Christian Kane is an American actor and singer-songwriter. His television roles include Lindsey McDonald in Angel, Eliot Spencer in Leverage and its spin-off Leverage: Redemption, Jacob Stone in The Librarians, and Abe "High Wolf" Wheeler in Into the West. His cinematic filmography includes Just Married, Taxi, and Secondhand Lions.
Christian Kane | |
|---|---|
 Kane at the 2017 New York Comic Con | |
| Born | Dallas, Texas, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Actor, singer-songwriter |
| Years active | 1997–present |
| Website | christiankane |
Kane is the lead singer of the country-southern rock band Kane. On December 7, 2010, they released The House Rules, their third album and their debut for record label Bigger Picture Music Group. The album reached no. 25 on the Billboard Country Albums chart. The first single from the album, also titled "The House Rules", debuted at no. 54 on the Billboard Country Songs chart. The second single, “Let Me Go”, was released on July 11, 2011.
Early life
editKane has stated that he is of Cherokee (Native American) ancestry.[1] His parents participated in, and met at, the rodeo. The family moved around the South because his father was in the oil business, and they finally settled in Norman, Oklahoma, when Kane was in eighth grade. While growing up in Texas and Oklahoma, Kane was a collegiate-style wrestler and played football (as a strong safety).[2] He studied art history at the University of Oklahoma, but decided he wanted to be an actor and headed to Los Angeles before finishing the degree.[3] In Los Angeles, he worked at a talent management company, where he delivered scripts in exchange for getting acting jobs.[4]
Career
editActing
edit
Kane landed his first acting role in 1997 as one of the leads in MGM's television series Fame L.A. playing a country singer who moved to Los Angeles from Kansas. His television roles have included a recurring role in Joss Whedon’s Angel as the lawyer Lindsey MacDonald, the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced series Close to Home on CBS, the TNT television film Crossfire Trail in which he appeared alongside Tom Selleck, and the role of Abe Wheeler in the Steven Spielberg-produced 2005 miniseries Into the West. He starred as Billy Ryan in the MTV movie Love Song in 2000, alongside R&B artist Monica.
Kane’s appearances on the big screen include the 20th Century Fox film Just Married and New Line Cinema's Secondhand Lions (as the younger version of Robert Duvall's Hub McCann, he has a scar on his upper lip from an injury he received while filming the movie).[5] He also appeared in Taxi, Life or Something Like It, the Peter Berg-directed Friday Night Lights, and the Warner Bros. baseball film Summer Catch.
In 2007, Kane was featured in the Carrie Underwood music video "So Small", playing the role of one of the three converging stories. In 2009, he appeared in the psychological thriller, Hide, in which he played the lead role of Billy, and The Donner Party which is based on the true story of the Donner Party. In 2010, he starred in the romantic drama, Not Since You.
From 2008 to 2012, Kane appeared on the TNT television series Leverage as Eliot Spencer, a retrieval specialist and black ops soldier who teams up with four other specialists to undo the injustices perpetrated upon the helpless. Kane performed all his own fight scenes and also choreographed fights for the series. Kane plays the same character in Leverage:Redemption, which premiered in July 2021, streaming on IMDb TV. The show takes up the team's adventures 8 years after the last episode.
In 2013, Kane appeared as JT Maxwell, brother to Rebecca Romijn's female lead Michelle Maxwell on TNT's King & Maxwell. He appeared again with Romijn co-starring in the 2014 to 2018 TNT television series The Librarians, based on The Librarian film series.
