Jesse Spencer

Jesse Gordon Spencer is an Australian-American actor and musician. He is best known for his roles as Billy Kennedy on the Australian soap opera Neighbours, Dr. Robert Chase on the American medical drama House, and Captain Matthew Casey on the NBC drama Chicago Fire.

Spencer was born in Melbourne on 12 February 1979 to Robyn and radiologist Rodney Spencer. His parents founded the Australians Against Further Immigration party and later contested the 1998 Australian federal election for Pauline Hanson's One Nation party. Spencer attended Canterbury Primary School, Malvern Central School, and Scotch College. While at school, he auditioned for Neighbours. He completed his VCE and secured a place at Monash University, which he deferred to pursue acting.

Spencer played Billy Kennedy on Neighbours from 1994 to 2000, portraying the son of long-term characters Dr. Karl Kennedy and Susan Kennedy. He reprised his role in 2005 for an episode celebrating the show's 20th anniversary and returned again in 2022 for the series finale. Following his initial time on the soap opera, he co-starred in feature films including Winning London alongside the Olsen twins, Uptown Girls, and Swimming Upstream.

From 2004 to 2012, Spencer starred as intensive care specialist and surgeon Dr. Robert Chase on the Fox medical drama House, serving across the show's entire run as the second longest-serving member of the title character's team. Beginning in 2012, he starred as firefighter Captain Matthew Casey on the drama Chicago Fire. In 2024, Spencer was confirmed as a cast member for the Disney+ series Last Days of the Space Age.

Alongside his acting work, Spencer has been involved in music since childhood. He performed with the Australian Boys Choir from 1986 to 1992. He plays the violin in Band from TV, a group that includes his former House co-star Hugh Laurie. The band performs at various events to donate their earnings to charity and played on Idol Gives Back in April 2008.

Over the course of his career, Spencer has received multiple nominations and awards. For Neighbours, he was nominated for Most Popular Actor at the 1998 and 1999 Logie Awards. For House, he earned a nomination for Choice TV Breakout Performance – Male at the 2005 Teen Choice Awards, won a Golden Boomerang at the 2006 Australians in Film Breakthrough Awards, and received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination in 2008 for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series. He was included in People Magazine's 100 Most Beautiful People issue in 2007 and was nominated for Choice TV Actor – Action at the 2013 Teen Choice Awards for Chicago Fire.

In his personal life, Spencer dated actress Jennifer Morrison starting in July 2004, proposing at the Eiffel Tower during Christmas 2006 before ending the engagement in August 2007. He dated Brazilian surfer Maya Gabeira from 2010 to 2013. In 2014, he began dating neuroscientist Dr. Kali Woodruff Carr; they became engaged in 2019, married on 27 June 2020, and welcomed their first child, a boy, in April 2022. Spencer became an American citizen in November 2021.