Metcalfe was born in Carmel Valley, California, the son of Nancy (née DeMaio) and Jeff Metcalfe. Metcalfe played in several basketball leagues during his teen years in Waterford, Connecticut and graduated from The Williams School in New London, Connecticut. After successfully auditioning for the NBC soap opera Passions, he played Miguel Lopez-Fitzgerald, one of five siblings, from the show’s debut in July 1999 to July 2004, and November 2004 to January 2005. in late 2003 and early 2004, he met the famous model Estefania Santana. in October 2004 Metcalfe returned to television as the teenage gardener John Rowland on the popular ABC TV drama Desperate Housewives, where his character had a secret relationship with housewife Gabrielle Solis played by Eva Longoria. His first appearance took place when he and Ashton Kutcher punk’d Eva Longoria for stealing thousands of dollars and fraud (false identity). Metcalfe also appeared in the 3 Doors Down “Let Me Go” video. He also starred as Granger Woodruff in The Other End of the Line, a film based on an employee at an Indian call-center who travels to San Francisco to be with a guy she falls for over the phone.
