Justin Bruening (born September 24, 1979) is an American actor and former fashion model. He was discovered at a McDonald's in Escondido, California, and within a week, he was shooting photos with Bruce Weber. In 2003, his acting career began when he was cast in the role of Jamie Martin on the daytime drama All My Children, earning him a Soap Opera Digest Award in 2005 for the portrayal. In 2007, Bruening was cast as Mike Traceur, the son of character Michael Knight, a new take on the original Knight Rider series. In 2011, he was cast as Tyler Berrett, a recurring role on The CW series Ringer starring Sarah Michelle Gellar and in 2013, he joined Ravenswood.

Bruening was born on September 24, 1979, in St. Helena, Nebraska.^[1] Raised in the small town of St. Helena, Nebraska (a then-population of 85), he graduated from high school with only nine classmates.^[2]

Following graduation, Bruening moved to San Diego, California. It was there that he was discovered by Sue Nessel, a talent scout for Scott Copeland International, at McDonald's in Escondido just north of San Diego.^[2] Soon afterwards, Copeland got him his first modeling job for Abercrombie & Fitch.^[2]

Following his first commercial job, Bruening was encouraged to study acting by Copeland and was noticed by All My Children casting director Judy Wilson.^[2] Bruening originally auditioned for the role of JR Chandler on All My Children, but was eventually cast in the role of James "Jamie" Martin in July 2003.^[1] For a brief time, in 2004 and 2005, Bruening also portrayed Jamie Martin on One Life to Live during a crossover storyline. During his role of Jamie, Bruening was featured as Daytime's Hottest Star in Teen People, Us Weekly, Star and J-14 magazines.^[3]

In addition to his work on soap operas, he has had a guest appearance on Hope & Faith^[1] and a small part in the film Fat Girls. He was up for the role of Superman in Superman Returns, but the part was won by Brandon Routh instead.^[4] He also appeared in the Britney Spears music video "Boys".^[1] On October 21, 2007, he appeared on CBS's Cold Case, in the episode "Thick As Thieves".

In February 2008, Bruening starred in a new rendition of the original Knight Rider series, portraying the original Knight Rider's son, Mike Traceur, for a two-hour film on NBC.^[5] David Hasselhoff had a guest role, reprising his role as Michael Knight.^[5] The film and subsequent TV series also featured KITT (Knight Industries Three Thousand), a 2008 Ford Shelby GT500KR, with Val Kilmer as the voice of the highly advanced robotic automobile.^[5][6] NBC decided after successful ratings for the film to continue the story as a series, and commissioned an official series for its debut for the 2008–2009 television season.^[7][8]

In 2011, Bruening began a recurring role on the CW mystery series, Ringer.^[9] In 2012, he began a recurring role on the ABC family drama, Switched at Birth. In 2013, he had a recurring role on the ABC drama, Grey's Anatomy as Paramedic Matt.^[10] He then featured in the limited season run of the Pretty Little Liars' spin-off Ravenswood in 2013. In 2018, he was cast as 'Nash' the co-star of the Hallmark Channel tv movie Last Vermont Christmas.^[11]

Bruening proposed to former All My Children co-star Alexa Havins on the set of the soap opera. They were married on June 5, 2005. The two were friends first before becoming romantically involved.^[12] After Bruening left All My Children, Havins exited shortly after and the couple moved to Los Angeles. They have three children: Lexington Grace, born in 2010, Zane in 2013, and Zoe in December 2015.^[13]