Jason James Richter
{{Short description|American actor}}
{{distinguish|Jason Ritter}}
{{Infobox person|
| image =
| name = Jason James Richter
| caption =
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1980|01|29}}
| birth_place = Medford, Oregon
| birth_name =
| occupation = Actor
| years_active = 1992–present
| notable_works = {{plainlist|
- Free Willy (1993)
- Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home (1995)
- Free Willy 3: The Rescue (1997)
}}
}}
Jason James Richter (born January 29, 1980){{cite news|last=Baker|first=Jeff|title=17 actors you (maybe) didn't know were from Oregon|url=http://www.oregonlive.com/movies/index.ssf/2014/04/17_actors_you_maybe_didn.html |access-date=February 16, 2016|newspaper=The Oregonian|location=Portland, Oregon|date=April 30, 2014}} is an American actor and musician. He is best known for his role in the Free Willy film series as Jesse, the boy who befriends Willy the orca.
Early life
Richter was born on January 29, 1980, in Medford, Oregon, the son of Sandra "Sandy" Montgomery, an actress, and Gregory Lynn Richter, who was in the U.S. Navy. At the age of 3, he and his family moved to Honolulu, Hawaii, where a Japanese casting agency discovered him and signed him up for three TV spots. In 1989, his family moved back to the mainland, settling in San Diego, California.{{cn|date=February 2024}}
Career
Richter starred as Jesse in Free Willy (1993), a role for which he was chosen out of more than 4,000 candidates.{{cite web|author=Tom Gliatto |url=http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20101327,00.html |title=Prince of Whales |work=People |date=August 14, 1995 |access-date=April 22, 2018}}
His other films include Cops & Robbersons, The NeverEnding Story III, Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home, Laserhawk, Free Willy 3: The Rescue, and The Setting Son. He also reprised his role as Jesse in the music video for Michael Jackson's "Childhood", which was featured in Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home. In 2021, he appeared in the thriller The Little Things, his first studio film since the Free Willy films. Between the Free Willy roles, he had TV guest roles on Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Rugrats and The Client.
Following his appearance in Ricochet River, Richter took a decade long hiatus from acting where he was the bassist Fermata.{{cite web|url=http://www.themodernage.org/2008/01/25/where-are-they-now-jason-james-richter/ |title=Where Are They Now? Jason James Richter|publisher=Themodernage.org |date=January 25, 2008 |access-date=April 22, 2018}}
Filmography
| class="wikitable"
|+Film |
| Year
! Title ! Role ! width="350"|Notes |
|---|
| 1993
| Jesse | |
| 1994
| Kevin Robberson | |
| 1994
| The NeverEnding Story III: Return to Fantasia | Bastian | |
| 1995
| Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home | Jesse | |
| 1997
| Jesse | |
| 1997
| The Setting Son | Big Bully | |
| 1997
| Zach Raymond | |
| 2001
| Ricochet River | Wade | |
| 2009
| Tekken | Bonner's Associate | Also assistant director |
| 2013
| The Quiet Loud | Paul | Short film; also director, writer & producer |
| 2014
| Life's a Pitch | Jimmy | TV film |
| 2016
| Vicious | Jeff | Also producer |
| 2017
| Brawley | Also associate producer |
| 2017
| 3 Solitude | Elliot | |
| 2017
| High & Outside: A Baseball Noir | Johnny | |
| 2018
| Inhumane | Dr. Aaron Graybor | |
| 2018
| Corporal Erastus Winters/ | |
| 2018
| 818 | Alex | |
| 2018
| Driver | Alexander Hutchins | |
| 2019
| John Olson | |
| 2019
| Infidelity | Garret Walker | |
| 2021
| Detective Williams | |
| 2021
| Saville | |
| 2023
| Natty Knocks | Leo | |
| 2023
| Nothing to See Here | Daniel | |
| 2024
| Final Heist | {{TBA}} | |
| class="wikitable"
|+Television |
| Year
! Title ! Role ! Notes |
|---|
| 1995
| Movie Magic | Himself | Episode: "Aqua Animatronics" |
| 1996
| Chris Love | Episode: "The Morning After" |
| 1997
| Dante | Episode: "Dante's Inferno" |
| 1997
| Rugrats | Ringo the Bull | Episode: "He Saw, She Saw/Piggy's Pizza Palace" |
| 2001
| Himself (archive footage) | Episode: "Free Willy 2/Independence Day" |
| 2009
| Bones | Clown No. 2 | Episode: "Double Trouble in the Panhandle" |
| 2011
|Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior | Matthew Keane | Episode: "Nighthawk" |
| class="wikitable"
|+Music videos |
| Year
! Title ! Role ! Artist ! Director |
|---|
| 1995
| "Childhood" | Jesse | Nicholas Brandt |
| 2018
| "Pink Honey" | Tall Man | Houses | Brook Linder |
Awards and nominations
| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" |
| scope="col"|Award
! scope="col"|Year ! scope="col"|Category ! scope="col"|Nominated ! scope="col"|Result ! scope="col" class="unsortable"|{{abbr|Ref.|Reference}} |
|---|
| scope="row"|Young Artist Awards
| 1994 | Best Youth Actor Leading Role in a Motion Picture: Drama | Free Willy {{small|(shared with Edward Furlong for A Home of Our Own)}} | {{won}} |
| scope="row" rowspan="2"|MTV Movie & TV Awards
| rowspan="2"|1994 | Breakthrough Performance | Free Willy | {{nom}} | align="center"|{{cite web| title=Free Willy MTV Awards, 1994| url=https://en.kinorium.com/97489/awards/| website=en.kinorium.com| access-date=September 28, 2024}} |
| Best Kiss
| Free Willy {{small|(shared with Keiko)}} | {{nom}} | align="center"|{{cite web| title=All 26 MTV Movie Awards “Best Kiss” Winners, Ranked| url=https://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/celebs/news/a6365/mtv-movie-awards-best-kiss-ranking/| website=Cosmopolitan| date=June 17, 2017| access-date=September 28, 2024}} |
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|0725284}}
- {{Instagram|jason_james_richter}}
{{Young Artist Award for Best Leading Young Actor in a Feature Film}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Richter, Jason James}}
Category:20th-century American male actors
Category:21st-century American male actors
Category:American male child actors
Category:American male film actors
Category:American male television actors