Jonathan J. Gilbert is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 former film and television actor.

Life and career

Gilbert is best known for his performance as Willie Oleson on the NBC

NBC

The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 TV series, Little House on the Prairie

Little House on the Prairie (TV series)

Little House on the Prairie is an American Western drama television series, starring Michael Landon and Melissa Gilbert, about a family living on a farm in Walnut Grove, Minnesota, in the 1870s and 1880s. The show was an adaptation of Laura Ingalls Wilder's best-selling series of Little House books...

, from 1974 to 1983. He is the adopted son of actors Barbara Crane (née Barbara Cowan) and Paul Gilbert

Paul Gilbert (actor)

Paul Gilbert was an American film and television actor. Born in New York City as Ed MacMahon, Gilbert played various roles and appeared as himself from The Spike Jones Show in 1954 through Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In in 1973...

 and the adopted brother of Melissa Gilbert

Melissa Gilbert

Melissa Ellen Gilbert is an American actress, writer, and producer, primarily in movies and television. Gilbert is best known as a child actress who co-starred as Charles Ingalls's second daughter, Laura Ingalls Wilder, on the dramatic television series Little House on the Prairie...

, who played Laura Ingalls Wilder

Laura Ingalls Wilder

Laura Elizabeth Ingalls Wilder was an American author who wrote the Little House series of books based on her childhood in a pioneer family...

 on the series. He is also the adopted half-brother of Sara Gilbert

Sara Gilbert

Sara Gilbert is an American actress best known for her role as Darlene Conner from 1988–1997 in the U.S. sitcom Roseanne.-Early life:Gilbert was born Sara Rebecca Abeles in Santa Monica, California. Her parents are Barbara Crane and Harold Abeles. Her two older siblings, Melissa Gilbert and...

, who is Crane's daughter with Harold Abeles. He is also one of only five actors on Little House on the Prairie to appear throughout the entire series (from season one to the TV movie sequels), the others being: Melissa Gilbert

Melissa Gilbert

Melissa Ellen Gilbert is an American actress, writer, and producer, primarily in movies and television. Gilbert is best known as a child actress who co-starred as Charles Ingalls's second daughter, Laura Ingalls Wilder, on the dramatic television series Little House on the Prairie...

, Richard Bull

Richard Bull (actor)

Richard Bull is an American film actor, stage actor and television actor.He is best known for his performance as Nels Oleson, the kindly proprietor of Oleson's Mercantile and the long suffering husband of his wife Harriet on the NBC TV series Little House on the Prairie which aired from 1974 to...

, Kevin Hagen,and Dabbs Greer

Dabbs Greer

Robert William "Dabbs" Greer was an American actor who performed many diverse supporting roles in film and television for some fifty years. His distinctive, southern-accented voice fitted well in shows featuring rustic characters, such as westerns...

.

After leaving acting, Jonathan earned his BA from Hamilton College

Hamilton College

Hamilton College is a private liberal arts college in Clinton, New York, United States. The school was founded in 1793, chartered as Hamilton College in 1812, and has been coeducational since 1978, when it merged with Kirkland College. Hamilton is sometimes referred to as the "College on the Hill,"...

 and an MBA in Finance from the Zicklin School of Business

Zicklin School of Business

The Zicklin School of Business is Baruch College's business school. It was established in 1919 and is one of the oldest business schools in the world. It is named after financier and alumnus Lawrence Zicklin...

 at Baruch College

Baruch College

Bernard M. Baruch College, more commonly known as Baruch College, is a constituent college of the City University of New York, located in the Flatiron district of Manhattan, New York City. With an acceptance rate of just 23%, Baruch is among the most competitive and diverse colleges in the nation...

. He works as a stockbroker in New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

.

External links