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Lucas Grabeel
Lucas Grabeel 2016.png
Grabeel in 2016
Born
Lucas Stephen Grabeel

(1984-11-23) November 23, 1984 (age 40)
Occupation
  • Actor
  • singer
  • songwriter
Years active 2004–present
Musical career
Origin Rogersville, Missouri, U.S.
Genres
Instruments
  • Vocals
  • guitar
  • piano
Labels Road Dawg Records
Associated acts

Lucas Stephen Grabeel (/ˈɡrbl/ GRAY-beel; born November 23, 1984) is an American actor, singer and songwriter. He is best known for his role as Ryan Evans in the High School Musical film series (2006–2008). His other film appearances include Halloweentown High (2004), Return to Halloweentown (2006), Alice Upside Down (2007), and The Adventures of Food Boy (2008). He appeared as a young Lex Luthor and Conner Kent in the superhero television series Smallville (2006–2011).

In 2011, Grabeel released his debut extended play, Sunshine, and began playing Toby Kennish in the ABC Freeform drama series Switched at Birth, appearing until 2017. He has also provided voice acting roles for various animated series, including Deputy Peck in Disney Junior's Sheriff Callie's Wild West (2014–2017), the title character in Netflix's Pinky Malinky (2019), and Kyle/Mist in My Adventures with Superman (2023).

Early life

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 Kickapoo called No Treble. At school, he found passions in the guitar and the accordion while also enjoying dance. While in Rogersville, Missouri, he regularly attended Harmony Baptist Church, where he was a part of the children's and youth groups.

Career

2004–08: Beginning and High School Musical

Grabeel-Bleu
Grabeel (left) and Corbin Bleu (right) in High School Musical: The Concert, in 2007

In 2004, he starred in his first film role as Ethan Dolloway in the third installment of the Halloweentown series Halloweentown High. He reprised this role in the series' fourth installment Return to Halloweentown. Grabeel has made television guest appearances in TV series such as Boston Legal, 'Til Death, and Veronica Mars. On Smallville, he portrayed a young Lex Luthor. In 2006, he was cast in the role of Ryan Evans, the fraternal twin brother of Sharpay Evans (played by Ashley Tisdale), in the Disney movie High School Musical. He reprised 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.

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. 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. 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 in the iTunes Store 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. 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 Oreskaband. Grabeel also guest starred in an episode of The Cleveland Show.

2009–present: Switched at Birth and other projects

Early in 2009, Grabeel was voted Most Likely to Do Big Things in 2009 by MTV and had an exclusive interview with them. ..... 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. 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.

In 2011 he appeared in the 10th season of Smallville as Alexander Luthor / Conner Kent, a hybrid clone with Lex Luthor and Clark Kent's DNA. In 2007, he filmed the movie, The Adventures of Food Boy with Brittany Curran, as the lead, Ezra Chase. 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 US, 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. He has also played the character of Gustav in Dragons: Defenders of Berk. In 2019, Grabeel appeared in High School Musical: The Musical: The Series as himself.

Other ventures

In 2007, Grabeel founded a production company called 14341 Productions. His role within involves overseeing many projects from writing to directing and executive producing. ..... They produced a television pilot called Regarding Beauregard which was Grabeel's directorial debut. They also created a 17-minute short film, Chuckle Boy, as well as a short film called The Dragon in 2009. Their work debuted at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
2005 Dogg's Hamlet, Cahoot's Macbeth Charlie / Gertrude / Ophelia
2007 Alice Upside Down Lester McKinley
2008 The Real Son Freddie Deasnman Short film
Smoke Break Sir Anthony Childsworth Short film
At Jesus' Side Jericho Voice role
Lock and Roll Forever Donni
High School Musical 3: Senior Year Ryan Evans
College Road Trip Scooter
The Adventures of Food Boy Ezra Chase
Milk Danny Nicoletta
2009 Chuckle Boy Daniel Aranyo Short film
2010 The Legend of the Dancing Ninja Nikki
2012 I Kissed a Vampire Dylan Knight
2013 Chocolate Milk Stan Short film
2014 Dragon Nest: Warriors' Dawn Gerrant Voice role
Pilot Season Luc Short film
2018 Little Women Laurie Lawrence

