McCartney appeared with The Who's Roger Daltrey in A Christmas Carol at Madison Square Garden.
From 1998–2001, McCartney played Adam Chandler Jr. in the ABC soap opera All My Children, a role for which he earned two Young Artist Awards and two Daytime Emmy Award nominations.
He also later starred in the short-lived series Summerland, which aired on The WB for two seasons, playing orphaned teenager Bradin Westerly.

 
In 2005, McCartney appeared as himself on the Disney Channel show The Suite Life of Zack & Cody.
In 2007, he starred as himself on the Disney Channel show Hannah Montana.
In 2008, McCartney was also featured as the voice of JoJo McDodd in Horton Hears a Who!
McCartney also voiced Theodore in the live-action Alvin and the Chipmunks film series, in addition to voicing Terence in the Tinker Bell film series.
He also voices Robin in the Young Justice series.

In 2008, McCartney co-starred along with Elisabeth Harnois in an independent teenage drama feature film, Keith, directed by Todd Kessler.
It is his movie debut, and features McCartney in the title role.
Keith was released on September 19, 2008.

According to Entertainment Weekly, in December 2008, McCartney was negotiating to play against type in the role of the Fire Nation's Prince Zuko in M. Night Shyamalan's feature film adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender.
In February 2009, British actor Dev Patel replaced McCartney, whose tour dates conflicted with a boot camp scheduled for the cast to train in martial arts.
McCartney has expressed an interest in directing and producing films and even considered enrolling in a film school.

McCartney appeared as a recurring character in the ABC Family series Greek for several episodes playing a star football talent who joins Kappa Tau.
His character eventually decides to depledge the fraternity after citing pressures between football and Greek life combined with Rusty stealing his girlfriend Jordan.

McCartney also worked in several installments of the Square Enix video game series Kingdom Hearts.
He was featured as Roxas in Kingdom Hearts II in 2006, and reprised the role in 2009 in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days.
He also provided the voice work for Ventus, a character in the video game of the same series Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep.
He reprised both roles in Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, released in 2012, as well as in Kingdom Hearts III, released in 2019.

McCartney also starred in the horror film Chernobyl Diaries, released on May 25, 2012.
He has been added to the Season 7 (2013) cast of the Lifetime Network series Army Wives, portraying a young soldier deployed to Afghanistan with an 18-year-old wife at home.

In the summer of 2014, McCartney had a guest-starring role in the ABC Family series Young & Hungry.
McCartney played "Cooper", a computer hacker with a romantic interest in the show's lead, played by Emily Osment.

In 2016, McCartney appeared on Fear the Walking Dead as Reed, an aggressive member of a group of pirates.

Jesse McCartney's acting career also includes voice over work (or voice acting) with Breathe Bible.
McCartney appeared with The Who's Roger Daltrey in A Christmas Carol at Madison Square Garden. From 1998–2001, McCartney played Adam Chandler Jr. in the ABC soap opera All My Children, a role for which he earned two Young Artist Awards and two Daytime Emmy Award nominations. He also later starred in the short-lived series Summerland, which aired on The WB for two seasons, playing orphaned teenager Bradin Westerly.
 
In 2005, McCartney appeared as himself on the Disney Channel show The Suite Life of Zack & Cody. In 2007, he starred as himself on the Disney Channel show Hannah Montana. In 2008, McCartney was also featured as the voice of JoJo McDodd in Horton Hears a Who! McCartney also voiced Theodore in the live-action Alvin and the Chipmunks film series, in addition to voicing Terence in the Tinker Bell film series. He also voices Robin in the Young Justice series.
In 2008, McCartney co-starred along with Elisabeth Harnois in an independent teenage drama feature film, Keith, directed by Todd Kessler. It is his movie debut, and features McCartney in the title role. Keith was released on September 19, 2008.
According to Entertainment Weekly, in December 2008, McCartney was negotiating to play against type in the role of the Fire Nation's Prince Zuko in M. Night Shyamalan's feature film adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender. In February 2009, British actor Dev Patel replaced McCartney, whose tour dates conflicted with a boot camp scheduled for the cast to train in martial arts. McCartney has expressed an interest in directing and producing films and even considered enrolling in a film school.
McCartney appeared as a recurring character in the ABC Family series Greek for several episodes playing a star football talent who joins Kappa Tau. His character eventually decides to depledge the fraternity after citing pressures between football and Greek life combined with Rusty stealing his girlfriend Jordan.
McCartney also worked in several installments of the Square Enix video game series Kingdom Hearts. He was featured as Roxas in Kingdom Hearts II in 2006, and reprised the role in 2009 in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. He also provided the voice work for Ventus, a character in the video game of the same series Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. He reprised both roles in Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, released in 2012, as well as in Kingdom Hearts III, released in 2019.
McCartney also starred in the horror film Chernobyl Diaries, released on May 25, 2012. He has been added to the Season 7 (2013) cast of the Lifetime Network series Army Wives, portraying a young soldier deployed to Afghanistan with an 18-year-old wife at home.
In the summer of 2014, McCartney had a guest-starring role in the ABC Family series Young & Hungry. McCartney played "Cooper", a computer hacker with a romantic interest in the show's lead, played by Emily Osment.
In 2016, McCartney appeared on Fear the Walking Dead as Reed, an aggressive member of a group of pirates.
Jesse McCartney's acting career also includes voice over work (or voice acting) with Breathe Bible.
Jesse McCartney