Actor J.J. Embraces Good Times & Challenging Times
by Tonya M. Huffman
He’s a male. He’s an actor. He’s slender with a height over 6’0”. He’s got an infectious smile and is so likeable, he creates good times. And although he’s called by his first name, he’s also known as J.J. Overall, he’s Dyn-O-Mite! But he’s not wonderful actor/comedian Jimmie Walker, aka J.J. from television show Good Times. He is, however, actor Jordan Johnson-Hinds.
Jordan Johnson (J.J.) Hinds, the youngest of 4 children, was born on November 1, 1989 in Ontario, Canada. As his parents were separated, J.J. shared his time growing up between both his mother and father. Although rewarding to see both of his parents, it wasn’t easy to bounce from household to household. These were challenging times. “Back then, that’s just how life was. I lived with my dad during the week and went to my mom’s house on the weekends. Until you’re older and you begin to become more knowledgeable on childhood development, you don’t realize that having both parents in the home is so important. But as humans, we adapt, and I love the fact that my parents were always respectful towards one another. They definitely would have won the co-parenting award!” said J.J. As a child, J.J. went to St. Sylvester Catholic Elementary School. When he became a teenager, he attended Francis Libermann Catholic High School, and at a young age, got bitten by the acting bug. After seeing a friend of one of his sibling’s act in a production, J.J. knew he was up for the invigorating challenge. “I saw a friend of my older brother in a movie at the city mall, at which point I said, ‘If he could do it, I could do it.’ Acting was always something that I loved. It was the look of it, the energy you feel in the cinema when people are drawn to the faces on the screen. The ability to create characters within worlds, and tell stories that uplift and inspire others was always something that appealed to me,” said J.J. While a student at Libermann, J.J. took acting courses from a prestigious talent agency. When J.J. became a senior, he transferred to Blessed Mother Teresa Catholic Secondary School where his good times rolled. He hosted talent shows, broadcasted morning announcements, and landed his beginning acting jobs. J.J. remembers being young when his father first took him and one of his siblings to Los Angeles, California, and as J.J. soaked up the aura of lights, camera, and action, for him, it was a match made in heaven. “My father brought my brother and myself to Los Angeles, California when I was 7 years-old. And seeing this place that had palm trees, movie studios, superstars, and all the fun things constantly happening, I fell in love,” said J.J. While in high school, wanting to broaden his horizons both physically and professionally, J.J. traveled back and forth to the United States and spent much time in Los Angeles to see live, firsthand, professionals act in real studios and work on real projects. At these studios, J.J. attended tapings of documentaries and comedy shows. Having family members with connections in the entertainment industry, J.J. received the privilege to meet actors and other entertainers, and his time spent in Los Angeles as a child prepped him for Hollywood, an environment he still enjoys and can be starry-eyed in when meeting the famous, but yet, he is also a focused professional who approaches the famous and others affably. These were good times. Dyn-O-Mite! “Being around that prepared me for Hollywood in a way, because I spent family Christmases and New Year’s with famous family members; it kind of normalized it. So now, I can still fan out when I see a celeb I recognize, but it’s also something that doesn’t faze me. I just try to be me, no matter who I’m speaking to,” said J.J.
As inspired as J.J was to pursue a career in acting, he was also still a teenager who wanted to have fun, explore life, and grow up to find his way in a world where there is no shortage of grim ubiquitous happenings. Just like any normal teenager, J.J. made errors, wanted to attend adolescent events, shied away from positive pep-talks, and wasn’t thrilled about his parents constantly monitoring his every move. Although J.J. eventually saw the light, at first, he experienced some dark days. These were challenging times. “My hero is my father. He raised stubborn kids in a society where it’s so easy to fall off the right path. Even though I made mistakes, he was and is always there for me to bring me back. I now realize every lecture, every party he never let me go to, ringing off my phone, and bothering the crap out of me was all for a reason. And for that, I genuinely thank you. I love you pops!” said J.J. In getting past his teenage dramas, J.J. eventually graduated from high school with a performing drama award. He advanced his acting training by attending George Brown College where he took a one-year course in Performing Arts. Soon enough, his acting career blossomed. These were good times. Dyn-O-Mite! These good times afforded J.J. opportunities to act in both Canadian and American projects. J.J. began doing advertisements. Over time, J.J. guest starred on many television shows including Life with Derek, The Jon Dore Television Show, Flashpoint, The L.A. Complex, Beauty & the Beast, The Listener, The Best Laid Plans, Odd Squad, Saving Hope, The Beaverton, Murdoch Mysteries, LetterKenny, Shadowhunters, Blindspot, Suits, in films RoboCop and John Lives Again, and in web television series Teenagers.
In 2020, J.J. was cast in Upload, and in Nurses. While Upload is an American science fiction comedy-drama series, Nurses is a Canadian television drama that features five young nurses who dedicate their lives to working on the front lines of a busy downtown hospital, focusing on them dealing with the high-stake situations of hospital life, and they still must handle their own personal struggles. The shows current airing is apropos, being shown during a world pandemic. In real life, J.J. has had his fill of the pandemic. These were challenging times. J.J.’s family endured the loss of a family friend due to COVID-19. Having family who work in the medical profession, and even friends who are veterinarians, from stories he’s heard, J.J. knows what medical professionals go through to care for sick patients. On Nurses, from what he does, J.J. knows first-hand the dedication and knowledge it takes to care for sick patients. J.J. plays the part of Keon Colby, a former college football star who’s currently a nurse whose heart of gold is as giant his 6’3” height. Although season 1 of Nurses was filmed pre-pandemic, the show still highlights the role medical professionals play in everyday life. “We’re still showing the crucial importance that frontline workers have even under normal circumstances and the empathy that nurses show,” said J.J. He is honored to be working on Nurses, on a show where medical personnel are hailed as heroes, and has conquered the arduous task of bringing Keon to life. These were challenging times. “It was like an adrenaline rush. It was exhausting. It was liberating. But it was also a lot of pressure because you knew deep down that you had a responsibility to represent these frontline workers, these first responders, everybody who was an essential worker, even the people who were delivering the food with Uber and Door Dash – hats off to them, for throughout the whole quarantine, they were the ones working, so it was just a tremendous sense of responsibility that I had pepping and feeling throughout the whole project for sure,” said J.J. To better help J.J. become Keon, he watched medical themed television shows, and on behalf of another actor, he gave him props. “I did the prep. I looked at ER. I looked at Scrubs – my haircut in the first season of Nurses was kind of like Donald Faison’s from Scrubs. I wanted to pay homage in a settle way to the ones who did it before us,” said J.J. When filming season 2 of Nurses, J.J. wanted to further develop Keon, committing to mastering the medicine portion of nursing and balancing caring for sick people. “Going into season 2, I wanted to do more work on the actual medicine, so that was a major committed obsession that I had. I had a lot of pages of back story and medical terms – that’s what a real nurse is. They’re not dealing with this one patient – they have eight other patients, depending on the day,” said J.J. Working on Nurses for two seasons has allowed J.J to bond with his cast mates. “With moving into season 2, we had this layer of trust and a year of experience together in the trenches and then, we brought it into season 2. Then during the quarantine, all of that connected and it was just a special thing that came out of it and we all felt it. From day one of production of season 2 to the end, it was like this electricity throughout the set,” said J.J. These were good times. Dyn-O-Mite!
