Jensen was born in Dallas, Texas to Alan Roger Ackles, an actor, and Donna Joan Shaffer. His parents chose the name "Jensen" because it was uncommon. Ackles has an older brother, Joshua, and a younger sister, MacKenzie, and is of Irish and British ancestry. He graduated from Dartmouth Elementary School in 1990, Apollo Junior High School in 1993, and Lloyd V. Berkner High School in Richardson, Texas in 1996 where he was a baseball and lacrosse player. He had planned to study sports medicine at Texas Tech University and become a physical therapist before moving to Los Angeles to become an actor

FILMOGRAPHY

^{1995 Wishbone Michael Duss
1996 7th Heaven Halloween #9 kid
1996 Sweet Valley High Brad
1996 Mr. Rhodes Malcolm
1997 Cybill David
1997–2000 Days of Our Lives Eric Roman Brady
2001 Blonde Eddie G
2001–2002 Dark Angel Ben/X5-493 and Alec/X5-494
2002–2003 Dawson’s Creek C.J.
2003 Still Life (unaired) Max Morgan
2004 The Plight of Clownana Jensen
2004–2005 Smallville Jason Teague
2005 Devour Jake Gray
2005–present Supernatural Dean Winchester}