Jonathan Silver Scott (born 28 April 1978) is a Canadian television personality, construction contractor, interior designer, and television and film producer.
He is best known as the co-host, with his twin brother Drew, of the TV series Property Brothers, as well as the program's spin-offs such as Buying and Selling, Brother Vs. Brother, Forever Homes and Property Brothers: At Home, which are broadcast in the U.S. on HGTV. Scott is also co-founder and executive producer of Scott Brothers Entertainment, which creates TV, film, and digital content for North American and international broadcasters. The brothers have written a home-improvement how-to book, a memoir, and children's books about construction. In 2020, they released a magazine related to their brand, called Reveal. Keeping with their brand, the twins have launched the home goods line Scott Living and its extension, Dream Homes—a consulting and construction firm for luxury home upgrades.
Jonathan studied performance magic since childhood and, through college and until his career in television began, he performed illusions professionally, eventually relocating to Las Vegas. He and Drew have released two country singles as the group The Scott Brothers. He lives in Las Vegas, Nevada, in a home he co-owns with Drew, who lives in Beverly Hills, California.
Early life Jonathan Scott was born John Ian Scott on 28 April 1978, four minutes before his twin brother Drew,Real Style staff (September 2012), "Interview: Property Brothers Drew & Jonathan Scott On Women, Dating & The New Season" . Real Style. Retrieved 30 January 2017. in Vancouver, British Columbia. He has an older brother, JD, and is the second son of Jim and Joanne Scott. Jim had fostered dreams of being a cowboy as he had seen on television, and so emigrated from Scotland to Canada as a teenager.Spencer, Amy (25 March 2016), "Property Brothers: Living the Dream" . Parade. Retrieved 6 February 2017. He worked in the film industry as an actor, stuntman, and assistant director until the late 1970s. It was around that time when he decided to focus on raising his family, and they moved to a horse farm in the nearby town of Maple Ridge, British Columbia. James worked as a youth counselor, and Joanne continued her career as a paralegal in downtown Vancouver. On their seventh birthday, their father encouraged the twins to get jobs. They looked through the help wanted ads, but ultimately started a business with their mother called JAM (for Jon, Andrew, and Mom) making nylon-wrapped clothes hangers. In interviews, they have recalled selling them door to door, eventually selling thousands to a woman who sold American paraphernalia in Japan.
The boys' continued job search led them to an ad recruiting child clowns to perform in parades. After completing classes with the local parks and recreation department, they were hired at C$10 a gig, eventually making as much as $100 per hour.Strohm, Emily (10 April 2017), "Property Brothers Jonathan & Drew Scott FAME, FAMILY & FINALLY FINDING LOVE". People. 87 (16):48-54 Jonathan eventually grew tired of making himself up, and began to transition as a performer. As a child, he had seen a magic show one New Year's Eve that inspired him, and by the age of 10, he was making his own magic props; by 15 he was using a barn as a workshop to create large-scale illusions. He studied the definitive volumes of Tarbell Course in Magic, and sought out professional illusionists David Wilson and Shawn Farquhar, who became mentors and friends. He joined the Vancouver Magic Circle and the International Brotherhood of Magicians, and over the next decade he won several awards,-- MERGE -- including 3rd Best Stage Performer of the Pacific Coast Association of Magicians at 16.
James would commonly renovate the family properties and paid the boys when they were as young as eight to build and repair fences, decks and barns. Even as children, the twins would often rearrange the furniture in their family home. At 14, Jonathan and his father moved to Alberta, where they began building the parents' dream house. He spent his grade 10 year there. It is during that period that he took Jonathan Silver as a stage name, using it privately as well. After his grades declined, Jonathan moved back to Maple Ridge to complete high school, returning to Alberta during school breaks with his family and best friend Pedro to assist in the construction.
The boys attended Thomas Haney Secondary School and, while they both played on the basketball and volleyball teams, Jonathan gravitated more to theater and clubs, where he was president of various committees including student government and the graduation committee. After graduation, the family moved into their newly built home, just as the twins were leaving for Calgary to go to university.
Career Early career After graduation Scott enrolled at the University of Calgary, majoring in business management. Despite having an interest in going into entertainment, the twins did not want to be "starving artists". After researching the topic, and getting advice from their mother's legal firm, they thought real estate would "ease the financial purgatory of being out-of-work actors". During their first semester in university, using a vendor take-back mortgage, they made a $250 down payment and purchased a seven-bedroom property across the street from their university.Laura, Robert (22 January 2013), "Building A Fortune Property Brothers Style" . Forbes. Retrieved 16 February 2017. They cleaned and repaired it, and sublet the remaining five rooms for a profit of $800 a month. They sold the house a year later at a $50,000 profit.Berk, Nancy (14 August 2015), "Property Brother Jonathan Scott Discusses the Power of 15-Minute Renovations". Parade. Retrieved 6 February 2017. They continued to purchase and "flip" homes at large margins by making only modest repairs themselves, sometimes living in the homes they were renovating.
