Lucas Till
Quick Facts
Biography
Lucas Daniel Till (born August 10, 1990) is an American actor and producer. He began acting in the early 2000s and has appeared in a number of film and television productions including roles on House, Stoker, Dance of the Dead, Hannah Montana: The Movie, and Monster Trucks. He is known for his role as Havok in the X-Men series starting with 2011 X-Men: First Class and plays Angus MacGyver in the 2016 reboot of the television series MacGyver, which premiered in September 2016.
Early life
Lucas Daniel Till was born August 10, 1990, in Fort Hood, Texas, to Dana Lyn (née Brady) and John Mark Till, a lieutenant colonel in the Army. He is of English, Swiss, German, and Scottish ancestry. His mother is a chemist by profession.
Till spent most of his childhood living in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia. He attended Kell High School. After filming for Peter Chelsom's The Hannah Montana Movie (2009) in Nashville, he went back home to graduate with the Kell High School class of 2008. He took Brazilian jiu-jitsu in high school for 4 years.
After finishing his education, he relocated to Los Angeles, California, to pursue a career in acting.
Till has one brother, who is 7 years younger.
Career
Acting
Early in his life, Till's parents became aware of his ability to imitate voices and characters. Joy Pervis discovered Till while he was attending a local acting class where his mother had enrolled him. When he was 10, he started doing commercials as well as appearing in print. At the age of 12, he was cast in Kristen McGary's The Adventures of Ociee Nash in which he played Harry Vanderbilt, the bully of the title character (played by Skyler Day).
The following year, in 2004, he played the role of Jay in the feature film Lightning Bug (starring Laura Prepon and Bret Harrison) which was filmed in Fairview, Alabama.
Till's first major movie role was Jack Cash, the older brother of Johnny Cash, who died in a sawmill accident, in James Mangold's biographical movie Walk the Line.
After Walk the Line, Till was featured in a number of independent movies and films for Lifetime Television. In 2008, Till auditioned for Hannah Montana: The Movie starring Miley Cyrus and he landed the role of Travis Brody. In an interview, he said that prior to filming he had actually never ridden a horse before.
In 2010, he worked alongside action film actor Jackie Chan in the movie The Spy Next Door, in which Till plays the role of a Russian spy. He also starred in Taylor Swift's music video "You Belong with Me". He was in an episode of House and on Leo Little's Big Show along with Emily Osment.
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.
Till played Havok in the X-Men spin-off X-Men: First Class (2011), directed by Matthew Vaughn. He later starred in the independent movie All Superheroes Must Die (2013), and later returned as Havok in the X-Men sequels Days of Future Past(2014) and Apocalypse (2016).
In 2016, he began starring in the title role of Angus MacGyver in the television reboot MacGyver and continued his role in the second, third and fourth seasons. For his work on the series, he was nominated for a Teen Choice Award (2018) in the "Choice TV Actor: Action" category. He received this same nomination in 2019 as well. Also in 2016, he played the lead role, Tripp, in the live-action/CGI film Monster Trucks, directed by Blue Sky Studios founder Chris Wedge.
In 2019, Till collaborated again with CBS Cares in a television campaign in support of the fight against the disease of Lupus. He renewed his contract in 2020 to continue his leading role in the fifth season of the television series MacGyver.
Most recently, in August 2020, Till was seen in Barry Alexander Brown's biographical drama Son of the South. He played the role of "Bob Zellner," the grandson of a member of the Ku Klux Klan, alongside Julia Ormond, Lucy Hale, and Sienna Guillory. The film is based on Bob Zellner's autobiography The Wrong Side of Murder Creek: A White Southerner in the Freedom Movement (written in collaboration with Constance Curry with a foreword by noted civil rights leader Julian Bond).
Production
Till has produced three movies and also collaborated on production for thirteen episodes of the fourth season MacGyver.
