A former student of Walter White (a chemistry teacher). Walter finds Jesse while the latter is involved in small-time drug dealing under the alias "Cap'n Cook." Together, they build a multi-million-dollar empire producing ultra-pure blue methamphetamine.

A tragedy involving an "ideal" family

Jesse grew up in a well-off, middle-class family, but became an outcast within it.

The Scapegoat: Jesse’s parents are conservative people who became completely disillusioned with their eldest son due to his drug problems. They withdrew all support and effectively cut him out of their lives.

Protecting his younger brother: Jesse has a younger brother, Jake the "perfect" child, an excellent student, and his parents' pride and joy. However, Jesse discovers that Jake has begun smoking marijuana, driven by the immense pressure placed on him by their parents. To save his brother from suffering the same fate as himself, Jesse takes the blame for a joint that is discovered, leading his parents to kick him out of the house for good.

The house where Jesse lives at the beginning of the series and where the first "cook" takes place belonged to his Aunt Ginny.

The only one who cared: When his aunt was diagnosed with stage four cancer, it was Jesse who moved in to look after her until her final days feeding her, taking her to the hospital, and tending to her personal needs while his parents kept their distance.

Parental malice:

After his aunt’s death, Jesse’s parents claimed the house for themselves and callously threw their son out on the street. Later, with the help of lawyer Saul Goodman and through a bit of blackmail Jesse secretly bought the house back from his own parents for a pittance, registering it under a proxy’s name; it served as his own small, personal act of revenge.

Jesse is a would-be artist with a vivid imagination a man whose talents were left to wither.

In school, he was quite a skilled artist. In the second season, he shows Jane some of his old school drawings a series of comics featuring superheroes he invented (such as "Running Man" or "Reverse-Man").

Jesse has a natural inclination toward creating things with his own hands. In one episode, he recalls how, during a school shop class, he painstakingly and lovingly crafted a perfect wooden box out of rosewood. This drive for high-quality craftsmanship later manifested in his pursuit of perfecting his meth-cooking process.