Quick Facts
Aquarius
Biography
Shane Steven Harper (born February 14, 1993) is an American actor, singer, songwriter, and dancer. He is known for playing Spencer on Good Luck Charlie as well as Josh Wheaton in the independent Christian film God's Not Dead. His self-titled debut album was released on February 14, 2012.
Early life
Harper was born in La Jolla, California, the son of Tanya (née Michaelson) and Scott Harper. He is of Austrian, German, Jewish, and Scottish descent. He has an older sister named Samantha, also a professional dancer, and a younger brother named Sullivan, a model. Harper began dancing and acting at the age of nine, and was involved in community theater and competitive dance. He also started singing and playing guitar and piano at the same age. He is trained in ballet, hip-hop, lyrical, jazz, and tap. He also studied martial arts between the ages of four and 12, and obtained a black belt in Karate. In the spring of 2006, a talent agent on the judging panel of a regional dance competition offered Harper an agency representation. Harper is a devout Christian.
Career
Acting Career
Harper had minor roles as a principal dancer in various shows and movies such as High School Musical 2, Re-Animated, and Dance Revolution before becoming one of the lead dancers and the youngest (the Nick 6) on Nickelodeon's Dance on Sunset. He landed on dance roles in 2006, including lead dancer for the music video Step Up with Samantha Jade, and Cartoon Network's Re-Animated and the Saturday morning kid's competition, Dance Revolution. In 2010, Harper got his first two movie roles in the films My Name is Khan and Flipped, as a minor character in each.
Harper also began his recurring role as Spencer Walsh on Disney Channel's Good Luck Charlie, playing alongside Bridgit Mendler, and guest-starred on an episode of Wizards of Waverly Place. He also guest-starred as the musical guest on So Random!, singing his single, "One Step Closer". He's also starred in 7 episodes in MTV's Awkward (TV series) as Austin Welch.
In March 2014, he starred in the Christian-based film, God's Not Dead, where he plays the main character, college student Josh Wheaton, who has to prove to his atheist professor that God is not dead while this professor is declaring that he is. For this movie, Harper finished writing his song called "Hold You Up", a song that encourages Christians to stand for their faith. The song peaked at number 1 on Billboards Hot AC/CHR charts, and has so far peaked at number 21 on the Billboard Hot Christian Charts.
He starred as Brandon in the musical film Dance-Off co-starring Kathryn McCormick. The movie is about two cross-town rival dance teams go head to head for the National Nationals Championship. Next, Harper starred as Ian Chandler in short lived MTV series Happyland co-starring alongside Bianca A. Santos and Katherine McNamara. In 2015, he starred as Stephen in the family film Lift Me Up.
He played the role of one of the disciples in the musical TV special The Passion, which was released March 20, 2016 on fox. Harper is set to star as Robbie, a charming waiter at the resort who woos and then cheats on Baby's older sister, Lisa, in the three hour TV movie Dirty Dancing for ABC.
Music Career
Harper's first single, "Dance with Me", was released on March 30, 2010. The music video was released a couple of weeks prior and features Harper dancing and playing guitar. In 2011 Harper signed to AMi Records. In 2011 he released "One Step Closer", the second single from his debut album. The self-titled album was released on April 12, 2011. The third and final single released off of the album was "Rocketship". Also in 2011, Harper opened for Greyson Chance and Cody Simpson on their Waiting 4U Tour in addition to opening for Miranda Cosgrove on her Dancing Crazy Tour. The deluxe version of his debut album "Shane Harper" was released on February 14, 2012 at Target stores nationwide and features four bonus tracks. In 2012, Harper released Dancin in the Rain EP.
In 2016, Harper announced that he has signed a record deal with Capitol. April 29, 2016, Harper announced on his Twitter that he would support Jacob Whitesides on his The Lovesick Tour, which begun in May and ended in October. On May 27, 2016, Harper released an EP titled "Like I Did." On August 11, 2016 he released a music video for "Like I Did".
