Biography
With puppy dog eyes and a lopsided grin, Jesse Bradford is a young actor who seems to have studied at the Paul Rudd School of Dorky Charm; like Rudd (with whom he co-starred in William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet), his earnest, intelligent good looks have made him a natural for playing both sensitive outcasts and unconventional romantic leads. An actor since he made his debut in a Q-Tip commercial at the age of eight months, Bradford first earned attention for his work in
James Ivory's
A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries (1996), and made a splash in the teen heartthrob wading pool with his role as
Kirsten Dunst's would-be boyfriend in
Bring It On (2000).
Born in Connecticut on May 28, 1979, Bradford made his first business contacts through his mother, who was a commercial actress. After appearing in a number of commercials, he got his next big break with a role on the TV soap opera The Guiding Light, and made his screen debut playing
Robert De Niro's son in
Falling in Love (1984). Following with more TV work, Bradford appeared as the offspring of yet another screen icon, this time as
Harrison Ford's son in
Presumed Innocent (1990). More substantial work soon came the young actor's way, first in
The Boy Who Cried Bitch (1991), a little-seen drama in which he played the younger brother of a teenaged sociopath; then in
Steven Soderbergh's acclaimed
King of the Hill (1993), in which Bradford starred as a young boy forced to fight for his own survival in Depression-era St. Louis. The latter role brought him a number of positive notices and Hollywood attention; another starring role in Far From Home: The Adventures of Yellow Dog (1995) followed, as did the sizable part of Balthasar in
Baz Luhrmann's celebrated William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet (1996).
Bradford also earned sizable acclaim for his portrayal of the adopted French son of an American couple (
Kris Kristofferson and
Barbara Hershey) in
James Ivory's
A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries (1998). Made the same year that the actor enrolled at Columbia University, the film was held in high regard by a number of critics who pointed to its ensemble acting as one of its major strengths.
Bradford's increasing recognition as an actor was reflected by his subsequent casting as a Clash-loving indie-rock boy with a weakness for his high school's head cheerleader in
Bring It On, Peyton Reed's giddy, teen, cheerleading comedy. It wasn't long before Bradford stepped into the lead, and with his role in the teen time-travel thriller
Clockstoppers (2002) the promising young actor did just that. Though
Clockstoppers was little more than a moderate success at the box-office, Bradford ventured into
Fear (1996) territory while being stalked by Erica Christensen in the teen thriller
Swimfan. His experience on the small screen fairly limited to this point in his career, Bradford had an impressive two-year run on the political drama
The West Wing before making the leap back to the big screen in the independent dramas
Eulogy and
Heights. A supporting performance as a man with a curious secret in
Don Roos' 2006 comedy drama
Happy Endings preceded a trip back in time in the first installment of director
Clint Eastwood's ambitious World War II saga
Flags of Our Fathers (which was followed soon thereafter by the Bradford-less
Letters from Iwo Jima). ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide