J.D. Evermore

J.D. Evermore, born in Greenville, Mississippi on November 5, 1968—the same day Richard Nixon was elected president—comes from a diverse heritage that includes Irish, French, German, Cherokee, and Choctaw roots. As the eldest of seven siblings, J.D.'s childhood was marked by frequent relocations, attending 17 different schools while living between his parents. His great-great-great-great uncle, Horace Mann, was a pioneer in public education, and both of his parents influenced his creative spirit; his father, affectionately known as "Puddin," is a welder and artist, while his mother, Sally, was a concert promoter and ran a country nightclub where J.D. rubbed shoulders with legends like Hank Williams Jr. and Jerry Lee Lewis.

After a brief foray into college and a 15-month service in the Marine Corps, J.D. returned to Mississippi, initially working as a debt collector. Discontented with this path, he pursued a degree in theatre at the University of Southern Mississippi, where he began to embrace his passion for acting. His talent was recognized when he became one of 20 finalists for the Southeastern Theatre Conference in 1995. That same year, he made the leap to Los Angeles to star in the play "Dylan's Ghost," leaving college just shy of graduation.

J.D. has since alternated between Hollywood, Austin, and Oxford, Mississippi, where he wrote and directed his first feature film, "Glorious Mail," in 2005. Although he appeared on the game show "Hollywood Showdown" and won nearly $12,000, his friends often joke about his near-misses for lead roles in major films, where he frequently ended up as the director's second choice. In 2004, he was again a runner-up in a United Way raffle for a house, winning instead an artist’s print valued at $80.