Jonathan Scott (Canadian actor)

Early life and education

Jonathan Silver Scott was born on April 28, 1978—four minutes before his identical twin brother Drew—in Vancouver, Canada. He has an older brother, J.D., and is the second son of James and Joanne Scott. Prior to their birth, Joanne worked as a paralegal in downtown Vancouver. James, having emigrated from Scotland as a teenager, had fostered dreams of being a cowboy as he had seen on television, and worked in the film industry as an actor, stuntman, and assistant director until the late 1970s. It was around that time when he decided to focus on raising his family, and they moved to a horse farm in the nearby town of Maple Ridge, British Columbia. On their seventh birthday, their father encouraged the twins to get a job. They looked through the wanted ads, but ultimately began a business with their mother called JAM (for Jon, Andrew, and Mom) making nylon, woven hangers. In interviews, they have related how they would sell them door to door, eventually selling thousands to a woman who sold American paraphernalia in Japan.

The boys' continued job search led them to an ad recruiting child clowns to perform in parades. Theyboth became apprentice clowns, and did well for a time, but Jonathan grew tired of making himself up, and began to transition as a performer. As a child, he'd seen a magic show on New Year's Eve that inspired him, and by the age of ten, he was making his own magic props; by 15 he was using the barn as a workshop to create large-scale illusions. Over the next decade won several awards.

James would commonly renovate their properties, and from when they were as young as eight years old he had paid the boys to build and repair fences, decks, and barns. Even as kids, the twins would often rearrange the furniture in their family home. At 14 years old, Jonathan and his father moved to Alberta, where they begin building a new house from the ground up; Jonathan moved back to Maple Ridge to complete high school.

The boys attended Thomas Haney Secondary School and, while they both played on the basketball and volleyball teams, Jonathan gravitated more to theater and clubs, where he was president of various committees including student government and the graduation committee. After graduation, the family moved in to their newly built home, just as the twins were leaving for Calgary to go to university.

Early career

Apart from being a magician, Scott's early performances included television appearances on X-Files and Canada's Breaker High. After graduation, he enrolled at Calgary University, majoring in business management. Despite having interest in going into entertainment, the twins didn't want to be "starving artists," and—after researching the topic,—they thought real estate would "ease the financial purgatory of being out-of-work actors." During their first semester in college and using a vendor take-back mortgage, they made a $250 down payment on and assumed the mortgage of a seven-bedroom property across the street from their university. They then cleaned and repaired it, and sublet the remaining five rooms for a profit $800 a month. They sold the house a year later for a $50,000 profit. They continued to purchase and "flip" homes at wide profit margins by making only modest repairs that they completed themselves. After several negative experiences with realtors, however, Drew enrolled in a real estate program to get licensed. Meanwhile, Jonathan abandoned his major in business and enrolled in Southern Alberta Institute of Technology to earn his degree in construction and design, becoming licensed as a contractor. In those roles, the brothers renovated and sold properties for the next 15 years. Still planning to pursue careers in entertainment, the twins—along with their older brother—co-founded Dividian Production Group in 2002, an independent film production company.

In 2004, the twins founded Scott Real Estate Inc., a company designed to provide clients, in their words, a "one stop shop" for services in the buying, selling, and renovating of homes, as well as design consulting, and staging open houses. They eventually expanded to have offices in Vancouver, Calgary, and Las Vegas, with dozens of employees. Meanwhile, the brothers pursued their entertainment careers on the side: Jonathan as an illusionist and Drew as an actor and director. In 2005, however, Drew moved to Vancouver to pursue his acting career in earnest; Jonathan remained in Calgary to run the business.

Transition to television (2008 – 2011)

When the real estate market collapsed in Calgary, Scott relocated to the US because the recession was further along there, and he saw an opportunity to buy inexpensive property. He had often traveled to Las Vegas with his ex-wife (drawn to the city's live entertainment scene), and J.D. had moved there a couple years earlier. He decided to purchase a house in the nearby suburb of Summerlin, Nevada in 2008. There, he found opportunities to both renovate foreclosures and expand his performance career as an illusionist.