He made his production debut in 2009 with Jason Trost-directed sci-fi thriller All Superheroes Must Die, starring Trost, Till, and James Remar. Next, in 2013, he produced a comedy film Wet and Reckless starring himself alongside Scout Taylor-Compton and Sean Whalen.
In 2014, he co-produced a horror-thriller My Eleventh with John Benjamin Hickey and Marin Hinkle.
Filmography
Film
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2003 | The Lovesong of Edwerd J. Robble | Michael | Short film |
The Adventures of Ociee Nash | Harry Vanderbilt | ||
2004 | Pee Shy | Chad | Short film |
Lightning Bug | Jay Graves | ||
2005 | Walk the Line | Young Jack Cash | |
2006 | The Other Side | Young Samuel North | |
2008 | Dance of the Dead | Jensen | Direct-to-DVD |
2009 | Laid to Rest | Young Store Clerk | Direct-to-video |
Hannah Montana: The Movie | Travis Brody | ||
The Lost & Found Family | Justin | Direct-to-video | |
2010 | The Spy Next Door | Larry | |
2011 | Battle: Los Angeles | Cpl. Scott Grayston | |
X-Men: First Class | Alex Summers / Havok | ||
All Superheroes Must Die | Cutthroat / Ben | Direct-to-video; also producer | |
2012 | Dark Hearts | Sam | Direct-to-DVD |
2013 | Stoker | Chris Pitts | |
Crush | Scott Norris | Direct-to-video | |
Wet and Reckless | Toby 'Dollars' | Direct-to-video; also producer | |
Paranoia | Kevin | ||
2014 | Wolves | Cayden Richards | Direct-to-video |
Kristy | Aaron | Direct-to-video | |
Sins of our Youth | Tyler | ||
X-Men: Days of Future Past | Alex Summers / Havok | ||
2015 | Bravetown | Josh Harvest | Direct-to-video |
The Curse of Downers Grove | Bobby | Direct-to-video | |
2016 | X-Men: Apocalypse | Alex Summers / Havok | |
The Disappointments Room | Ben Philips Jr. | ||
2017 | Monster Trucks | Tripp Coley | |
2020 | Son of the South | Bob Zellner |
Television
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2006 | Not Like Everyone Else | Kyle Kenney | Television film |
2008 | House | Simon | Episode: "Joy to the World Season 5" |
2009 | Medium | Adam Mankowitz | Episode: "Things to Do in Phoenix When You're Dead" |
Fear Clinic | Brett | Episode: "Scotophobia" and "Hydrophobia" | |
2010 | Blue Mountain State | Golden Arm / Matt Parker | Episode: "The Legend of the Golden Arm" |
2014 | Comedy Bang! Bang! | Thief | Episode: "Patton Oswalt Wears a Black Blazer & Dress Shoes" |
2016–present | MacGyver | Angus MacGyver | Main role |
2017 | Michael Jackson's Halloween | Vincent (voice) | Television special |
Music videos
Year | Title | Role | Artist |
---|---|---|---|
2009 | "You Belong With Me" | Taylor Swift’s love interest | Taylor Swift |
2011 | "Someone like You" | Tony´s friend | Tony Oller |
Producer
Year | Title | Notes |
---|---|---|
2011 | All Superheroes Must Die | Co-producer |
2013 | Wet and Reckless | |
2014 | My Eleventh | |
2017 | Spectrum | |
2020 | MacGyver |
Awards and nominations
Year | Award | Category | Nominated work | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
2009 | 11th Teen Choice Awards | Choice Movie Actor: Music/Dance | Hannah Montana: The Movie | Nominated |
Choice Movie: Liplock (shared with Miley Cyrus) | Nominated | |||
2011 | 13th Teen Choice Awards | Choice Movie: Chemistry (shared with Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Zoë Kravitz, Caleb Landry Jones, and Edi Gathegi) | X-Men: First Class | Nominated |
2018 | 20th Teen Choice Awards | Choice TV Actor: Action | MacGyver | Nominated |
2019 | 21st Teen Choice Awards | Choice TV Actor: Action | MacGyver | Nominated |