boys.”
Jonathan Brandis Net Worth and Salary
Once a teenage icon, Jonathan Brandis was a creative man who alongside being an actor was a director, screenwriter with a total net worth of $400 thousand in 2003 prior to his death.
He reportedly charged over $150 thousand per T.V. appearance and undoubtedly was one of the most famous actors who sadly hung himself and ended his depression.
How Many Hollywood Divas Did Jonathan Brandis Date?
Jonathan Brandis was a famous teen icon just like current day’s Justin Beaver or any of the Jonas brothers, which means almost every girl on the planet absolutely loved him. But a very few of them were actually able to get close to him.
The lucky ones are Ladybugs actress Vinessa Shaw, Tatyana Ali, Monica Keena, and Late actress Brittany Murphy. Brandis first dated Vinessa Shaw. The couple started a relationship in 1991 and separated after dating for a year. He then started dating Tatyana Ali in 1994 and split with her after 4 years in 1998.
While he was still dating Tatyana in 1995, he also had a fling with Brittany Murphy. He even dated Monica Keena in 2000.
Jonathan Brandis’ Cause Of Death
Little did we knew, that someone as famous as Jonathan would commit something as scary as killing himself. On 2003-11-12 just at 27 years, six months, 29 days, he hung himself from a rope and killed himself. As per his near ones, he was suffering from severe depression.
