Jonathan Brandis

Writing about Jonathan Brandis is bittersweet for me. He was everywhere in the early nineties: the boy hero of The NeverEnding Story II, young Bill in It, the prodigy aboard SeaQuest DSV, a teen idol whose face papered bedroom walls worldwide. He died in 2003 at just twenty-seven, while trying to grow into screenwriting and directing. What strikes me on revisiting his work is how natural he was; many child actors perform cuteness, but Brandis simply behaved on camera. To me he stands as a reminder of how cruel the gap between teen fame and adult opportunity can be, and his performances still deserve new viewers.

Name (English)

Jonathan Brandis

Name (Japanese)

ジョナサン・ブランディス

Reading

じょなさん・ぶらんでぃす

Born

April 13, 1976 – November 12, 2003

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Aries / Dragon

Origin

Danbury, Connecticut, United States

Occupation

actor / film actor / screenwriter / film director / film producer

Awards & achievements

• 1994 Young Artist Awards

Motto

Private

• Official sitehttp://www.jonathanbrandis.org/
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%B8%E3%83%A7%E3%83%8A%E3%82%B5%E3%83%B3%E3%83%BB%E3%83%96%E3%83%A9%E3%83%B3%E3%83%87%E3%82%A3%E3%82%B9

Tags

• Connecticut
• actor
• film actor
• screenwriter

Last updated

2026-06-11

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.