Lucas Stephen Grabeel (/ˈɡreɪbiËl/; born November 23, 1984) is an American actor, singer, songwriter, dancer, director and producer. As a performer, he is best known for his role as Ryan Evans in the High School Musical film series, and as Ethan Dalloway in the third and fourth installments of the Halloweentown series: Halloweentown High (2004) and Return to Halloweentown (2006). He's also known for his role as teenage Lex Luthor in Smallville. He currently plays Toby Kennish in the ABC Family drama Switched at Birth. He provides the voice of Deputy Peck in the Disney Junior TV series Sheriff Callie's Wild West.
Life and career
Early life and career beginnings
Grabeel was born in Springfield, Missouri on November 23, 1984, the son of Jean (née Harman) and Stephen Grabeel. Before transferring to and graduating from Kickapoo High School in Springfield in 2003, he attended Logan-Rogersville Elementary, Middle and High School. He also played drums for a local church and initiated a men's a cappella singing group at a high school. At school, he found passions in the guitar and the accordion while also enjoying dance. He can dance in the styles of jazz, ballet, hip-hop and tap. While in Rogersville, Missouri, he regularly attended Harmony Baptist Church, where he was a part of the children's and youth groups. During the summer of 2002, He attended the Missouri Fine Arts Academy at Missouri State University. In a letter written to protest eliminating MFAA, Grabeel stated, "I wouldn't be where I am at if it weren't for my time at MFAA." His time there, as he refers to it, is what led him to move to LA and pursue an acting career.
Following his graduation, Grabeel moved to Los Angeles to become an actor. After two months living there, Grabeel landed his first television role in a commercial for toothpaste and then eventually went to star in other commercials for Lego and Hot Wheels. Soon after, he starred in his first film role as Ethan Dolloway in the third installment of the Halloweentown series Halloweentown High. He subsequently reprised this role in the series' fourth installment Return to Halloweentown.
High School Musical
In 2006, he was cast in the role of Ryan Evans, the fraternal twin brother of Sharpay Evans (played by Ashley Tisdale), in the Emmy Award-winning made-for-television Disney movie High School Musical. He reprises his role in the television sequels High School Musical 2 and High School Musical 3: Senior Year. In 2007, he joined co-stars Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, Corbin Bleu and Monique Coleman on the 51-date High School Musical: The Concert. In early 2009, Billboard believed that Grabeel and Tisdale’s track "I Want It All" should be nominated for an Oscar in the Best Original Song category however, the song did not make the final shortlist. During his time in High School Musical, Grabeel (along with his co-stars) had a total of six tracks chart in the Billboard Hot 100. Furthermore, he was the first artist to debut in the Billboard Hot 100 with two simultaneous new entries in one week. While with Disney Channel, Grabeel also participated in the first ever Disney Channel Games and co-captained the green team along with Ashley Tisdale, Mitchel Musso, Miley Cyrus, Emily Osment and Kyle Massey. A year later, he returned to repeat his captaincy of the green team with Dylan Sprouse, Miley Cyrus, Monique Coleman and Brandon Baker.
Subsequent acting career
Grabeel has made television guest appearances in TV series such as Boston Legal, 'Til Death, Veronica Mars and Smallville, where he portrayed a young Lex Luthor in 2006 and reprised the role as a clone of Lex Luthor in the series' 10th season In 2011. In 2007, he filmed the movie, The Adventures of Food Boy with Brittany Curran, as the lead Ezra. Other film projects Grabeel was involved with include the animated film, At Jesus' Side, where he voiced a dog named Jericho. He also filmed the independent film, Alice Upside Down, as the character of Lester McKinley, based on the "Alice book series" by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. In 2008, he also appeared in the movie Milk, a biopic about the slain gay rights activist Harvey Milk. Grabeel played a friend and supporter of Milk, photographer Danny Nicoletta. He also appeared in the 2008 Walt Disney Pictures film College Road Trip as Scooter, which features other Disney stars Raven-Symoné, Brenda Song and Margo Harshman. He also stars in the independent movie Lock and Roll Forever alongside Ore Ska Band. Grabeel also guest starred in an episode of The Cleveland Show.
Early in 2009, Grabeel was voted Most Likely to Do Big Things in 2009 by MTV and had an exclusive interview with them. He mentions the release of another music video for his track Get Your Ass On. He also mentioned his latest movie project, The Legend of the Dancing Ninja, where he played the lead Tokyo Jones alongside David Hasselhoff. In May 2009 he portrayed the role on stage of Matt in the Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones musical, The Fantasticks with Eric McCormack and Harry Groener at UCLA's Freud Playhouse.
Since the summer of 2011, Grabeel has been starring in the ABC Family drama Switched at Birth, in which he plays the brother of one of the two girls that were mistakenly switched at birth in the hospital.
In March 2012 I Kissed A Vampire was released in the U.S. where Lucas stars alongside Drew Seeley and Adrian Slade.
In January 2014 he provided his first-ever voice over role for an animated series, Deputy Peck on Sheriff Callie's Wild West.
Musical projects
Aside his involvement in the High School Musical soundtracks, Grabeel has recorded a song called "You Know I Will" for the soundtrack of The Fox and the Hound 2 and also recorded his own version of the Michael Bolton track "Go the Distance", from Disney's Hercules, for DisneyMania 5. In 2007, Grabeel co-wrote and recorded a song called "You Got It" which was released on iTunes on August 19, 2007 while its accompanying music video was released on his official website. Grabeel also recorded another original song called "Trash Talkin'" which was released November 15, 2008 on YouTube. Grabeel also sings in the iTunes show I Kissed a Vampire, in which, he stars. In early 2009, he appeared at the Southland Theatre Artists Goodwill Event (S.T.A.G.E.), an AIDS charity event, in Beverly Hills performing George and Ira Gershwin's "I Can't Be Bothered Now". He also recorded and released a new track titled '135n8' in early 2014 with the music video being uploaded to his YouTube account.
14341 Productions
In 2007, Grabeel founded a production company called 14341 Productions. His role within involves overseeing many projects from writing, directing and executive producing. The company have produced projects such as the short films The Real Son, Smoke Break; the music videos for "Get Your Ass On" and "You Got It". They also produced a TV pilot called Regarding Beauregard which was Grabeel's directorial debut. They are currently working on a short film, The Adventures Of Chuckle Boy, and have just released a short film The Dragon. They debuted their work at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.
Filmography
Discography
Extended play
Singles
Other appearances
Awards
References
External links
- Official Lucas Grabeel Website
- Official Lucas Grabeel Brazilian Fansite
- Lucas Grabeel at the Internet Movie Database