Music Within

Background:

Receiving his first acting job as an urchin in the Cedar Rapids Community Theater production of the musical "Scrooge," John Livingston, the younger brother of Golden Globe-nominated actor Ron Livingston, began appearing on television in the mid 1990s before landing his first big break as an aspiring filmmaker in Daniel Pyne's mystery/comedy movie, "Where's Marlowe?" (1998).

Livingston has appeared in the films "The Net" (1995), "Mr. Wrong" (1996), "Dogtown" (1997), "Edtv" (1999), "The Sterling Chase" (1999), "Dopamine" (2003), and most recently in the biopic "Music Within" (2007), in which he played the lead role of Richard Pimentel, a brilliant public speaker with a troubled past who returns from Vietnam severely hearing -impaired.

Meanwhile, TV viewers could catch him guest starring in such TV shows as "Saved by the Bell: The New Class," "Chicago Hope," "Murder, She Wrote," "Clueless," "Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction," "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," "The Division," "Without a Trace," "Crossing Jordan," "Standoff" and "Life."

John David

Childhood and Family:

In Des Moines, Iowa, John David Livingston was born on November 8, 1970, to a Lutheran minister mother and an aerospace engineer father. His older brother is Golden Globe-nominated actor Ron Livingston (born on June 5, 1967).

John went to High School in Marion, Iowa. He went on to college at Stanford, in California, and graduated in 1993 with a degree in psychology.

John currently resides in Los Angeles with his wife, Jenni Blong, whom he married in 2006.

Dopamine

Career:

Younger brother of Globe-nominated actor Ron Livingston, John Livingston followed his older brother's footsteps and landed his first acting job as an urchin in the Cedar Rapids Community Theater production of the musical "Scrooge."

In the mid 1990s, in his early twenties, Livingston began appearing on television, starting with a guest spot in an episode of NBC's long-running sitcom "Saved by the Bell: The New Class," and then on CBS medical drama "Chicago Hope." He followed it up with appearances in the 1995 made-for-television movies "Betrayed: A Story of Three Women," starring Meredith Baxter and Swoosie Kurtz), "My Antonia" (1995), the Emmy-winning adaptation of Willa Cather's greatest novel, and "Between Mother and Daughter" (1995) for "CBS Schoolbreak Special." He also appeared as one of the panicked computer technicians (his face not visible, back to camera) right at the very end of Irwin Winkler's box office hit crime/thriller film starring Sandra Bullock, "The Net" (1995).

After his first film appearance, Livingston was cast as a young TV production assistant to Ellen DeGeneres' lead character in Nick Castle's romantic comedy "Mr. Wrong" (1996) and supported Mary Stuart Masterson, Jon Favreau and Rory Cochrane in writer/director George Hickenlooper's award-winning drama film, "Dogtown" (1997). He also acted opposite Phillip Rhys in writer/director Travis Fine's independent film, "The Others" (1997).

Meanwhile, Livingston was spotted as a guest in an episode of CBS popular, long-running mystery series "Murder, She Wrote," ABC/UPN sitcom "Clueless," and FOX anthology show "Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction." He also had a starring role on CBS' defunct sitcom, "Love & Money" (1999).

In 1998, Livingston landed his first lead role, alongside Miguel Ferrer as two NYU Film School graduates and aspiring filmmakers in Daniel Pyne's mystery/comedy movie, "Where's Marlowe?" He then starred in Mark Goffman's short comedy film "Studio Notes" (1999) and once again played Ellen DeGeneres' young TV production assistant, this time in Ron Howard-directed comedy film "Edtv" (1999), an adaptation of the locally successful French Canadian movie ''Louis 19, le roi des ondes,'' released in 1994. He also co-starred as Matt 'Bunz' Bernstein, opposite Nicholle Tom, Devon Odessa, Sean Patrick Thomas and Alanna Ubach, in Tanya Fenmore's independent drama film "The Sterling Chase" (aka Graduation Week), which was screened at the Mill Valley Film Festival on September 17, 1999.

Entering the new millennium, Livingston guest starred in an episode of popular, Emmy Award-winning CBS cop/crime drama series "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" (as a THD audio tech), and then on Lifetime Television original series "The Division" and CBS FBI drama "Without a Trace." During that time, he played a FBI agent, opposite James Spader, Leslie Stefanson and David Keith in writer/director Rowdy Herrington's action/thriller "The Stickup" (2001), and played the lead role of Rand, a computer animator who falls in love with one his creations (played by Sabrina Lloyd), in Mark Decena's romantic drama/comedy movie "Dopamine" (2003).

Livingston's next role was an irresponsible husband of Julie Benz's character in the TV movie "The Long Shot" (2004) and as a newlywed couple (with Christine Taylor) in Nina R. Sadowsky's 9-minute comedy film, "The First Year's A Bitch" (2004). In the following year, he played a detective in the pilot episode of TNT's cop drama starring Kyra Sedgwick, "The Closer."

Livingston recently starred in Eduardo Carrillo's drama/comedy movie "Stage Kiss" (2006) and played the lead role of Richard Pimentel, a brilliant public speaker with a troubled past who returns from Vietnam severely hearing -impaired, in the biopic "Music Within" (2007), which won director Steven Sawalich an Audience Award for best narrative feature film. Meanwhile, TV viewers could catch him in an episode of NBC's crime/drama series "Crossing Jordan," FOX's now-canceled drama series "Standoff" and NBC's detective series "Life."

Awards:
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