At 19, Scott moved to Vancouver and began to build large-scale illusions with the goal of eventually developing a touring theater show. While he was looking for a management company to work with, a fellow magician claiming to be a friend of a friend who was out of the country approached him. After negotiations, Scott agreed to rent him several of his illusions; the man stole the entire production, effectively destroying the show and leaving Scott $80,000 in debt. Even after a successful lawsuit, Scott was unable to collect what he was owed. Depressed and embarrassed, he did not tell his parents about what had happened, and filed for bankruptcy—a decision he regrets. Drew convinced Jonathan to join him as a flight attendant at WestJet, at the time a small, startup airline, allowing them more time to dedicate to flipping houses.
Scott transferred to the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology and the Professional Home Builders Institute to study construction and design, and became licensed as a contractor. In those roles, the twins renovated and sold properties for 15 years.Lifestyle staff, "Jonathan Scott and Drew Scott" . Lifestyle.com. Retrieved 8 February 2017. Along the way, they supported themselves with a string of jobs that included busboy, mall security guard, flight attendant, store manager, and website designer. Still planning to pursue careers in entertainment, the twins and their older brother co-founded an independent film production company, Dividian Production Group, in 2002.
After several negative experiences with real estate brokers, Drew became a licensed realtor, and Jonathan acquired his own license soon after.Jet, Johnny (3 August 2016), "Travel Style: Jonathan Silver Scott" . Johnny Jet. Retrieved 16 February 2017. That same year, the twins founded Scott Real Estate Inc., a company to provide clients with a "one stop shop" for services in the buying, selling, and renovation of homes, as well as in design consulting and staging open houses.Geist, Willie; Scott, Drew; Scott, Jonathan (2 May 2016), HGTV's "Property Brothers' Jonathan and Drew Scott with Willie Geist" (YouTube video). 92nd Street and Y. 2 May 2016. In January 2006, however, Drew moved to Vancouver and gave himself a year to pursue his acting career in earnest. As the year came to a close, he took out a license in Vancouver, and opened a Scott Real Estate branch there. Scott remained in Calgary to run the business alone, sometimes working as many as 18 hours a day. He married his fiancée in July 2007.
Before getting married, Scott and his wife had regularly visited Las Vegas, drawn to the city's live entertainment scene. When the American real estate market collapsed in 2008, Scott saw an opportunity to buy cheap properties in the U.S., where the recession was further along. Convincing JD to come with them, Scott and his wife left for Las Vegas that December, making their home in the nearby suburb of Summerlin, Nevada. Scott opened a third branch of Scott Real Estate and, considering the depressed market, switched to leasing properties, but at only 80 percent of market rates, to help renters who were recovering from the ongoing recession.CBS News staff (29 December 2014), "HGTV, "Property Brothers" stars on growing up and their dream home" . CBS News. Retrieved 12 February 2017. At the same time, the move to Las Vegas put him in proximity to live venues and opportunities to perform magic. He began to explore ways to revive his career as an illusionist, at least on a part-time basis.
Transition to television (2009–present)
In Vancouver, Drew was offered an audition for a show called Realtor Idol, based on the American Idol format. The show never materialized, but when the producers learned he had a brother who was a contractor, they developed a show around the pair tentatively called My Dream Home; that company would later film the pilot for Property Brothers. Multiple North American networks turned down the show before it was picked up for a full season by the W Network in Canada. After becoming the number-one-rated show on the network, HGTV (under Scripps Networks Interactive) signed on as a distributor, having previously passed on the show. Meanwhile, the twins delegated their private clients to colleagues in their network of brokers and trade professionals, and Scott put his magic aspirations on hold.
In 2010, Dividian Production Group became Scott Brothers Entertainment, and the brothers expanded it into a TV, film, and digital production company with offices in the U.S. and Canada. The success of Property Brothers spawned several spinoffs, including Buying and Selling (2012 – present) and Brother vs. Brother (2013 – present). By 2014, the shows' combined viewership was more than 26 million. As their filming schedule grew, they stopped accepting private clients.Stevens, Kimberly (6 September 2014), "For Home-Improvement Show Hosts, a Paradox: Every House but Their Own" . LA Times. Retrieved 10 March 2017. The franchise has since expanded to include other one-off series like Brothers Take New Orleans and the 2016 web series In the Scott Seat.