Personal life
Harper was in a relationship with actress/singer Bridgit Mendler in May 2011. However, at the beginning of November 2015, Mendler had officially announced that they had ended their relationship.
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Re-Animated | Dancer | |
| 2007 | High School Musical 2 | Dancer | |
| 2010 | My Name Is Khan | Tim Tompson | Voice |
| 2010 | Flipped | Matt Baker | |
| 2011 | Game Time: Tackling the Past | Sean Tate | |
| 2014 | God's Not Dead | Josh Wheaton | |
| 2014 | Dance-off | Brandon | |
| 2015 | Lift Me Up | Stephen | |
| 2016 | An Apprentice | Only director | Short film |
| 2017 | Flock of Four | Sam Grover | Post-production |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Dance Revolution | Supporting dancer | |
| 2007 | Zoey 101 | Tenth Grader | "Drippin' Episode" (Season 3, episode 17) |
| 2008 | Dance on Sunset | Himself / Contestant | Season 1 |
| 2009 | So You Think You Can Dance | Supporting dancer | Season 6 |
| 2010–14 | Good Luck Charlie | Spencer Walsh | Recurring role |
| 2011 | Wizards of Waverly Place | Fidel | "Three Maxes and a Little Lady" (Season 4, episode 5) |
| 2013–14 | Awkward | Austin | Recurring role (Season 3–4) |
| 2014 | Happyland | Ian Chandler | Main role |
| 2016 | The Passion: New Orleans | Disciple | Television film |
| 2017 | Dirty Dancing | Robbie Gould | Television special |
| 2017 | The Time Capsule | Tom Paxton | Television film |
Discography
Studio albums
| Title | Album details | Peak chart | Sales | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Heat. | ||||||||||||||
| Shane Harper |
| 17 |
| |||||||||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory. | ||||||||||||||
Extended plays
| Title | Album details | Peak chart | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Heat. | ||||||||||||||
| Dancin' in the Rain |
| 49 | ||||||||||||
| Like I Did |
| — | ||||||||||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory. | ||||||||||||||
Singles
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Christ. | US Christ. Airplay | US Christ. A/C | ||||||||||||
| "Dance with Me" | 2010 | — | — | — | Shane Harper | |||||||||
| "One Step Closer" | 2011 | — | — | — | ||||||||||
| "Rocketship" | 2012 | — | — | — | ||||||||||
| "Dancin' in the Rain" | — | — | — | Dancin' in the Rain | ||||||||||
| "Hold You Up" | 2013 | 21 | 29 | 1 | God's Not Dead | |||||||||
| "Like I Did" | 2016 | — | — | — | Like I Did | |||||||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory. | ||||||||||||||
Promotional singles
| Title | Year | Album |
|---|---|---|
| "We Need a Little Christmas" | 2011 | Non-album single |
Music videos
| Title | Year | Director |
|---|---|---|
| "Dance With Me" | 2011 | Cam Hassman |
| "Rocketship" | 2012 | N/A |
| "Dancing in The Rain" | Billy Rainey | |
| "Flat World" | N/A | |
| "Like I Did" | 2016 | Steven Taylor |
Awards and nominations
| Year | Award | Category | Film | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | K-Love Fan Award | Film / Television Impact Actor | God's Not Dead | Won |
Concert tours
- Opening act
- Waiting 4U Tour (Cody Simpson and Greyson Chance) (2011)
- A Special Night with Demi Lovato (Demi Lovato) (2012)
- Dancing Crazy Tour (Miranda Cosgrove) (2011)
- The Summer Kiss Tour (Carly Rae Jepsen) (2013)
- Summer Tour (Bridgit Mendler) (2013)
- The Lovesick Tour (Jacob Whitesides) (2016)
- "New Music Tuesday: Shane Harper's Dancin' in the Rain". ASCAP. Retrieved 2010-05-13.
- "Shane Harper e Alex Angelo abrirão shows da nova turnê do Jacob Whitesides". Febre Teen. Retrieved 2010-05-13.