In 2010, Dividian Production Group became Scott Brothers Entertainment, and the brothers expanded it into a TV, film, and digital production company with offices in the US and Canada. Back in Vancouver, Drew was offered an audition for a show called Realtor Idol, based on the American Idol format. The show never materialized, but when the producers learned he had a brother who was a contractor, they developed a show around the pair tentatively called My Dream Home; that company would later film their pilot for Property Brothers. However, the show was turned down by multiple North-American networks before being picked up for a full season by the W Network in Canada. After becoming the number-one rated show on the network, it was picked by the HGTV and HGTV Canada, both of whom had previously passed on the show. The success of the show spawned several spinoffs, including Buying and Selling (2012–present) and Brother vs. Brother (2013–present). By 2014, the shows combined had more than 26 million fans. The franchise has since expanded to include other one-off series like Brothers Take New Orleans and the web series In the Scott Seat in 2016.

The twins decided to sell their individual homes and purchase a joint property in 2011, with the goal of establishing a hub for their extended family and friends. Jonathan began searching for a place that met all of their criteria (e.g. within 20 minutes of the airport), and they ultimately purchased a foreclosed house for $400,000. Jonathan moved in first, living there alone for three years before they began improvements. With a renovation budget of $2 million, the project became the basis of a fourth television series, Property Brothers: At Home. It was also the first production under the umbrella of Scott Brothers Entertainment. The show premiered in 2014 in the United States, as well as in 2015 on the W Network in Canada.

With the success of Property Brothers: At Home, Jonathan, Drew Scott and J.D. Scott created another spin-off series called Property Brothers: At Home on the Ranch, where the brothers went back to Alberta to complete a 10-week renovation on a family friend's Rocky Mountain estate. As part of the show, they sang and recorded, for the first time as The Scott Brothers, two country singles. The first, "Hold On," premiered during the third episode of the series, and "Let the Night Shine In," debuted during the fourth. Both tracks were co-written by the brothers along with Nashville songwriters Victoria Shaw and Chad Carlson. "Hold On" hit number 38 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart and was accompanied by a music video that has more than three million views on Vevo.

He and Drew were guest presenters at the Grand Ole Opry in March 2016, hosted the Friday night Nissan Stadium show of the CMA Music Fest 2016, and Jonathan performed "Hold On" at the Country Music Association's celebration of music education in New Orleans in September 2016. On January 12, 2017, The Scott Brothers released a third song, "My House," featuring Eric Paslay, and announced that 100 percent of the proceeds would be donated to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. The song's accompanying music video was filmed at Jonathan and Drew's home in Las Vegas and features various celebrity cameos, including Carrot Top, Lindsay Ell and RaeLynn.

Other projects

In 2013, Jonathan, Drew, and J.D. Scott hosted the radio show Off Topic with the Scott Brothers for Canada's Corus Entertainment. The twins also appeared on a 2016 episode of the NPR radio show Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!.

In 2015, the twins created an outdoor furniture line called Scott Living that was launched on QVC. It has since expanded to include indoor offerings, and their products are available at retailers including Lowe's, Costco, Orchard, and Bed Bath & Beyond. By the end of 2016, the brand had crossed 100 million in revenue. Dream Homes (an extension of the brand), designs high-end, customized architecture and home elements for homeowners with budgets in the millions of dollars. Every aspect can be customized, and design ideas are provided by a team of designers based out of Las Vegas. Clients ask for features like "a helipad, a 20-car garage, or a million-dollar theater room."

The brothers have been sought out as experts in their respective fields and are invited to lectures and workshops as guest speakers to provide insight on the real estate business. They have accepted invitations to such notable events as the Realscreen Summit, CES, and RootsTech. They are also regulars on the talk show circuit, often in promotion of their latest ventures, having appeared on shows including Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Chelsea, and Today. Great American Country’s end-of-the-year Top 50 Country Countdown reached out to the brothers to host the annual program on December 22, 2013. They were also invited to be guest judges on Hell's Kitchen and design a house for the models on America's Next Top Model. Scott, in particular, is a vocal proponent of renewable energy. Around 2000, he converted his home of the time to run on wind energy, and his current home in Las Vegas runs off solar engery. On December 6, 2016, Scott participated in the sixth annual 24 Hours of Reality broadcast, and advocated for the revocation of legislation that discourages residential solar power installation. In 2016, he began work on a documentary series about the energy landscape in North America, emphasizing the viability of solar energy; the series will be completed later this year.

They also planned a Scott Brothers-themed cruise in November 2015 called Sailing with the Scotts, and finished writing their first book, titled "Dream Home". It was released April 4, 2016 and debuted at number nine on the New York Times bestsellers list for advice/how-to, and number three on the Wall Street Journal bestsellers list for nonfiction. The brothers are currently writing a second book, a memoir, with a tentative release date of September 2017.

