User:Krystaleen/Portal:Backstreet Boys/Selected biography/4
Alexander James "A.J." McLean is an American musician, singer, dancer, actor, and entertainer. He is a member of the Backstreet Boys. He was born on January 9, 1978 in West Palm Beach, Florida to Bob and Denise (née Fernandez) McLean. He is of Latino and German ancestry on his mother's side, and Scottish, Irish and English on his father's side. His parents divorced when he was four years old and he never saw his father again until the Backstreet Boys reached its fame in 1997.
In January 1986 at 8 years old, he acted in his first role as Little Mike in the 1986 film Truth or Dare. In 1990, he moved to Orlando, Florida with his mother and grandparents to concentrate on his acting and singing career. As a child, he was involved in various Nickelodeon and Disney projects, including the Nickelodeon show GUTS, Welcome Freshmen, and a comedy series called Hi Honey, I'm Home! on which he played a character named "Skunk". He later quit high school to pursue his show business career.
Together with Howie Dorough and Nick Carter, he formed a trio that would later be the Backstreet Boys in 1992. In 2000 he created a character named "Johnny No Name", to use as his alter ego. He established a foundation called the JNN Foundation to raise funds for diabetes research and other causes like keeping music programs in schools. McLean also did a nine-city tour to support VH1 Save the Music as Johnny No Name.