John was born to country singing musician/actor Tex and actress, Dorothy Fay and has an older brother, Tom. John attended Hollywood Highschool where he was a student body president, and the most popular student ever. He then attended University of Southern California, where he majored in Psychology and minored in Architecture. However, after attending an acting class he changed his major to Theater Arts and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Drama. John also studied at the Harvey Lembeck Comedy Workshop. Between 1968 and 1969 and appeared in a series of stage plays in England, Scotland, Holland and in Germany.
John continued to pursue his career in acting and appeared in many films and TV Series before feeling ill on set in 2003 and being rushed to hospital where he received treatment for a heart condition. Unfortunately, John didn't survive and died on 11th September 2003.
His son Jason continues the family profession and plays Kevin in Joan of Arcadia.