The Famous Jett Jackson chronicled movie star Jett Jackson played by Lee Thompson Young and his move back to North Carolina. He immediately brought celebrity attention to his small town and struggled to balance the life of a working actor with the life of a “normal” teen boy.
Jett’s life was paralleled with that of the character plays, Silverstone, and the contrast between the two showed how lucky Jett was. Silverstone didn’t have a family (that we knew of), and lived life as a spy, detonating bombs and outsmarting villains. Meanwhile, Jett Jackson had two divorced but loving parents, a great-grandmother, a girlfriend (sort of), and friends who cared about him. Oh yeah, and he was a TV star, so he had it pretty good.
The Famous Jett Jackson was the first Disney Channel original show to star a minority cast, and though it did well critically, it ended after 65 episodes, like most Disney Channel originals.
Young graduated with honors from the University of Southern California, where he majored in cinematic arts and was a member of the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity. Young enjoyed writing and wrote the screenplay for the 2007 short film Mano.
Death
On August 19, 2013, Young failed to show up to film an episode of Rizzoli & Isles. Police were called to do a well-being check on him at his Los Angeles apartment, where he was found dead. His manager stated that the actor died by suicide. Police confirmed the cause of death as a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Young had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, for which he had been taking medication, and had been suffering from depression before his death.
After funeral services at Inglewood Park Cemetery, Young was interred at Lakeview Memorial Garden, York, South Carolina. A memorial service was held on the Paramount Studios lot.
Young’s family launched the Lee Thompson Young Foundation in an effort to help remove the stigma surrounding mental illness