In 2020, Kane starred as Alex Walker on the drama series, Almost Paradise. The second season was released in July 2023. In an interview with Tell-Tale TV, Kane described that character as being several of his previous roles on other series rolled into one.[6]
Music
editThe band consists of Kane (lead vocals, guitar), Carlson (rhythm guitar, backing vocals), Jason Southard (lead guitar), Will Amend (bass guitar), and Ryan Baker (drums) and is signed to independent record label Bigger Picture Music Group. Their label debut, The House Rules, was released on December 7, 2010. It debuted at no. 1 on the Billboard Heatseekers album chart and no. 25 on the Country Albums chart.[7] The album was produced by Bob Ezrin and Jimmie Lee Sloas.[8]
The first single from the album, also titled "The House Rules", debuted at no. 54 on the Billboard Country Songs chart[9] and was the seventh-most added song on Mediabase Country stations on its official impact date.[8] The video for the single was directed by Timothy Hutton and premiered on CMT's Big New Music Weekend October 1, 2010. "The House Rules" was featured in the video game NASCAR 09.[10] The second single, "Let Me Go", was released on July 11, 2011. The video for the single, directed by Roman White, premiered on CMT August 8, 2011 and reached no. 1 on their Today's Top Videos chart .[11]
Trace Adkins released a song written by Kane called "Happy Man" on his 2010 album, Cowboy's Back in Town.[12]
Kane's co-writing efforts include songs written with Blair Daly, Brett James, David Lee Murphy, Casey Beathard, and Jerrod Niemann.[13] "Thinking of You", a song he co-wrote with Blair Daly, was featured in Leverage Season 3 episode, "The Studio Job."[3]
Filmography
editFilm
edit| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | EDtv | P.A. | |
| 2000 | The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy | Idaho guy | |
| 2000 | Love Song | Billy Ryan Gallo | |
| 2001 | Crossfire Trail | John Thomas "J.T." Langston | |
| 2001 | Summer Catch | Dale Robin | |
| 2002 | Life or Something Like It | Cal Cooper | |
| 2003 | Just Married | Peter Prentiss | |
| 2003 | Secondhand Lions | Young Hub | |
| 2004 | The Plight of Clownana | Christian | Short film |
| 2004 | Taxi | Agent Mullins | |
| 2004 | Friday Night Lights | Brian | |
| 2005 | Her Minor Thing | Paul | |
| 2005 | Keep Your Distance | Sean Voight | |
| 2006 | Four Sheets to the Wind | David | |
| 2008 | Hide | Billy | |
| 2009 | The Donner Party | Charles Stanton | |
| 2009 | Not Since You | Ryan Roberts | |
| 2011 | Good Day for It | Dale Acton | |
| 2011 | Universal Squadrons | Peacemaker | |
| 2014 | 50 to 1 | Mark Allen | |
| 2014 | All Stars | Jim Hall | |
| 2017 | The Terror of Hallow's Eve | Bobby | |
| 2017 | Tinker | Boudreaux | Post-production |
| 2017 | Christmas in the Heartland | Jeff Gentry | |
| 2018 | Junkie | Sheriff Corbin |
Television
edit| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997–1998 | Fame L.A. | Ryan "Flyboy" Legget | Main cast |
| 1999 | Rescue 77 | Wick Lobo | Main cast |
| 1999–2004 | Angel | Lindsey McDonald | Recurring role |
| 2001 | Dawson's Creek | Nick Taylor | Episode: "The Tao of Dawson") |
| 2003 | The Crooked E: The Unshredded Truth About Enron | Brian Cruver | TV movie |
| 2004 | Las Vegas | Bob | Episode: "The Strange Life of Bob" |
| 2005 | Into the West | Abe High Wolf Wheeler | Miniseries |
| 2005–2006 | Close to Home | Jack Chase | Main cast |
| 2008–2012 | Leverage | Eliot Spencer | Main cast |
| 2013 | King & Maxwell | JT Maxwell | Episode: "Family Business" |
| 2014–2018 | The Librarians | Jacob Stone | Main cast Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor on Television |
| 2016 | Heaven Sent | Billy Taylor | TV movie |
| 2018 | S.W.A.T. | Mr. X | Episode "S.O.S."[14] |
| 2019 | Supernatural | Leo Webb | Episode: "Last Call" |
| 2020–2023 | Almost Paradise | Alex Walker | Main cast |
| 2021–present | Leverage: Redemption | Eliot Spencer | Main cast |
| 2025 | The Librarians: The Next Chapter | Jacob Stone |
