Following his first commercial job, Bruening was encouraged to study acting by Copeland and was noticed by All My Children casting Director Judy Wilson. Bruening originally auditioned for the role of JR Chandler on All My Children, but was eventually cast in the role of James "Jamie" Martin in July 2003. For a brief time, in 2004 and 2005, Bruening also portrayed Jamie Martin on One Life to Live during a crossover storyline. During his role of Jamie, Bruening was featured as Daytime's Hottest Star in Teen People, Us Weekly, Star and J-14 magazines.
Bruening proposed to former All My Children co-star Alexa Havins on the set of the soap opera. They were married on June 5, 2005. The two were friends first before becoming romantically involved. After Bruening left All My Children, Havins exited shortly after and the couple moved to Los Angeles. On August 10, 2010, he and Havins welcomed their first child, daughter Lexington Grace Bruening.
In his spare time, Bruening collects Converse All-Star sneakers. In 2007, he had 15 or 16 pairs of the shoe brand.
In 2011, Bruening began a recurring role on the CW mystery series, Ringer. In 2012, he began a recurring role on the ABC family drama, Switched at Birth. In 2013, he had a recurring role on the ABC drama, Grey's Anatomy as Paramedic Matt, and he played a vampire on the current Ford Focus commercial. He is now featured in the limited season run of the Pretty Little Liars' spin-off Ravenswood.