Television

Year Title Role Notes
2004 Halloweentown High Ethan Dalloway Television film
2005 Boston Legal Jason Matheny Episode: "The ... Fat Jungle"
2006 'Til Death Pete Pratt Episode: "Pilot"
2006-2011 Smallville Young Lex Luthor / Alexander Luthor / Superboy / Kon-El 3 episodes
2005–2006 Veronica Mars Wanna Score Boy / Kelly Kuzzio Episodes: "Ahoy, Mateys!", "Versatile Toppings"
2006 Return to Halloweentown Ethan Dalloway Television film
2006 High School Musical Ryan Evans Television film
2007 High School Musical 2 Ryan Evans Television film
2009 Glenn Martin DDS Singer Voice role; episode: "Deck the Malls"
2009 I Kissed a Vampire Dylan Main role
2010 The Cleveland Show Nerd #2 Voice role; episode: "Love Rollercoaster"
2010–present Family Guy Chadley / Various characters Voice role; recurring role; 24 episodes
2010 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Guillermo Seidel Episode: "Field Mice"
2011 Sharpay's Fabulous Adventure Ryan Evans Television film
2011 Special Agent Oso Uncle Eric Voice role; episode: "Snapfingers"
2011–2017 Switched at Birth Toby Kennish Main role
2012 Robot Chicken Justin Bieber Voice role; episode: "Robot Chicken's ATM Christmas Special"
2013–2018 DreamWorks Dragons Gustav Voice role; recurring role; 12 episodes
2013 Pound Puppies Percy Voice role; episode: "Cuddle Up Buttercup"
2014–2017 Sheriff Callie's Wild West Deputy Peck Voice role; main role
2014 Phineas and Ferb Ropey-Face Voice role; episode: "Doof 101"
2014 Chopped Himself Episode: "Chopped Tournament of Stars: Actors"
2015 Doraemon Big G Voice role; episode: "Big G's Big Show"
2016 High School Musical: 10th Anniversary Himself Special
2016–2019 Elena of Avalor Jiku Voice role; recurring role, 6 episodes
2017–2018 Spirit Riding Free Julian Voice role; recurring role, 6 episodes
2019 Pinky Malinky Pinky Malinky Voice role; main role
2019, 2023 High School Musical: The Musical: The Series Himself Episode: "The Tech Rehearsal" (season 1); Episode: "High School Musical 4" season 4
2020 The Disney Family Singalong Himself Special
2023 My Adventures with Superman Kyle / Mist Recurring role

Discography

Extended play

Title Album details
Sunshine
  • Released: June 22, 2011
  • Formats: CD, digital download
  • Label: Road Dawg

Singles

As main artist
List of singles, with selected chart positions and certifications
Title Year Peak chart positions Album
US
AUS
CAN
UK
"You Got It" 2007 Non-album single
"I Want It All"
(with Ashley Tisdale)
2008 113 93 75 87 High School Musical 3: Senior Year
"135n8" 2014 Non-album single
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory.
As featured artist
List of singles, with selected chart positions and certifications
Title Year Peak chart positions Album
US
AUS
UK
"What Time Is It?"
(among the cast of High School Musical 2)
2007 6 66 20 High School Musical 2
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory.

Other appearances

Title Year Other artist(s) Album
"You Know I Will" 2006 N/A The Fox and the Hound 2
"Go the Distance" 2007 DisneyMania 5
"Jenny Got a Fever" Alice Upside Down
"Gotta Rock"
"Let It Snow" Disney Channel Holiday
"Baby" 2011 Sharpay's Fabulous Adventure
"Just a Little Peck" 2012 Adrian Slade and Drew Seeley I Kissed a Vampire
"Happily Afterlife"
"Outta My Head" N/A

Other charted songs

List of songs, with selected chart positions and certifications, showing year released and album name
Title Year Peak chart positions Certifications Album
US
AUS
CAN
UK
"Bop to the Top"
(with Ashley Tisdale)
2006 62 137 High School Musical
"We're All in This Together"
(among the cast of High School Musical)
34 40
  • RIAA: Gold
"Fabulous"
(with Ashley Tisdale)
2007 76 91 63 64 High School Musical 2
"All for One"
(among the cast of High School Musical 2)
92 87
"A Night to Remember"
(among the cast of High School Musical 3)
2008 96 94 High School Musical 3: Senior Year
"High School Musical"
(among the cast of High School Musical 3)
105
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Work Result
2011 Teen Choice Awards Choice Summer TV Star: Male Switched at Birth Nominated
2013 Teen Choice Awards Choice TV Actor: Drama Switched at Birth Nominated
2014 Teen Choice Awards Choice TV Actor: Drama Switched at Birth Nominated

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Lucas Grabeel para niños

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