James Lafferty American Actor Known for One Tree Hill

Early life

James Martin Lafferty was born on 25 July 1985 in Hemet, California. His parents run a local construction company. Before he had any lead roles, he worked as an uncredited extra on television programmes including Beverly Hills, 90210 and Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, and he landed his first significant part in a school play at the age of ten. He went to Hemet High School, where he played basketball, and finished there in 2003. He then enrolled at California State University, Long Beach, but a casting decision soon took him across the country: he moved to Wilmington, North Carolina, to join the cast of One Tree Hill.

Career

Lafferty's screen work began with a voice-over part in the 1997 television film Annabelle's Wish. He made guest appearances on series such as Once and Again, Get Real and Boston Public, and in 2002 he starred in A Season on the Brink, an ESPN television film based on John Feinstein's book about the 1985–86 Indiana University men's basketball season.

In 2003 he was cast as Nathan Scott on the teen drama One Tree Hill, shown on The WB and later The CW. The series centres on two estranged half-brothers who find themselves on the same basketball team. It became his best-known work, and he stayed with it through its run, which lasted until 2012. When The CW renewed the show for a ninth and final season in 2011, he chose to come back in a recurring capacity rather than as a full-time lead. During the later seasons he also directed four episodes. His time on the programme brought four Teen Choice Award nominations.

Away from the show, he starred in S. Darko, a direct-to-video sequel to Donnie Darko, announced in 2008 and released in May 2009; it received mostly negative reviews. He also appeared in Sucker Punch (2011) and the film Oculus (2013), in which he had one of the top billings. In 2011 he was named as an executive producer on a proposed adventure reality series, Wild Life: A New Generation of Wild, which was shot as a pilot but never found a network.

Television roles continued in the 2010s. He played Mr Nash in the NBC thriller series Crisis (2014), took the lead role of Jimmy Adams in the independent film Waffle Street (2015) alongside Danny Glover, and had a recurring part in the first season of the WGN America drama Underground. His directing work extended to the E! series The Royals, where he directed an episode of the second season in August 2015 and a few more in the third.

In 2018 he and his One Tree Hill co-star Stephen Colletti started a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo for a new series, Everyone Is Doing Great. Hulu acquired it in 2020, and its first two seasons reached Netflix audiences outside the United States in May 2026. His later credits include the film Red Right Hand (2024). In all, his listed credits cover six films and three television series between 2003 and 2024.

Personal life

Lafferty lives in Los Angeles. He met the Australian actress Alexandra Park in 2015 on the set of The Royals, where he directed several episodes. The couple became engaged on 7 September 2020 and were married in Hawaii on 23 May 2022. Park also appears in both seasons of Everyone Is Doing Great. In 2026 the couple announced the birth of their child through social media.