Jeffrey Dean Morgan is an American actor. Morgan became well known in 2006 for playing three high-profile recurring roles simultaneously: patient Denny Duquette on Grey's Anatomy, patriarch John Winchester on Supernatural, and Judah Botwin, the deceased husband of show protagonist Nancy Botwin (Mary-Louise Parker) on the Showtime series Weed

Early life

Born in Seattle, Washington he attended Ben Franklin Elementary School, Rose Hill Junior High and Lake Washington High School in the Seattle suburb of Kirkland. Morgan was a basketball player in high school and university, until a knee injury ended his desire for a career in the sport. He was a graphic artist for a time, until he helped a friend move to Los Angeles.
 

Career

Starting with the 1991 movie Uncaged, Morgan has appeared in 15 feature films. The bulk of Morgan's work has been in television. He was the star of the 1996-1997 television show The Burning Zone; his character, Dr. Edward Marcase, appeared in 10 out of 19 episodes that season. Since 2000, he has amassed a number of credits in television shows such as ER, JAG, Walker, Texas Ranger, Angel, Tru Calling, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Sliders, and Monk.

In 2005 and 2006, Morgan simultaneously appeared in three separate television series: On the CW series Supernatural as John Winchester, the mysterious father of Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles); in a recurring role on ABC's Grey's Anatomy as heart transplant patient Denny Duquette, who carried on a relationship with intern Izzie Stevens (Katherine Heigl) and died in the show's second-season finale. (During the third season's three show arc his character made an appearance during Meredith's death scene.); as Judah Botwin, on the Showtime series Weeds. Morgan's three roles are notable in that all three of the characters are now deceased, two of whom died onscreen. Morgan was cast in a new project by Grey's Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes. The show, tentatively titled "Correspondents", was to have started production in summer 2007. ABC picked up a spinoff of Grey's Anatomy, called Private Practice, that was also created by Rhimes, and that project has rendered the future of "Correspondents" uncertain. Morgan is also among the cast of a movie that is based on a novel by the Irish novelist Cecelia Ahern, PS, I Love You. The movie is slated for release on December 21 2007. Another 2007 film starring Morgan is The Accidental Husband, which finished filming in New York City in March 2007. Morgan also recently finished filming Days of Wrath, a film about gangland violence in Los Angeles. It has been confirmed that Morgan will portray The Comedian, a cigar-chomping vigilante, in the upcoming Watchmen, based on Alan Moore's novel.

Personal life

At some point in his young adulthood he was married, according to a 1993 interview in Playboy. Little is known publicly about the marriage, other than that it ended in divorce. Morgan dated his former Weeds  costar, Mary-Louise Parker, and Parker had stated that the relationship is "going great!".  In June 2007, Morgan told PEOPLE that the couple had split.Morgan has a dog, a Rottweiler mix named Bisou (French for 'kiss') whom he rescued when she was a puppy. He remains sympathetic to the plight of shelter animals and has contributed to animal-oriented fundraisers in the Los Angeles area.