Video game
edit| Year | Title | Voice role |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 24: The Game | Peter Madsen |
Discography
editSoundtrack
edit| Title | Song(s) featured |
|---|---|
| Angel (2001) | "L.A. Song" |
| Life or Something Like It (2002) | "Sweet Carolina Rain" (as KANE) |
| The Crooked E: The Unshredded Truth About Enron TV (2003) | "More Than I Deserve" (as KANE) |
| Just Married (2003) | "The Chase" (as KANE) |
| Leverage — "The Two Horse Job" (2008) | "More Than I Deserve" (as KANE) |
| NASCAR 09 (2008) | "The House Rules" (as Christian Kane) |
| Keep Your Distance (2005) | "Right In Front Of You" (as Sean Voight/KANE) |
| Leverage — "The Studio Job" (2010) | "Thinking of You" |
| Supernatural — "Last Call" (2019) | "The House Rules" (as Lee Webb/Christian Kane) |
| Supernatural — "Last Call" (2019) | "Good Ol' Boys" by Waylon Jennings (as Lee Webb/Christian Kane)
*Sung with Dean Winchester/Jensen Ackles |
Studio albums
edit| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Country [15] |
US [16] |
US Heat [17] | |||||||
| Kane |
|
— | — | — | |||||
| The House Rules |
|
25 | 178 | 1 | |||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | |||||||||
Extended plays
edit| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Country [15] |
US [18] |
US Heat [17] | ||
| Christian Kane |
|
28 | 159 | 5 |
Live albums
edit| Title | Album details |
|---|---|
| Acoustic Live In London! |
|
Singles
edit| Year | Single | Peak positions | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| US Country [19] | |||
| 2010 | "The House Rules" | 49 | The House Rules |
| 2011 | "Let Me Go" | 58 |
Music videos
edit| Year | Video | Director |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | "The House Rules" | Timothy Hutton |
| 2011 | "Let Me Go" | Roman White |
References
edit- ^ Baker, Jeff (16 July 2014). "Christian Kane loves Portland and Oklahoma and his wolf-dog hybrid". The Oregonian/OregonLive. Retrieved 12 September 2021.
- ^ "CK discusses his Bad-Ass Character". Starpulse.com. Archived from the original on 2012-10-08. Retrieved 2010-10-26.
- ^ a b "Christian Kane is singing a totally different tune on 'Leverage'". Digitaljournal.com.
- ^ "Portrait of an artist: Christian Kane". Intrepidmedia.com. Archived from the original on 2017-11-07. Retrieved 2010-10-26.
- ^ "Redneck scrapper: Dallas-born Christian Kane fights for TNT's new Leverage". Unclebarky.com. Retrieved January 7, 2017.
- ^ "Almost Paradise: Christian Kane Says His New Series is Here to Take You on a Vacation [Exclusive Interview] | Tell-Tale TV". telltaletv.com. 2020-03-29. Retrieved 2021-07-07.
- ^ "Billboard Heatseekers chart"., Billboard.com
- ^ a b "AllAccess Artist profile: Christian Kane". Allaccess.com.
- ^ "Billboard oct. 25th 2010 Chart Highlights". Billboard. Archived from the original on October 29, 2010.
- ^ "CMT: Eight Videos Debuting During CMT Big New Music Weekend". Cmt.com. Archived from the original on October 4, 2010.
- ^ "Let Me Go blazes to nr. 1". Musicnewsnashville,cin. Archived from the original on 2017-06-20. Retrieved 2011-11-14.
- ^ "Actor and singer Christian Kane likes Nashville, Alice in Chains and UFC". Las Vegas Sun. Archived from the original on January 8, 2017. Retrieved January 7, 2017.
- ^ "News - Updates". Christiankane.com. 2017-01-22. Retrieved 2020-04-04.
- ^ "Christian Kane List of Movies and TV Shows". Tvguide.com. Retrieved 2020-04-04.
- ^ a b "Christian Kane Album & Song Chart History - Country Albums". Billboard. Retrieved July 12, 2011.
- ^ "Christian Kane Album & Song Chart History - Billboard 200". Billboard. Retrieved July 12, 2011.
- ^ a b "Christian Kane Album & Song Chart History - Heatseekers Albums". Billboard. Retrieved July 12, 2011.
- ^ "Christian Kane EP Charts & Awards". Allmusic. Retrieved July 14, 2011.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Christian Kane Album & Song Chart History - Country Songs". Billboard. Retrieved July 12, 2011.
External links
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