Background and career
Justin Chatwin (born October 31, 1982) is a Canadian actor. He began his career briefly appearing in the musical comedy Josie and the Pussycats (2001). Following his breakthrough role as Robbie Ferrier in the blockbuster War of the Worlds (2005), Chatwin headlined studio films such as The Invisible (2007) and Dragonball Evolution (2009), an action-adventure feature based on the manga series Dragon Ball. In the 2010s, Chatwin acted in small independent films. He starred as rock star idol Bobby Shore in the sci-fi musical Bang Bang Baby (2014), which earned him a Canadian Screen Awards nomination for Best Supporting Actor, and appeared in the romantic comedy Unleashed (2016), and drama Summer Night (2019). Throughout the 2000s, Chatwin made guest appearances in several television series including Weeds and Lost. His first regular role was on the Showtime comedy-drama Shameless, where he portrayed Jimmy Lishman between 2011 and 2015. Chatwin starred as a cartoonist in the CBS murder mystery drama American Gothic (2016), and also that year he appeared as superhero Grant Gordon / The Ghost in the Doctor Who Christmas special "The Return of Doctor Mysterio". From 2019 to 2021, Chatwin played scientist Erik Wallace in Netflix's Another Life. Aside from acting, he has a long-time passion for motorcycles, extreme sports and travelling. Chatwin's journey from Vancouver to Patagonia on motorcycle was depicted in the documentary series No Good Reason (2020), which he also executive produced.
Chatwin was born in Nanaimo, British Columbia. He is the son of Suzanne (née Halsall), a freelance mixed-media artist, and Brian, an engineer who founded in 1982 Chatwin Engineering, a construction and civil engineering company based in British Columbia, where he served as president and CEO. Chatwin's parents divorced in 2010. His late grandfather was of French-Canadian ancestry. Chatwin has a younger sister, Brianna, who works as a tattoo artist. They were raised Catholic. After graduating from high school, Chatwin followed in his father's footsteps and began to study engineering at the University of British Columbia, but after one week he switched to commerce. A few weeks later, Chatwin was dared by a friend to audition for a TV show that was shooting in Vancouver: "I took the dare, not knowing what I was getting into. I was called back and hired..." Chatwin eventually dropped out of university after one semester in order to pursue his acting career full time. In the early 2000s, Chatwin moved to Los Angeles, where he rented an apartment with fellow actor Noel Fisher. Prior to this he was homeless for a while and lived in a travel trailer with actor Shaun Sipos, stating, "We didn't have girlfriends; we were reading Kerouac and Ginsberg, driving up to the desert, walking in the dunes, and showering at 24 Hour Fitness. It was an exciting time, but would I do it again? No."
Chatwin made his debut in the musical comedy Josie and the Pussycats (2001), in which he played an enthusiastic fan. The film, based on the Archie Comics series and the Hanna-Barbera cartoon of the same name, was a commercial failure upon its initial release, but has enjoyed later success as a cult film. Soon after, Chatwin starred as John Spencer in the two-part miniseries Christy, Choices of the Heart. He went on to guest-star in several television series including Smallville, Mysterious Ways, Night Visions, Just Cause, Glory Days, Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction and Taken, playing also a juvenile delinquent in the television film The Incredible Mrs. Ritchie (2003), directed by Paul Johansson. One year later, Chatwin played an aspiring guitarist murdered by a serial killer who takes on the identities of his victims in D. J. Caruso's psychological thriller Taking Lives, based on the novel of the same name by Michael Pye. He was also a helper and friend of the title characters in the family-oriented comedy Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2, a sequel to the 1999 film Baby Geniuses. The feature is considered one of the worst films of all time, receiving an approval rating of 0% on Rotten Tomatoes. Ellen Fox of the Chicago Tribune called Chatwin "the only bright spot" of the film. In 2004, Chatwin was singled out by Newsweek magazine as an "Actor to Watch", based on his performance as Tyler McKay in the three-part miniseries Traffic. He also starred opposite Kate Mara in The WB pilot Prodigy, about a child prodigy.
