Ryan Cooley

Ryan Cooley, who is most famous for his role as J.T. Yorke on Degrassi: The Next Generation, was born in Orangeville, Ontario on May 18, 1988, and is the son of musician Charlie Cooley. When he was young, Ryan aspired to be an actor. His first role was Daniel King in the television movie Happy Christmas, Miss King, which was ironically directed by Degrassi director Stefan Scaini, and also starred his Degrassi co-star (who he would later work with on I Was a Sixth Grade Alien) Lauren Collins. His first starring role was in I Was a Sixth Grade Alien, where Ryan starred in the title role, Pleskitt the Alien, which starred Daniel Clark, who went on to Degrassi with Ryan and Lauren. The next year [2000], Ryan had a small part in the Emmy winning television movie The Color of Friendship. He guest -starred in a series of other shows, until he auditioned for the role of Toby Isaacs on Degrassi. Based on his audition, the crew decided to create a character specifically for him named J.T. Yorke. Ryan is friends with the majority of his former cast members, and was even rumored to be dating his co-star Miriam McDonald. He was on Degrassi until the sixth season, when his character was murdered in a random act of violence. Ryan is currently studying theater at the University of Toronto, and plans on auditioning for other projects as well.