Who is Jessica Paré?
Jessica Paré was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, on 5 December 1980 – her zodiac sign is Sagittarius, and she holds Canadian nationality. She’s an actress with close to 50 acting credits to her name, while she’s perhaps still known best for her portrayal of Rebecca in the 2004 romantic mystery movie “Wicker Park”, directed by Paul McGuigan, and which starred Josh Hartnett, Diane Kruger and Matthew Lillard. It follows an advertising executive from Chicago, who has become obsessed with a woman whom he has just seen at a local café, believing that she’s his long lost love.
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Early life and education
Jessica was raised in Montreal alongside her three brothers, by their mother Louise Mercier, who was a conference interpreter, and their father Anthony Paré, who chair of education department at McGill University. Not much more is known about her family, as she respects their privacy.
Jessica became interested in acting at a very early age, mostly thanks to her father who was also a theatre actor, as well as an occasional drama teacher. She was only 10 years old when she launched her career, with her portrayal of Kathi in the episode “Mary Anne and the Brunettes” of the family adventure comedy series “The Baby-Sitters Club”. Jessica was then persuaded by her parents to focus on her education, and didn’t appear in any movies or TV series in the following nine years.
Upon matriculating in 1998, she enrolled at Montreal College, from which she graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in 2002.
Roles in movies
Jessica made her debut film appearance in 1999, with her portrayal of Rosalle Profaci, in the popular crime drama “Bonanno: A Godfather’s Story”, directed by Michel Poulette, and which starred Martin Landau, Guido Grasso Jr. and Bruce Ramsay. It follows the life of Joseph Bonanno, who was born in Italy and became a mafia boss in both Italy and the US; the movie won one of the seven awards for which it was nominated.
The year 2000 then saw Jessica appear in three movies: the comedy drama “Stardom”, the romantic comedy drama “En Vacances”, and the mystery science fiction crime “Possible Words”.
It was in 2001 that she gained recognition, with her portrayal of the lead character Victoria ‘Tori’ Moller in the romantic drama “Lost and Delirious”, directed by Lea Pool, and which also starred Piper Perabo and Mischa Barton. It follows a teenage girl who has befriended her two older roommates, and has now learned that they are actually lovers; the movie won four of the 10 awards for which it was nominated.
In 2002, Jessica was cast to play Adria in the mystery crime drama “Posers”, while some of her most notable performances in the remainder of the decade were in the 2004 thriller “The Death and Life of Nancy Eaton”, the 2007 drama “Protect and Serve” and the 2009 comedy drama “The Trotsky”.
We then saw her play Tara in the critically acclaimed 2010 science fiction comedy “Hot Tub Time Machine”, directed by Steve Pink, and which starred John Cusack, Rob Corddry and Craig Robinson.
It follows a man, his two friends and his nephew, who have been sent back in time to the year 1986; the film was nominated for five awards. A couple of Jessica’s following roles were in the 2010 comedy “Peepers”, the 2011 western drama “The Way of the West” and the 2014 romantic comedy “Standby”.
Her three most recent movie roles have been in the 2017 comedy drama “Another Kind of Wedding”, the 2018 short comedy “Pie”, and the 2020 drama “Death of a Ladies’ Man”.
Roles in TV series
In 1999, Jessica was cast to play Tanya in the episode “Time and Again” of the action horror comedy “Big Wolf on Campus”, and in 2002 she portrayed Annie Vincent, in the drama mini-series “Random Passage”.
She gained recognition in 2004 when cast to star as Courtney Benedict in the romantic science fiction drama “Jack & Bobby”, created by Greg Berlanti and Steven A. Cohen, and which starred Christine Lahti, Matt Long and Logan Lerman. Set in the near future, the movie follows President of the United States Bobby McCallister from 2041 to 2049, and it won five of the 14 awards for which it was nominated. A couple of Jessica’s following roles were in the 2007 episode “The Fallen Woman” of the mystery crime drama “Life”, the 2011 episode “Beholder” of the science fiction “Futurestates”, and the 2013 episode “First Contact” of the comedy “Satisfaction”.
Between 2010 and 2015, Jessica portrayed Megan Draper in the hit drama “Mad Men”, created by Matthew Weiner, and which starred Jon Hamm, Elisabeth Moss and Vincent Kartheiser.
It follows the ad executive Donald Draper, while he’s working for one of the best New York ad agencies in the ‘60s; the series won 149 awards, including 16 Primetime Emmys, while it was nominated for 397 other awards.
Since 2017, Jessica has been playing Mandy Ellis, in the popular action war drama “SEAL Team”, which has been nominated for five awards, including two Primetime Emmys.
Other credits
Jessica performed two songs in two episodes of the series “Mad Men”, in 2010 and 2012.
In 2021, she directed the episodes “Nine Ten” and “A Question of Honor” of the series “SEAL Team”.
Jessica has made a guest appearance in various talk-shows, such as “Tout le Monde en Parle”, “Live with Kelly and Ryan” and “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
Awards and nominations
Jessica has been nominated for eight awards, wining one: a 2013 Women in Film Lucy Award, for her and her colleagues’ performance in “Mad Men”.
She has also been nominated for two Screen Actors Guild Awards, an Online Film & Television Association Award and a Gold Derby TV Award, amongst others.
Love life and husband
Back in 2002, Jessica began dating Canadian snowboarder Ross Rebagliati, who’s probably known best for having won a gold medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics; the two revealed that they were in a relationship in the summer of 2002, but broke up two years later.
On 10 August 2007, she married Joseph M. Smith, an American actor, film writer and producer, who’s probably known best for the movies which he’s produced, including the 2002 short mystery thriller “Waiting for Anna”, and the 2010 comedy “Peepers”. Jessica and Joseph divorced in 2010, for unknown reasons.
Since May 2012, she has been in a relationship with John Kastner, a popular Canadian musician and composer; on 19 March 2015, Jessica gave birth to their son Blues Anthony Pare Kastner.
Hobbies and other interests
Jessica’s quite active on Instagram, and seems to be enjoying the attention which she’s receiving from her close to 100,000 followers. She’s uploaded nearly 300 pictures onto the network, the majority of which have been taken during her everyday life.
Travelling is her main hobby, and Jessica’s acting career has taken her all around Canada, to various US states and several European countries; her dream travel destination is Tokyo in Japan.
She’s interested in photography, and many pictures taken by her can be found uploaded onto her Instagram account.
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Late at night, she enjoys watching movies starring her favorite actor and actress, Tom Hanks and Angelina Jolie, such as “Saving Private Ryan”, “Sleepless in Seattle”, and “Girl, Interrupted”.
Jessica likes to drink alcohol, and her favorites are beer and red wine.
She’s an animal lover, and has apparently donated money to various animal shelters.
Age, measurements and net worth
Jessica’s age is 40. She has long brown hair and blue eyes, her height is 5ft 8ins (1.73m) and she weighs around 130lbs (60kgs).
As of November 2021, her net worth has been estimated at over $6 million.
