Joshua Carter Jackson (born June 11, 1978) is a Canadian–American actor. He has appeared in primetime television and in over 32 film roles. He is known for playing Charlie Conway in The Mighty Ducks film series, the beloved badboy Pacey Witter in the television series Dawson's Creek and Peter Bishop in the television series Fringe.

Jackson was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, the son of Fiona Jackson, a casting director, and John Carter. Jackson's father is from Texas and his mother is a native of Ballyfermot, Dublin, Ireland, having emigrated to North America in the late 1960s. He has a sister, Aisleagh, and two half-brothers, Lyman and Jonathan Carter from his father's first marriage. Jackson grew up in California until the age of 8. Not long after his sister was born in California, his parents divorced and his and his sister's last name was changed from "Carter" to "Jackson" (his mother's maiden name). Josh, his mother and sister then moved to Seattle where he attended Einstein Middle School in Shoreline, Washington. Shortly thereafter, he moved back to Vancouver with his mother and younger sister. He attended Ideal Mini School and later switched to Kitsilano Secondary School. In an interview with The New York Times, Jackson said he was kicked out of high school because of The Jon Stewart Show: " played, at least where I grew up, at 1:30 in the morning, so I would stay up at night to watch Jon Stewart, but then I'd be too tired - or too lazy - to go to school in the morning. So I'd take just take the first couple of classes off, 'cause I wanted to be fresh when I got there."

Soon after he took up acting, Jackson landed the role of Charlie (#96) in the The Mighty Ducks series, a part for which Jake Gyllenhaal was also considered (years later both would also be amongst a small group of actors considered for the role of Bruce Wayne/Batman in Batman Begins, which eventually went to Christian Bale). Jackson went on to appear as Pacey Witter on Dawson's Creek, which ran on the defunct WB network from 1998-2003, and also starred James Van Der Beek, Michelle Williams and Katie Holmes. While the show was on hiatus, he appeared in several movies including The Skulls, The Safety of Objects, The Laramie Project and a short cameo in the remake of Ocean's Eleven where he appears as himself in a poker scene with Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Topher Grace, among others. In 2000, he also guest starred in Season 12 of The Simpsons, voicing the character of Jesse Grass, a "hunky environmentalist" and love interest for Lisa Simpson in the episode "Lisa the Tree Hugger".