John Fortson is an award winning stage and screen actor who famed acting coach Cameron Thor talks about as having, “more emotional life than I’ve ever seen.”  So it’s no surprise that this ruggedly handsome actor recently received a Best Leading Actor Award by the prestigious Accolade Film Awards and reviews declaring John as, “wonderful & perfect, a character that any sane woman would give her eye teeth for.”  But he’s not just another good looking guy, John makes choices that are surprising and sometimes shocking, dedicated to bringing out the truth in his characters.

The son of a Naval officer, John grew up traveling the world, even living in Japan for three years where at the age of 7 he climbed all 12,390 feet of Mt. Fuji.  He quickly fell in love with surfing at the age of 10 when his family returned to the US, settling near the ocean in Jacksonville, Florida.  John began competing in contests, traveling on surf trips, and dreamed of turning pro.
 
BUT… he fell in love again, with acting, during his senior year of high school when John’s teacher encouraged him to audition for Christian in “Cyrano de Bergerac.”  John won the role, an award for best performance, and walked off the stage saying, “I want to do this the rest of my life.”  While attending the University of North Florida, among other productions, John won a plum role opposite Emmy-winner and “LOST” series regular Michael Emerson in “Othello.” 

Still finding his way, he graduated with a BA in advertising and business, interned at an advertising agency and might have stayed in the field had he not taken a seminar with Casting Director and New York American Academy teacher, Kathryn Laughlin, who advised him, “You have to study, get your SAG card, and move to L.A.”  From that moment on John never looked back.  He began driving 3 ½ hours each way from Jacksonville to Tampa every week to study with Kathy.  Immediately he began booking, a hit show for CBS, a film, several commercials and in one year he had his SAG and AFTRA cards.  Six months later he moved to LA.

He has since been honing his craft in the master classes of famed acting teachers Cameron Thor, Howard Fine, Jay Goldenberg, Eric Morris, and with LA’s most prestigious improv comedy troupe, The Groundlings.

And it’s continuing to pay off.  John’s been snapping up a variety of diverse roles in film and television some of which include: his Cary Grant-esque award winning leading role in the indie film, “Definite Maybe,” as a meth addict on death’s door saved by Maura Tierney in “ER,” harassing Jessica Biel in “7TH Heaven,” a scientist saving the world in the “24 ish” indie pilot, “Beyond,” the good brother in “Lather, Rinse, Repeat” opposite film steady Marshall Bell and Golden-Globe nominee Troy Garity, a detective with a flair for the 70’s in the comedy “Nice Guy Syndrome,” playing James Spader in the festival sensation “My Big Fat Independent Movie,” and co-starring in the intense relationship drama “Magnetic Poles” which was a Sundance Fesitval Selection.

Of the more than 30 commercials John has appeared in, his favorite is for director Kirk Jones (Waking Ned Devine).  Kirk selected John from over 400 actors nationwide to play the nervous rookie tower climber in his award winning Coke spot that saw John hanging on the outside of a massive communications tower at 1000 feet.  Nervous, no problem.

John remains true to his roots, hitting the stage in many of LA’s best theatres whenever he can. Tom in the “Glass Menagerie,” Gabe in “Dinner with Friends,” Val in “Orpheus Descending,” Trepleff in “The Seagull” and a tattooed librarian fighting for love in “Sebastian and the Tattooed Love Librarian” are among some recent favorites.  The later of which earned John notices like “Fortson is perfect,” Robert Axlerod, NoHo Magazine and “strong performances, with Fortson particularly,” Frontier Magazine. 
 
John has also been honing his writing and performance skills for which some theatre goers claim him to be, “the next Spalding Gray” and “unflinchingly raw, honest, and hilarious.”  This has led to invitations to write and perform for “Six Feet Under” Head Writer Jill Soloway’s show, SitNSpin, for Los Angeles’s MOCA, and in countless Lifestories shows at Beyond Baroque.

Most recently he put all his skills to work writing and starring in one of his most exciting projects to date, his hilariously honest one-man play, Loveswell.  The production culminates two years work developing material in writing/performance teacher, Terrie Silverman’s Truth, Lies, & Memory classes (creativerites.com).  Critics and audiences raved as it ran for six weeks in Los Angeles.  With industry encouragement John has since finished the screenplay version, a cross between Annie Hall and High Fidelity.  Now, with the script and new chapters in his life, John developed new material and is relaunching Loveswell at the Prestigious Hudson Theatre for its Hollywood Premiere in May 2009. 

When not writing and developing new works, John supports some favorite environmental and charitable causes like: Heal the Bay, The Surfrider Foundation, Surf Aid International, and Cancer Research. 

John enjoys traveling, walks with his family and of course, time at the beach where, yes, he continues to surf whenever he can.  His love for surfing has taken him to spots all over the world including these favorites:  Costa Rica, Oahu-including The North Shore, Kauai, Australia, and Tahiti.  In 2008 John took time off with his wife, film and television actress Christie Lynn Smith, to welcome their baby girl, Abby Ryder, into the world.  They reside in Los Angeles.