Acting

This led to his sitting on the executive board for ACTRA (the Canadian equivalent of SAG) for years. Scott caught the attention of producers for The Bachelor, but he turned down their offer to star on the show. Both he and his twin played themselves in the USA Network comedy Playing House in 2015. He and Jonathan appeared in the first five episodes of the webseries "Tiny House Arrest," which debuted on January 1, 2016 and was produced by their production company.

Magic

As an adult, Scott has performed shows in Las Vegas, including at Murray SawChuck's show at the Laugh Factory. He has been a member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians for more than 20 years, and still creates illusions for other magicians in Las Vegas.

Public image

They are known for their goofy senses of humor, and for how much they poke fun at each other, often during public appearances. They honed these skills during their time in improv and sketch comedy. While real estate agent Drew is often in a suit and tie, contractor Jonathan is more casual, or the "rugged, flannel-shirt-outfitted half." Drew has referred to Jonathan's work as "slow-motion renovation in tight jeans." Both twins stand over 6'4" tall.

The twins have become sex symbols for HGTV. In 2013 and 2014, he and Drew appeared in People's Sexiest Man Alive issue, and the magazine's list of Men of the Year in 2014. The basic cable network has said, "We know that twin brothers and HGTV fan favorites Drew and Jonathan Scott are good-looking, talented and ever-so-popular with the ladies." Kathleen Finch, the president of HGTV, has called the twins "the cable equivalent of box-office movie stars." After the debut of Brother Vs. Brother, Glamour wrote, "Yes, we've all always harbored massive crushes on the twins, but let's just say they are taking their sex appeal to all new levels—ripped-shirts, greased-muscles, water-sprayed levels of hotness." They garnered the second-largest crowd ever at Mall of America, second only to the British boy band One Direction.

Scott has sizable followings on various social media platforms, including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Periscope, where he universally uses the handle "MrSilverScott". Mashable even called him a "master" at social media. With brother Drew, he would also create videos on the now-defunct platform Vine. The two worked with famous "Viners," including Vincent Marcus, Manon Mathews, Sara Hopkins, BrittleStar, NeatDude, and Gregor Reynolds. People named one of his Vines—of him and Drew doing pull-ups—a "Vine of the Day."

In April 2016, Scott was caught in an altercation at a Fargo bar at closing time, where he was restrained by the bar's bouncers. He called the police to report he had been assaulted, and an investigation was conducted, but ultimately, no charges were filed against any of the parties.

Philanthropy

Scott is actively involved in youth initiatives, having Performed magic for children in a hospital's oncology ward, raised money for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, and partnered with First Lady Michelle Obama on her 5th Annual "Let's Read Let's Move" campaign. Designed to encourage kids to be more active, he and Drew's involvement in the campaign included reading to more than 100 underprivileged kids and leading them in an obstacle course. With his brothers, he is also a global ambassador for World Vision, a Christian relief, development and advocacy organization. The three Scott brothers went to New Delhi and visited several slums as part of their commitment to No Child For Sale, which targets the fight against child labor and trafficking. He has collaborated with the network of artists involved in Paul Haggis's Artists for Peace and Justice, a non-profit organization that supports communities in Haiti through programs in education and health.

Personal life

Scott married young and wore a kilt to his wedding to celebrate the family's Scottish heritage. He has since divorced, explaining, "We were young and not a good match." He is currently dating Jacinta Kuznetsov, a producer for the Canadian radio program, The Strombo Show. They met at a charity event, and Scott was interested in her but did not have any way to contact her. They reconnected after he saw her in the back of a photo his friend posted on social media.

While not an American citizen, Scott tends to have Democratic views. He endorsed Hillary Clinton in March 2016. He and his brother have shared that they have donated to the Clinton Foundation, to "work towards a better world". He is an animal lover and has two small dogs, Gracie and Stewie, whom he calls his "kids." They often travel with him. With his twin, Scott has twice played in the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game. He is a second-degree black belt in karate, and plays the bagpipes. He also enjoys taking cruises.

The twins—along with their brother—maintain a "no B.S." policy that means they are alway honest with each other when something bothers them, and then try to move on from it. They credit the policy with helping them get along.

Filmography

Discography

(credited as The Scott Brothers)

Awards

After being nominated in 2011, Scott won the 2012 Leo Award for "Best Host(s) in an Information or Lifestyle Series" for Property Brothers.

Publications