Christian Kane

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Christian Kane
Kane at the 2017 New York Comic Con
Born
Dallas, Texas, U.S.
Occupation(s)Actor, singer-songwriter
Years active1997–present
Websitechristiankane.com

Christian Kane (born Christopher Michael Short) 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.

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[edit]

Kane 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[edit]

Acting[edit]

Kane with Amy Acker at a signing in Santa Barbara (2004)

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[edit]

In 1997, Kane met Steve Carlson, who had taken over his old job.[clarification needed] 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, was featured in Leverage Season 3 episode, "The Studio Job."[3]

Filmography[edit]

Film[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 Lee Webb Episode: "Last Call"
2020–present Almost Paradise Alex Walker Main cast
2021–present Leverage: Redemption Eliot Spencer Main cast

Video game[edit]

Year Title Voice role
2006 24: The Game Peter Madsen

Discography[edit]

Soundtrack[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"

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
  • Release date: March 9, 2010
  • Label: Bigger Picture Music Group
  • Formats: CD, music download
28 159 5

Live albums[edit]

Title Album details
Acoustic Live In London!
  • Release date: 2004
  • Label: self-released
  • Formats: CD

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]

  1. ^ Baker, Jeff (16 July 2014). "Christian Kane loves Portland and Oklahoma and his wolf-dog hybrid". The Oregonian/OregonLive. Retrieved 12 September 2021.
  2. ^ "CK discusses his Bad-Ass Character". Starpulse.com. Archived from the original on 2012-10-08. Retrieved 2010-10-26.
  3. ^ a b "Christian Kane is singing a totally different tune on 'Leverage'". Digitaljournal.com.
  4. ^ "Portrait of an artist: Christian Kane". Intrepidmedia.com. Archived from the original on 2017-11-07. Retrieved 2010-10-26.
  5. ^ "Redneck scrapper: Dallas-born Christian Kane fights for TNT's new Leverage". Unclebarky.com. Retrieved January 7, 2017.
  6. ^ "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.
  7. ^ "Billboard Heatseekers chart"., Billboard.com
  8. ^ a b "AllAccess Artist profile: Christian Kane". Allaccess.com.
  9. ^ "Billboard oct. 25th 2010 Chart Highlights". Billboard. Archived from the original on October 29, 2010.
  10. ^ "CMT: Eight Videos Debuting During CMT Big New Music Weekend". Cmt.com.
  11. ^ "Let Me Go blazes to nr. 1". Musicnewsnashville,cin. Archived from the original on 2017-06-20. Retrieved 2011-11-14.
  12. ^ "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.
  13. ^ "News - Updates". Christiankane.com. 2017-01-22. Retrieved 2020-04-04.
  14. ^ "Christian Kane List of Movies and TV Shows". Tvguide.com. Retrieved 2020-04-04.
  15. ^ a b "Christian Kane Album & Song Chart History - Country Albums". Billboard. Retrieved July 12, 2011.
  16. ^ "Christian Kane Album & Song Chart History - Billboard 200". Billboard. Retrieved July 12, 2011.
  17. ^ a b "Christian Kane Album & Song Chart History - Heatseekers Albums". Billboard. Retrieved July 12, 2011.
  18. ^ "Christian Kane EP Charts & Awards". Allmusic. Retrieved July 14, 2011.[permanent dead link]
  19. ^ "Christian Kane Album & Song Chart History - Country Songs". Billboard. Retrieved July 12, 2011.

External links[edit]