Lucas Till
Lucas Daniel Till (born August 10, 1990) is an American actor. In a career spanning over two decades, he has appeared in multiple film and television projects spanning a variety of genres. He is a five-time Teen Choice Award nominee.
Lucas Till
Till began his career in the early 2000s with roles in independent films, before gaining early attention for his supporting role in the biopic Walk the Line (2005). He had his breakthrough with romantic lead roles in the Disney film Hannah Montana: The Movie and music videos for Taylor Swift's "You Belong with Me" and Miley Cyrus' "The Climb" (all 2009).
The action comedies The Spy Next Door (2010) and Monster Trucks (2016) brought him wider attention, and he portrayed Havok in Marvel's X-Men prequel films (2011–2016). Till next played the eponymous role in the CBS action crime drama series MacGyver (2016–2021), a reboot of the 1980s series of the same name. He subsequently garnered critical acclaim for his portrayal of Bob Zellner in the historical biopic Son of the South (2020), before starring in the action film The Collective (2023).
Early life and education[edit]
Lucas Daniel Till was born on August 10, 1990, in Fort Cavazos, Texas. He is the son of Dana Lyn (née Brady), a chemist by profession,[1] and John Mark Till, a colonel in the Army.[2][3][4] He has a younger brother, Nick (b. 1997). Till spent most of his childhood living in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia. His family quickly noticed, when he was at a very young age, that he had an affinity for impersonating voices and characters. When he was 11 years old, his mother enrolled him in local acting classes, and it was not long before he was discovered by Joy Pervis, an agent from a Talent agency in Atlanta. Till began booking almost immediately in print, local, regional, and national commercials. He later attended Kell High School . He spent three weeks in Germany as an exchange student and was also a member of the German National Honor Society.[5] After filming for The Hannah Montana Movie in Nashville, Till went back home to graduate with the Kell High School class of 2008.[6] After graduation, he moved to Los Angeles, California, to continue acting.[6]
Career[edit]
2000s: Early career and Hannah Montana film[edit]
In 2003, Till made his first film collaboration in the short film The Lovesong of Edwerd J. Robble, in the role of Michael.[7]
At the age of 12, he was cast in The Adventures of Ociee Nash in which he played Harry Vanderbilt, the bully of the main character.[8] In 2004, Till played the role of Jay in the horror film Lightning Bug which filmed in Fairview, Alabama,[9] and, later, he participated in the short film Pee Shy,[10] playing Chad. His first major movie role was Jack Cash, the older brother of Johnny Cash, who died in a sawmill accident, in the biographical film Walk the Line (2005).[11]
After Walk the Line, Till was featured in a number of television films for Lifetime and independent films.[8] For example, the following year, Till played the young Samuel North in a feature film The Other Side filmed in Atlanta, Georgia.[12] In 2006, he also joined the cast of the Lifetime television film Not Like Everyone Else, portraying Kyle Kenney.[13]
In 2008, Till starred as Jensen in Gregg Bishop's horror-comedy Dance of the Dead which was hand-picked by director Sam Raimi for distribution through Lions Gate Entertainment and Ghost House Pictures.[14] He was also invited to participate in the fifth season of the American television series House in the episode titled "Joy to the World" in the role of Simon, a high school student who has a romantic relationship with his schoolmate, but due to their social differences, they cannot be together.[15] Three weeks before graduating from high school, Till auditioned for Hannah Montana: The Movie (starring Miley Cyrus) and landed the role of Travis Brody, a young cowboy and Miley's friend who ends up becoming her love interest.[16] The role garnered Till two nominations at the 2009 Teen Choice Awards, in the Choice Movie Actor: Music/Dance and Choice Movie: Liplock (shared with Cyrus) categories respectively. As part of the awards promotion campaign, Till recorded three short films: Not Another Changeling Movie, a parody of Angelina Jolie's movie Changeling;[17] The Red Menace[18] and The Bourneson Stupidity, a parody of the film The Bourne Identity.[19]
In early 2009, he participated in the horror film Laid to Rest as a commercial employee.[20]
He also participated in the episodes "Scotophobia" and "Hydrophobia" of the horror web series Fear Clinic playing the character of Brett, a young man suffering from hydrophobia.[21] He starred in the music video for Taylor Swift's "You Belong with Me" as her next-door neighbour and love interest.[22]
Till and Swift first met in 2008 while filming for Hannah Montana: The Movie. In 2009, he participated in the fifth season of Medium in the role of Adam Mankowitz in the episode titled "Things to do in Phoenix when you're dead",[23] and on Leo Little's Big Show along with Emily Osment in the episode titled "Hannah Montana: The Movie".[24] He was also part of the starring cast in the movie The Lost & Found Family released directly in DVD format and distributed by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. His character was Justin, a young boy with some bad attitudes.[25]