Christian Kane
Christian Kane | |
|---|---|
 Kane at the New York Comic Con | |
| Born | Dallas, Texas, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor, singer-songwriter |
| Years active | 1997–present |
| Website | christiankane |
Christian Kane is an American actor and singer-songwriter. He is known for his roles in the television shows Angel, Leverage, The Librarians, and Into the West, and the movies Just Married, Taxi, and Secondhand Lions.
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[]
Kane claims Native American ancestry, although he has no documented evidence, it is part of his family's oral history.[1] His parents participated in, and met at, the rodeo. The family moved around the South and the Midwest 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[]
Acting[]
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 with singer Monica, as Billy Ryan in MTV movie Love Song in 2000.
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. 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[]
In 1997, Kane met Steve Carlson, who had taken over his old job. They started writing songs together, and in 1998 formed the Southern rock band Kane. They have toured the U.S., as well as England and Germany. The band has self-released two albums, their self-titled debut, Kane, in 2002, and a recording of a live acoustic set, Acoustic Live In London! in 2004.[citation needed]
The 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 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]
Kane is also signed to a songwriting deal with EMI Music Publishing and writes much of his own material.[citation needed] 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, featured in episode 3X06, "The Studio Job", of Leverage.[3]
Filmography[]
Television[]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997–1998 | Fame L.A. | Ryan "Flyboy" Legget | Main role (21 episodes) |
| 1999 | Rescue 77 | Wick Lobo | Main role (8 episodes) |
| 1999–2004 | Angel | Lindsey McDonald | Recurring role (21 episodes) |
| 2001 | Dawson's Creek | Nick Taylor | Guest star (Episode: "The Tao of Dawson") |
| 2003 | The Crooked E: The Unshredded Truth About Enron | Brian Cruver | Television film |
| 2004 | Las Vegas | Bob | Guest star (Episode: "The Strange Life of Bob") |
| 2005 | Into the West | Abe High Wolf Wheeler | TV miniseries |
| 2005–2006 | Close to Home | Jack Chase | Main cast |
| 2008–2012 | Leverage | Eliot Spencer | Main cast |
| 2013 | King & Maxwell | JT Maxwell | Guest star (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 | Television film |
| 2018 | S.W.A.T. | Mr. X | Episode "S.O.S."[14] |
| 2019 | Supernatural | Lee Webb | Episode: "Last Call" |
| 2020 | Almost Paradise | Alex Walker | Main role (10 episodes) |
| 2021 | Leverage: Redemption | Eliot Spencer | Main role |
Film[]
| 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 |
Video game[]
| Year | Title | Voice role |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 24: The Game | Peter Madsen |
Discography[]
Soundtrack[]
| 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" |
Studio albums[]
| 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[]
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Country [15] |
US [18] |
US Heat [17] | ||
| Christian Kane |
|
28 | 159 | 5 |
Live albums[]
| Title | Album details |
|---|---|
| Acoustic Live In London! |
|
Singles[]
| Year | Single | Peak positions | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| US Country [19] | |||
| 2010 | "The House Rules" | 49 | The House Rules |
| 2011 | "Let Me Go" | 58 |
Music videos[]
| Year | Video | Director |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | "The House Rules" | Timothy Hutton |
| 2011 | "Let Me Go" | Roman White |
References[]
- ^ "Christian Kane Is a Lover and a Fighter on Leverage". Au.eonline.com.
- ^ "CK discusses his Bad-Ass Character". Starpulse.com.
- ^ Jump up to: a b "Christian Kane is singing a totally different tune on 'Leverage'". Digitaljournal.com.
- ^ "Portrait of an artist: Christian Kane". Intrepidmedia.com.
- ^ "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
- ^ Jump up to: a b "AllAccess Artist profile: Christian Kane". Allaccess.com.
- ^ "Billboard oct. 25th 2010 Chart Highlights". Archived from the original on October 29, 2010.
- ^ "CMT: Eight Videos Debuting During CMT Big New Music Weekend". Cmt.com.
- ^ "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.
- ^ Jump up to: 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.
- ^ Jump up to: 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.
- ^ "Christian Kane Album & Song Chart History - Country Songs". Billboard. Retrieved July 12, 2011.
External links[]
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Christian Kane. |
- Living people
- American country singer-songwriters
- American male film actors
- American male television actors
- Columbia Records artists
- Male actors from Dallas
- Musicians from Norman, Oklahoma
- Bigger Picture Music Group artists
- 20th-century American male actors
- 21st-century American male actors
- Songwriters from Oklahoma
- Singers from Oklahoma
- 21st-century American singers
- Country musicians from Texas
- Country musicians from Oklahoma
- American people who self-identify as being of Native American descent