Ryan Cooley, born May 18, 1988, is a Canadian actor best known for playing J.T. Yorke on the first 6 seasons of Degrassi: The Next Generation. Contrary to popular belief, the choice to leave Degrassi was not Ryan's. He revealed in an interview that the writers decided to kill J.T. off, and it just so happened that Ryan was thinking about leaving the show in order to go to college.