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 series Ringer starring Sarah Michelle Gellar and in 2013, he joined Ravenswood. He also played paramedic Matthew Taylor on the medical drama Grey's Anatomy in 2013 and 2018. Raised in the small town (a then-population of 85), he graduated from high school with only nine classmates.
Career
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.
In addition to his work on soap operas, he has had a guest appearance on Hope & Faith He also appeared in the Britney Spears music video "Boys". David Hasselhoff had a guest role, reprising his role as Michael Knight. 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.
In 2011, Bruening began a recurring role on the CW mystery series, Ringer. 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. 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 film Last Vermont Christmas. In 2020, he was cast as a series regular in the Netflix show Sweet Magnolias.
Personal life
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. After Bruening left All My Children, Havins exited shortly after and the couple moved to Los Angeles. They have four children: Lexington Grace, born in 2010, Zane in 2013, and Zoe in December 2015.
Filmography
Film
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
|2006
|Fat Girls
|Bobby
|Debut film
|-
|2008
|Knight Rider
|Mike Traceur
|Television film
|-
|2010
|Class
|Whitt Sheffield
|Television film
|-
|2012
|Blue Eyed Butcher
|Jeff Wright
|Television film
|-
|2013
|The Thanksgiving House
|Everett Mather
|Television film
|-
|2017
|The Monster Project
|Devon
|Film
|-
|2018
|He's Out There
| Shawn
| Film
|-
|2018
|Indivisible
| Darren Turner
| Based on a true story
|-
|2018
|Last Vermont Christmas
| Nash
|Television film (Hallmark)
|-
|2020
| Swept Up By Christmas
| Reed
| Television film (Hallmark)
|-
|2022
| Reindeer Games Homecoming
| Chase Weston
| Television film (Lifetime)
|-
|2022
| Vanished: Searching for My Sister
| Warren
| Television film (Lifetime)
|}
Television
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
|2003–2007, 2011 ||All My Children||James Edward "Jamie" Martin|| Series regular (September 8, 2003–August 22, 2007), guest star (September 21–23, 2011); 163 episodes
|-
|2004–2005 ||One Life to Live||Jamie Martin||Recurring role (October 20, 2004–February 21, 2005); 8 episodes
|-
|2004 ||Hope & Faith||Jake||Episodes: "Hold the Phone" & "Do I Look Frat In This?"
|-
|2006 ||3 lbs||Personal trainer|| Episode: "The Cutting Edge"
|-
|2007 ||Cold Case||Spencer Mason||Episode: "Thick as Thieves"
|-
| 2007 || CSI: Miami||Craig Abbott||Episode: "My Nanny"
|-
|2008–2009 ||Knight Rider||Mike Traceur||Lead role
|-
|2011||Wonder Woman||Steve Trevor||"Pilot" (Never aired)
|-
|2011||Castle||Rod Tredwyck|| Episode: "The Dead Pool"
|-
|2011 || State of Georgia||Brad||Episode: "Flavor of the Week"
|-
| 2011 || CSI: NY||Hank Frazier||Episode: "Air Apparent"
|-
|2011–2012 ||Ringer|| Tyler Barrett||9 episodes
|-
| 2012–2013|| Switched at Birth||Chef Jeff Reycraft||9 episodes
|-
| 2013, 2018 || Grey's Anatomy||Paramedic Matthew Taylor|| 16 episodes
|-
| 2013 || Hawaii Five-0||Lt. Commander William "Billy" Harrington||5 episodes
|-
| 2013–2014 || Ravenswood||Benjamin Price||4 episodes
|-
| 2014 || Royal Pains||Chase|| Episode: "A Bigger Boat"
|-
| 2015 || CSI: Cyber||Evan Wescott|| Episode: "The Evil Twin"
|-
| 2015 || The Messengers||Leo Travers|| 3 episodes
|-
| 2015 || Blood & Oil||Richard Ford|| Episode: "Pilot"
|-
| 2016–2017 || Good Behavior||Kyle Dash|| 5 episodes