Happy Birthday, Jared Padalecki! Check Out Some of Our Favorite Padalecki Projects!

Shannon
7 Min Read
Image courtesy of Staff Photographer Anna.

Supernatural‘s Jared Padalecki is having a birthday today, and we want to celebrate by sharing staff reactions to some of his previous roles. Maybe these will inspire a Padalecki Birthday Marathon in your living room!  Happy Birthday Jared and here’s to many, many more!

Image courtesy of Staff Photographer Anna.

‘Gilmore Girls’ – Anna

Image Courtesy of The CW

Jared had a 63-episode run on Gilmore Girls, a show about a 30-something single mom, Lorelai Gilmore, and her daughter Rory. He played “Dean Forester” from 2000 to 2005, a love interest of Rory. Staff Writer Anna shared her thoughts on the show.

“I was a late comer to the Supernatural world, but I had seen Gilmore Girls before. I sort of remembered “that Dean kid,” but once I fell into the Supernatural fandom, I went back and started watching Gilmore Girls with my roommate, who had every season on VHS (Yes, I’m that old) and was on Team Dean. Now, I am a Dean Girl for sure, both in the Gilmore Girls universe and the Supernatural one, so every time I would yell about Dean in my apartment, the reply from my roommate was, ‘My Dean or yours?’

So thank you Jared for the amazing bonding moments I got to share with my roommate because of our shared love for your roles!”

‘Friday the 13th (2009)’  – Nicki

Image Courtesy of IMDb

The horror film remake won a 2009 Teen Choice award, raking in $91M worldwide during its run in theaters. Nicki shared her thoughts on his performance below.

“Seeing Jared immortalized in a franchise as enduring as Friday the 13th is absolutely amazing for this horror fan. This re-imagining of the original film (well, really the first four or so films) managed to go back to the roots of what built a horror empire and filter out a good deal of the extreme camp that came in later films. Jared’s portrayal of grief-stricken Clay (who is searching for his missing sister, Whitney) is definitely more of a “strong, silent-type” role, but it only seems to add to his believability as someone who could stand up to Jason Voorhees. I can imagine those few years of fight choreography on Supernatural didn’t hurt in preparing for this one, either!”

‘Young MacGyver’ – Shannon

MacGyver was a 1985 TV show that ran for seven seasons, with the final episode airing in April 1992. In February 2003, a tv movie of Young MacGyver was filmed with Jared Padalecki cast as the main character, Clay MacGyver. The movie was intended to be a pilot for a spin-off the original show in which Clay was Mac’s nephew. (Let’s just forget Uncle MacGyver mentioned he was an only child in the original series.)

The movie begins with a fun food challenge between Clay and his friend. The challenge ends with Clay versus an apple pie. (Dean Winchester would be so proud!) The action then cuts to a snow storm rescue doing what any MacGyver does best: engineering a solution for the problem with available items. If you are impressed with what he does with the camp stove, tent poles and air mattress, you should see what he does later with a quarter! Eventually, Clay joins the Phoenix Foundation (an International Justice group) to help work on a terrorism case.

The episode was directed by Stephen Herek, and produced by Stephen Downing, John Rich, and Henry Winkler (yes, The Fonz!). Henry Winkler/John Rich Productions and the Paramount Network Television Productions were the production companies associated with the pilot. The pilot was set for a fall 2003 release, but unfortunately, it was not picked up by Warner Brothers (The WB).

Thomas Kinkade’s ‘Christmas Cottage’ – Brianna

Image Courtesy IMDB.

In this 2008 film, Jared plays the young artist Thomas Kinkade, before he was a famous painter. Christmas Cottage explores Kinkade’s hometown of Plasterville and the story that inspired him to paint “The Christmas Cottage.” Thomas watches his artistic mentor slowly fade away, his mother struggle to find a job, all while he and his brother work to earn enough money to save their family cottage from foreclosure. Brianna responds to the movie below.

“It’s certainly an emotional movie, and Jared flawlessly executes every heart-wrenching scene. The stress of Kinkade’s situation is palpable as he brings the character to life. Even knowing the outcome, I found myself rooting for Thomas and I’m not ashamed to say I may have teared up more than once.

The scene that really stuck with me was Jared’s delivery of the emotional speech Thomas gives to his ailing mentor Glen. In one of Thomas’ most vulnerable moments, Jared delivers a powerful performance. The overall message of the movie is the final lesson Thomas learns from Glen, to always find the light in any darkness and share that with others.

I think much in the same way Thomas was inspired to emphasize light in his paintings, Jared has often reminded his fans to always find the light in their lives. To keep fighting, to help others, and we love him for that. Happy Birthday Jared!”

Nerds and Beyond is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Share This Article
By Shannon
Shannon is a Florida girl who escapes the heat with TV, movies and music! On top of writing for Nerds & Beyond she has a full time job, does photography, and travels frequently to Disney, conventions or concerts. You can find her on social media as @reelnerdy!
Leave a comment