Chatwin was chosen out of several young actors to play Tom Cruise's rebellious adolescent son in the alien invasion film War of the Worlds (2005), directed by Steven Spielberg, based on the 1898 novel by H. G. Wells. It was a commercial success, grossing $603 million worldwide against a $132 million budget, and garnered generally favorable reviews. Chatwin's performance in War of the Worlds earned him the 'Breakthrough of the Year' award from Hollywood Life Magazine. In 2005, he also starred as teenage drug dealer Billy Peck in the black comedy The Chumscrubber, alongside Camilla Belle and Jamie Bell. Arie Posin's directorial debut about a group of superficial parents and young adults living a seemingly perfect life, had the world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 25, and was released theatrically on August 5, earning $351,401 on a production budget of $10 million. The film was poorly received by critics; writing for Rolling Stone, Peter Travers opined that it was "an appallingly clumsy and stupid take on drugs, kidnapping and suicide in suburbia". That same month, Chatwin appeared in the Showtime series pilot Weeds as the troubled homosexual son of Kevin Nealon's character. He reprised his role seven years later for the series finale. In 2006, Chatwin guest-starred as the undercover cop Eddie Colburn on the ABC drama series Lost. Around that time, he was attached to produce and star in a film adaptation of Michael Turner's novel The Pornographer's Poem (1999), with Jeremiah S. Chechik on board to direct. That same year, Chatwin made his off-Broadway debut in Trip Cullman's play Dark Matters at the Rattlestick Playwrights Theater. Following a dysfunctional family whose mother goes missing then suddenly reappears claiming that she was abducted by aliens, Chatwin stars as Jeremy Cleary, the eccentric, but intelligent 16-year-old son of Michael (Reed Birney) and Bridget (Elizabeth Marvel).
Chatwin landed his first leading role in The Invisible (2007), a remake of the Swedish film Den Osynlige. David S. Goyer's supernatural thriller centers on high school senior Nick Powell, who is brutally beaten and left in an intermediate state. Chatwin liked the script because "it's about all these polar opposites – life and death, love and hate – and also about the idea that when you think something is black or white, you might suddenly find that there's gray to it". The film underperformed at the box office, grossing $26 million worldwide on a $30 million budget, and was also poorly received by critics; John Campea noticed a "subtle strength" in Chatwin's performance, writing, "nothing really ever went over the top, nor did he ever come off as forced", but criticized the feature for its "lack of depth" and "dramatic tension". Also in 2007, he returned to the stage to act in Jamie Wollrab's The Mistakes Madeline Made at the Dairy Arts Center in Boulder, Colorado. The story revolves around Edna (Shannon Woodward), a young woman who develops ablutophobia, a fear of bathing. Chatwin plays Wilson, the protagonist's co-worker, "with lots of nervous energy, and generates laughs along the way" according to one critic. Chatwin starred opposite Anton Yelchin and Eva Amurri in the coming-of-age drama Middle of Nowhere directed by John Stockwell, which premiered at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival, followed by a straight-to-DVD release two years later. In 2009, Chatwin portrayed Goku in Dragonball Evolution, the first big-screen adaptation of the popular Japanese Dragon Ball manga by Akira Toriyama. He described the role as the most physically demanding he had ever played, as he had to train in martial arts and adopt a strict diet with no sugar and carbohydrates. The film was a critical and commercial failure. Ross Miller of the Screen Rant calling it "a badly written film with horrible dialogue, lackluster action and a sense of fun that's nowhere to be found". Miller also felt that Chatwin was "completely miscast" as Goku. In the same year, Chatwin teamed up again with Jamie Wollrab for John Markland's three-person play Red Light Winter at the Dairy Arts Center, during Boulder International Fringe Festival. Written by Adam Rapp, the story sees Wollrab and Chatwin as two friends caught up in a love triangle with a young prostitute they encounter in Amsterdam.
In December 2009, Chatwin was filming the Showtime pilot Shameless, an adaptation of Paul Abbott's British series of the same name, starring alongside William H. Macy and Emmy Rossum. The 12-episode first season began airing in January 2011, and over the course of three years, Chatwin portrayed Jimmy Lishman / Steve Wilton, Rossum's love interest, a car thief who comes from a wealthy family. Chatwin made a brief appearance in the fourth season finale, and returned in the fifth season as a special guest star. The show received mostly positive reviews; Eric Goldman of IGN opined that Chatwin brings "the right vibe of scruffy determination" to his role, while another critic noticed his "very intense and intimate chemistry" with Rossum. During an interview, when asked about one of the most controversial aspects of the series, the significant amount of nudity and sex scenes, Chatwin said:
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
