Jeremy Robert Myron Sumpter was born on February 5, 1989, in Monterey, California, to Sandra (Johnson) and Gary Sumpter. He was raised in his mother's hometown, Mount Sterling, Kentucky. At a young age, he enjoyed mountain climbing and played with his friends like any other normal kid. However, his life took a dramatic turn when he went to Lexington, Kentucky, to model, where he won numerous awards and met his manager Mark Robert.
Soon after, Jeremy, his twin sister Jessica Sumpter, his little sister Gigi Sumpter, and his mom and dad moved to Los Angeles, California. Jeremy's first movie was Frailty (2001),in which he played young Adam Meeks, opposite Bill Paxton and Matthew McConaughey. "Bill had been one of my favorite actors so to be able to work with him was unbelievable," says Jeremy.
The adult Adam Meeks was played by Matthew McConaughey. His next movie was Local Boys (2002). Jeremy was chosen by Danny Glover to play Henry Sturbuck in the Showtime original film Just A Dream. "Working with Danny was great, we had a great time filming in a small town in Utah," explains Jeremy. Jeremy received the "Best Performance in a TV Movie, Mini-Series or Special - Leading Young Actor" from the Young Artist Awards.
Jeremy was able to use his surfing skills on his next film, "Local Boys." This coming of age film was shot on location in southern California. "This was a hard film to shoot since we were surfing at the beach almost everyday and there were all these girls around in bikinis," jokes Jeremy. After a worldwide search, Jeremy was chosen to play "Peter" in the P.J. Hogan film Peter Pan (2003).
This was one of the most coveted roles in films for a teen actor in recent years. "It was a part that I really wanted," says Jeremy, "since I'd be able to fight pirates and fly around the stage on wires." Jeremy trained extensively in sword fighting and gymnastics prior to shooting the movie in Australia.
