Jensen Ross Ackles is an American actor and director. He has appeared on television as Dean Winchester in The CW horror fantasy series Supernatural, Eric Brady in Days of Our Lives, which earned him several Daytime Emmy Award nominations, Alec/X5-494 in Dark Angel and Jason Teague in Smallville. Take a look below for 24 more fun and interesting facts about Jensen Ackles.

1. Ackles was born in Dallas, Texas, the son of Donna Joan and Alan Roger Ackles, an actor.

2. He has a brother, Josh, and a sister, Mackenzie.

3. Ackles had planned to study sports medicine at Texas Tech University and to become a physical therapist, but instead moved to Los Angeles to start his acting career.

4. He has English, Irish, Scottish, and German ancestry.

5. After modelling on and off since the age of four, Ackles began to concentrate on an acting career in 1996.

6. He appeared in several guest roles on Mr. Rhodes, Sweet Valley High, and Cybill before joining the cast of the NBC soap opera Days of Our Lives as Eric Brady in 1997.

7. He won a 1998 Soap Opera Digest Award for Best Male Newcomer and went on to be nominated three times (in 1998, 1999, and 2000) for a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Actor in a Drama Series for his work on Days of our Lives.

8. Ackles departed Days of our Lives in 2000 and went on to appear in the mini-series Blonde, about the life of Marilyn Monroe.

9. Ackles worked steadily throughout 2003. He joined the cast of the WB’s hit show Dawson’s Creek during its final season, playing CJ, Jen Lindley’s lover.

10. He also had a small role in the 2004 short film The Plight of Clownana.

11. Ackles was the producer’s first choice to play Eliza Dushku’s love interest on the second season of Tru Calling; Ackles turned down the role, which was then offered to Eric Christian Olsen and the character’s name was changed to “Jensen” because the producers of Tru Calling liked Ackles’ name.

12. He also had a lead role in the 2005 film Devour in which Ackles’ father, actor Alan Ackles, also had a role playing the father of Ackles’ character, Jake Gray.

13. In 2005, Ackles joined the cast of the WB show horror/action series Supernatural where he stars as Dean Winchester.

14. In the summer of 2007, Ackles took on the role of Priestly in the independent comedy Ten Inch Hero.

15. He also appeared on stage from June 5–10, 2007 with Lou Diamond Phillips in A Few Good Men at Casa Mañana Theatre in Fort Worth, Texas, as Lt. Daniel Kaffee.

16. In the summer of 2008, Ackles was cast in the remake of the cult film My Bloody Valentine 3D, which opened nationwide on January 16, 2009.

17. In summer of 2010, Ackles lent his voice as the Red Hood (Jason Todd) for the animated film, Batman: Under The Red Hood, which was released to DVD and Blu-ray on July 27.

18. On October 22, 2010, Disney Interactive Studios announced that he would be voicing a character named Gibson in the video game, Tron: Evolution, which was released on December 7, 2010.

19. After three years of dating, Ackles became engaged to actress and model Danneel Harris in November 2009.

20. The couple married on May 15, 2010 in Dallas, Texas.

21. Their daughter, Justice Jay “JJ” Ackles, was born in May 2013.

22. In August 2016, the couple announced that they were expecting twins, a boy and a girl, later in the year.

23. On December 2, 2016, their twins, Zeppelin Bram and Arrow Rhodes, were born.

24. Ackles is a co-owner of a brewery in Dripping Springs, Texas, Family Business Beer Company, with his wife and in-laws. The brewery’s name is a reference to Supernatural (“family business” being a tagline for the series).