Jensen Ackles played Dean Winchester for 15 seasons on the popular series Supernatural, and his TV career is still going as strong as ever. He recently appeared on season 3 of Amazon's raunchy fan-favorite The Boys and is currently starring opposite Reba McEntire in season 3 of Big Sky. Ackles has been a popular TV actor for years, even winning "Sexiest TV Star" in People's Sexiest Man Alive roundup. But despite his professional success, he's managed to keep his relationship with his wife, Danneel Ackles, strong and happy. Danneel is also an actress, though her career has slowed down a bit since they married and had children together. The Ackles really are a power couple who prove that with some hard work, you really can have a bit of everything.
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How did they meet?
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In the early 2000s, both Jensen and Danneel were working on shows on the CW -- he was starring on Supernatural, and she was on One Tree Hill. Though that's where their paths first crossed, it wasn't until 2006 when they starred together in the film Ten Inch Hero that their relationship officially started. A proposal came in 2009, and the following year in Jensen's hometown of Dallas, Texas, the couple tied the knot.
Who is Danneel Ackles?
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The actress grew up in a small town outside of Lafayette, Louisiana. Her birth name is actually Elta Danneel Graul, the name 'Danneel' inspired by the street in nearby New Orleans. It's interesting to note that the couple maintains strong ties to the city of New Orleans to this day. Not only has Jensen been named 'King' of the Mardi Gras parade, but Danneel is involved with the local charitable women's group Saint Claude Social Club. They even regularly share posts on social media visiting together as a family.
Under the professional name Danneel Harris, which she maintained until her marriage, she moved to Los Angeles to initially pursue a career in modeling. What started with appearances in TV commercials and various modeling gigs led to Danneel landing a role in the soap opera One Life to Live. She moved to New York for the role but left after 68 episodes in 2004. Additional TV roles followed on shows like Joey and Charmed before she landed her recurring role on One Tree Hill as Rachel Gatina. She went on to have a main role in the NBC series Friends With Benefits and even appeared opposite former OTH co-star Hilarie Burton in the Hallmark Christmas movie Naughty or Nice as well as the Lifetime Christmas movie The Christmas Contract.
Family life in Texas
The couple has three children together -- a daughter named Justice Jay (affectionately called JJ), born in 2013, and twins Zeppelin Bram and Arrow Rhodes, born in 2016. Like many couples in Hollywood, the Ackles decided they wanted to embrace their southern roots and provide a different upbringing for their children. They opted to settle down in Austin, Texas, home of other movie stars like Matthew McConaughey and Kyle Chandler. The Lone Star state is obviously far from Canada, where Jensen spent years filming Supernatural, but despite all of the time apart, Danneel appeared to be a supportive partner. On Supernatural's last day of filming in 2020, she even posted a photo of Jensen with a sweet message about his time on the show.
"You may be shooting your last day...helping to bring Supernatural across the finish line and into television history, but this is not... the End. Supernatural is a show about love, and the love that has been created within the story is eternal. Love between brothers, love between friends, love between co-stars...love for the crew, love for the fans, and love for each other. Thank you to everyone who is a part of this community and those who continue to share their love and talents with us all."
Not only is the Ackles family living a more low-key lifestyle in Austin, but the couple also started a business together. They are co-owners of the Family Business Beer Co. right outside of town, which is a family-friendly brewery with an onsite pizza truck. You can even find their beer at various local businesses throughout Austin. They also started a production company together, Chaos Machine Productions. In fact, their first project will be part of the Supernatural universe called The Winchesters. It will be a prequel series covering everything that happened with the Winchester family before the original long-running series, with Jensen serving as narrator. The couple will be co-executive producing the new series, which is set to debut this fall.
