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Grey's Anatomy Background: A television and movie heartthrob hailed from New York who began a successful modeling career after being spotted by an agent in Paris, Justin Chambers first came to prominence as a male fashion model, which brought him to Europe, Japan and throughout the United States, before branching out into acting in the mid-1990s. Most famous for his Calvin Klein ads, Chambers currently enjoys huge success playing Alex Karev, the ill-natured but kind young doctor and budding love interest, on the hit ABC medical drama “ Grey’s Anatomy” (2005-present), from which he was nominated for a 2005 Teen Choice Awards and jointly netted a 2007 Screen Actors Guild Award. He has had a recurring role in “Another World” (1995, as Nick Hudson) and regular roles in the short-lived “Four Corners” (1998, as Caleb Haskell) and “Cold Case” (2003, as Chris Lassing), as well as has made several TV films, including “Seasons of Love” (1999) and “Hysterical Blindness” (2002). On the movie front, Chambers is perhaps best recognized for portraying an offbeat love-struck Italian in the hit movie “The Wadding Planner” (2001). Other film credits include his debut, “Liberty Heights” (1999), “The Musketeer” (2001), “Leo” (2002), “Southern Belles” (2005) and “Zodiac” (2005). Outside the limelight, Chambers, who was named one of People Magazine's “Sexiest Men Alive” in 2006, has been enjoyed a family life. He is married to and has five children with wife Keisha Chambers, an ex-model agency booker. A longtime New Yorker, he used to alternate his time between New York and Los Angeles while his family was staying in New York. His wife and children have recently moved to Lo Angeles with Chambers from their New York home.
Father of 5
Childhood and Family: Justin W. Chambers was born on July 11, 1970, in Springfield, Ohio, to John Chambers and Pam Chambers. One of 5 siblings of Irish and German lineage, he has a twin brother named Jason, an older brother and two older sisters. After relocating to New York in the 1990s, Justin spent four years at New York's H.B. Studios studying acting. As a young, Justin, and his twin brother, visited hospitals regularly because of constant bouts with pneumonia. In 1993, Jason married Keisha Chambers, a model agency booker whom Jason met while he was working as Calvin Klein model. They welcomed their first child, daughter Isabella, in 1997, and two years later, in 1999, their twin girls, Maya and Kaila, were born. Daughter Eva followed in 2001. Their fifth child, son Jackson, was born in 2002.
The Wedding Planner
Career: Springfield, Ohio native Justin Chambers was on vocation in Paris when he was discovered by a modeling scout at a local Metro station. Shortly afterwards, he was on his way pursuing fruitful modeling career in Europe, Japan and United States under the contracts of such prestigious brands as Calvin Klein, Georgio Armani, and others. He moved to New York in the 1990s, and after training professionally as an actor at the H.B. Studio, the brown-haired beaut turned his attention into acting and in the mid-1990s, he began acquiring parts in several off-Broadway stage productions. His television break arrived in 1995 when he originated the role of Nicholas 'Nick' Hudson on the NBC daytime series “Another World.” The actor, however, was fired four months later after the show changed producers. The following year, Chambers resurfaced on the small screen when he made guest appearances in prime-time series like Fox's “New York Undercover” and UPN's “Swift Justice” and had a bit part opposite Lolita Davidovich in the CBS “Hallmark Hall of Fame” production “Harvest of Shame,” about a female FBI agent who comes to a doubting Amish community to investigate a multiple building burning incident. He next costarred with Jennifer Garner, Jeffrey D. Sams and Zak Orth in “Rose Hill,” another “Hallmark Hall of Fame” production aired on CBS in 1997, but he did not make a debut as a regular until he won the role of the annoyed son Caleb Haskell on the CBS soap “Four Corners,” along side Ann-Margret and Raymond J. Barry. Unfortunately for Chambers, the series was axed after only two airings. He then appeared with Hume Cronyn, Rip Torn and Nick Stahl in the CBS TV adaptation of “Season of Love” (1999). It was also in 1999 that Chambers kicked off his feature career when Barry Levinson tapped him to play a WASP who befriends a Jew in “Liberty Heights,” starring Adrien Brody and Ben Foster, and he needed two years before taking his next film role in 2001's “The Invisible Circus,” in which he briefly appeared as Cameron Diaz's poop-smoking pal. His screen breakthrough arrived later that same year when he was cast in the role of the Italian immigrant expecting to marry Jennifer Lopez in the blockbuster hit “The Wedding Planner,” which also co-starring Matthew McConaughey and Bridgette Wilson. The brown-eyed performer's mounting career was further established when he landed his first starring role, as the gallant swordsman D'Artagnan, in the big screen version of “The Musketeer” (also 2001). The critics gave harsh response, but Chambers' work with Calvin Klein kept him on the spotlight. In 2002, Chambers starred with Uma Thurman, Juliette Lewis and Gena Rowlands in the acclaimed HBO telefilm “Hysterical Blindness,” which was premiered at several festivals, including the 2002 Sundance Film Festival and the 2003 Deauville Film Festival. Here he portrayed a jaunty contractor named Rick whose casual fling with Thurman’s character Debby turns into a possible marriage in the mind of Debby although Rick remained neutral. Next, he starred opposite Elisabeth Shue and Joseph Fiennes in the drama film “Leo” (also 2002), which was considered as another critical disappointment, and returned to film with a small role for the standout short “For Which it Stands” (2003), appearing as a German soldier. Still in 2003, he joined the cast of the CBS drama “Cold Case” playing intelligent detective Chris Lassing, a partner to Kathryn Morris' Lily Rush. The procedural drama became a hit with audience in its second season, after Chambers left the show. Chambers portrayed Charles Brody on the drama made-for-TV film “The Secret Service” (2004), opposite Sarah Wayne Callies, Shane Brolly and Shohreh Aghdashloo, costarred with Anna Faris and Laura Breckenridge in the comedy film “Southern Belles” (2005), which saw him as a handsome police officer named Rhett Butler, and played the lead of a police detective obsessed with the famous murder case in the thriller “Zodiac” (also 2005), with Robin Tunney as his on-screen wife and Rory Culkin as their son. However, the gangling performer did not enjoy major breakthrough until he landed a regular gig on the ABC medical drama series “Grey's Anatomy” in 2005. Playing Dr. Alex Karev, opposite Ellen Pompeo as Dr. Meredith Grey, Katherine Heigl as Dr. Isobel 'Izzie' Stevens and Sandra Oh as Dr. Cristina Yang, and many others, he received a Teen Choice nomination for Choice TV Breakout Performance - Male in 2005 and a Screen Actors Guild for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series in 2007, an award he shared with other costars.
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