McCartney began his career at age seven, performing in local community musicals with his best friend Lauren Stanwick. At 10, he made his Broadway debut in "The King and I". He has appeared with The Who's Roger Daltrey in "A Christmas Carol". He joined the children's group Sugar Beats as a vocalist. Three of the group's albums were nominated for Grammys: How Sweet It Is (1998), Wildthing (1999) and Car Tunes (2000).

At 12, McCartney joined the boy band Dream Street (2000 to 2002), which earned a platinum record with their debut CD. The band broke up while touring with Aaron Carter. At age 16 Jesse began work on a solo career with a local band, featuring Dillon Kondor (guitar), Peter Chema (bass), Katie Spencer (keyboards), Alex Russek (drums), Karina LaGravinese (background vocals) and Sharisse Francisco (background vocals), under the management of Lauren Stanwick, and Sherry Goffin Kondor, the producer and founder of Sugar Beats.

McCartney's acting career blossomed at the same time as his music. He landed the role of J.R. Chandler on the television soap opera All My Children (1998 to 2001), for which he was nominated in 2001 and 2002 for a Daytime Emmy in the category Outstanding Younger Actor in a Drama Series. In 2004 and 2005, McCartney played Bradin Westerly on the WB series Summerland, which was canceled in the summer of 2005.

McCartney has recorded with Walt Disney Records and Hollywood Records on various projects. He has modeled for Abercrombie & Fitch (2005).

Solo Tour McCartney released his first solo EP "JMac" in July 2003. The album featured three songs: "Beautiful Soul," "Don't You" and "Why Don't You Kiss Her". His first full-length solo album, Beautiful Soul, was released Sept 28, 2004. The album was two years in the making, and features four songs co-written by McCartney. The title song reached #2 on AOL Music. The video for "Beautiful Soul" did well on MTV TRL, having been voted into the top 10 fifty times, and peaking at #4. The album achieved platinum status March 2005. He performed a duet with Anne Hathaway, "Don't Go Breaking My Heart", which is featured on the Ella Enchanted soundtrack.

McCartney has also recently performed "Beautiful Soul" numerous times while making guest appearances on late night talk shows such as "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno". While performing live, listeners get a rare opportunity to hear the more raw and unfiltered singing voice of McCartney that is always processed and filtered on studio recordings from his album.

McCartney's first solo tour after his full-length album was released, the "Beautiful Soul" tour, started on May 2, 2005 at the Crest Theatre in Sacramento, California. His personal favorite performance was located at Toms River, NJ. This concert featured a new band, comprised of Dory Lobel (guitar), Zane Carney (guitar), Andre De Santanna (bass), Mitchell Yoshida (keyboards), Karen Teperberg (drums), Margeaux "JoJo" Fernandez (background vocals) and Julie Dickens (background vocals). His July 9 appearance at Great America, Santa Clara, CA was the subject of a live CD (Nov 2005 release) and his first concert DVD (Nov 21, 2005, Australia (1)). The US portion of the tour spanned 56 stops, ending Sept 10 at the Madera District County Fair in Madera, CA. McCartney also performed at many amusement parks including Six Flags and Paramount Canada's Wonderland.

McCartney is slated to take a break from Beautiful Soul this fall in order to tour in Australia and later open for the Backstreet Boys in Europe. Band personnel has changed slightly. He will star in the movie Keith with actresses Margo Harshman and Elisabeth Harnois, scheduled for 2006 release. He is also the voice actor for Roxas in the US release of Kingdom Hearts II with possible duets in the near future with Rhoderick Gates from Britain.

Personal life McCartney enjoys sports, especially baseball and bowling. He learned how to surf while filming the TV series Summerland. He has donated proceeds of his 2005 "Beautiful Soul" tour for disaster relief. He recorded radio spots promoting the "Kids For A Drug-Free America" campaign and is a spokesperson for the St. Jude's Children's Hospital.

McCartney has most recently been in a serious relationship with Katie Cassidy, daughter of former teen idol David Cassidy. He graduated from Ardsley High School June 22, 2005.