Rudy Pankow (/ˈpɑːnkoʊ/)[1] is an American film and television actor. He is most known for his role as JJ Maybank on the Netflix[2] teen drama series Outer Banks.[3]
Rudy Pankow was born and raised in Ketchikan, Alaska.[4] Parents are Andrew and Penny Pankow. Rudy is the middle child, has an older brother Alec Pankow and younger brother Henning Pankow. He began his interest in acting and production some time in middle school via YouTube. He attended Ketchikan High School where he played soccer and participated in cross-country events. Pankow originally considered going to culinary school, but chose to become an actor and joined a 2016–2017 batch in an acting institute.[citation needed]
After that, Pankow enrolled at Michael Woolson Studios to improve his acting skills. After completion of the acting course, he started performing in theatre to gain more experience.[5] During his time in theatre, he played roles in The Nutcracker, Mary Poppins and Oliver Twist.
In 2020, Pankow began playing JJ Maybank on Netflix's mystery teen drama television series Outer Banks.[6] The series is set in a community in the Outer Banks of North Carolina and follows the conflict between two groups of teenagers in search of a lost treasure.[7] The show has been an international success for Netflix. In March 2023, Forbes magazine reported that all three seasons made Netflix's global top 10 weekly list, with season three attracting 99 million hours viewed, while the second and first seasons garnered 27.7 million hours and 34 million hours viewed, according to Netflix data.[8]
He has appeared on the covers of numerous fashion magazines such as Tings,[9] Icon,[10] Vestail,[11] and Behind the Blinds.[12]
In 2024, he’s starring as Romeo in the American Repertory Theatre’s Romeo and Juliet.[13]
Since 2020, Pankow has been in a relationship with showrunner assistant and photographer Elaine Siemek, who has also been working on Outer Banks since the start of its production.[14]