Joshua Browning Carter Jackson (born June 11, 1978) is a Canadian actor. He has appeared in primetime television and in over 30 film roles. His well-known roles include Pacey Witter in Dawson's Creek, Charlie Conway in The Mighty Ducks film series, Peter Bishop in Fringe, and Cole Lockhart in The Affair. Jackson won the Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for his performance in the Canadian independent film One Week.
Jackson was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, to parents John Carter and Fiona Jackson. His mother is a casting director. Jackson's father is from Texas; and his mother is a native of Ballyfermot, Dublin, Ireland, having immigrated to North America in the late 1960s. He has a younger sister, Aisleagh, and two older half brothers, Jonathan and Lyman. He was raised Catholic.
Jackson grew up in California until the age of 8. He moved to Vancouver with his mother and younger sister. He attended Ideal Mini School and later switched to Kitsilano Secondary School. In an interview with The New York Times, Jackson said he was kicked out of high school once because of The Jon Stewart Show: " played, at least where I grew up, at 1:30 in the morning, so I would stay up at night to watch Jon Stewart, but then I'd be too tired—or too lazy—to go to school in the morning. So I'd just take the first couple of classes off, 'cause I wanted to be fresh when I got there." He claims that the first time was because of "attitude" problems and that he "wasn't in the school spirit".