Lucas Daniel Till (born August 10, 1990) is an American actor. He began his career in the early 2000s with roles in independent films, before gaining early attention for his supporting role in the biopic Walk the Line (2005). He had his breakthrough with romantic lead roles in the Disney film Hannah Montana: The Movie and music videos for Taylor Swift's "You Belong with Me" and Miley Cyrus' "The Climb" (all 2009).
The action comedies The Spy Next Door (2010) and Monster Trucks (2016) brought Till wider attention, and he had box office success with his portrayal of Havok in Marvel's X-Men prequel films (2011–2016). Till next played the eponymous role in the CBS action crime drama series MacGyver (2016–2021), a reboot of the 1980s series of the same name. He subsequently garnered critical acclaim for his portrayal of Bob Zellner in the historical biopic Son of the South (2020), before starring in the action film The Collective (2023) and the Netflix western series The Abandons (2025).
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Early life and education
Till was born on August 10, 1990, in Fort Hood, Texas. He is the son of chemist Dana Lyn (née Brady) and John Mark Till, a colonel in the Army. He has a younger brother, Nick (b. 1997). Till spent most of his childhood living in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia. His family noticed he enjoyed impersonating voices and characters. When he was 11 his mother enrolled him in local acting classes, and it was not long before he was discovered by Joy Pervis, an agent from a Talent agency in Atlanta. Till began booking almost immediately in print, local, regional, and national commercials. He later attended Kell High School. After filming for The Hannah Montana Movie in Nashville, Till went back home to graduate with the Kell High School class of 2008. After graduation, he moved to Los Angeles, California, to continue acting.
Career
2000s: Early career and Hannah Montana film
In 2003, Till made his first film collaboration in the short film The Lovesong of Edwerd J. Robble, in the role of Michael.
At the age of 12, he was cast in The Adventures of Ociee Nash in which he played Harry Vanderbilt, the bully of the main character. In 2004, Till played the role of Jay in the horror film Lightning Bug which filmed in Fairview, Alabama, and, later, he participated in the short film Pee Shy, playing Chad. His first major movie role was Jack Cash, the older brother of Johnny Cash, who died in a sawmill accident, in the biographical film Walk the Line (2005).
After Walk the Line, Till was featured in a number of television films for Lifetime and independent films. For example, the following year, Till played the young Samuel North in a feature film The Other Side filmed in Atlanta, Georgia. In 2006, he also joined the cast of the Lifetime television film Not Like Everyone Else, portraying Kyle Kenney.
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. He was also invited to participate in the fifth season of the American television series House in the episode titled "Joy to the World" in the role of Simon, a high school student who has a romantic relationship with his schoolmate, but due to their social differences, they cannot be together. Three weeks before graduating from high school, Till auditioned for Hannah Montana: The Movie (starring Miley Cyrus) and landed the role of Travis Brody, a young cowboy and Miley's friend who ends up becoming her love interest. The role garnered Till two nominations at the 2009 Teen Choice Awards, in the Choice Movie Actor: Music/Dance and Choice Movie: Liplock (shared with Cyrus) categories respectively. As part of the awards promotion campaign, Till recorded three short films: Not Another Changeling Movie, a parody of Angelina Jolie's movie Changeling; The Red Menace and The Bourneson Stupidity, a parody of the film The Bourne Identity.
In early 2009, he participated in the horror film Laid to Rest as a commercial employee.
He also participated in the episodes "Scotophobia" and "Hydrophobia" of the horror web series Fear Clinic playing the character of Brett, a young man suffering from hydrophobia. He starred in the music video for Taylor Swift's "You Belong with Me" as her next-door neighbour and love interest.
2010s: Career fluctuations and breakthrough with MacGyver
In early 2010, Till played the role of a Russian agent in the film The Spy Next Door starring Jackie Chan.
That same year, he played Matt Parker, a high school quarterback in the first season of Blue Mountain State in the episode titled "The Legend of the Golden Arm".
He also returned to collaborate in the co-production in an independent science fiction adventure film directed by Jason Trost and in which he also plays Jack, a young man on vacation in Asia who realizes that his horrible dreams are becoming a reality and that reality is turning into a nightmare. The movie was called "Vacation 8".
In 2011, he was part of the cast of the Columbia Pictures-produced action science fiction film Battle: Los Angeles as Corporal Grayston. Till played Alex Summers/Havok, a mutant who has the ability to absorb solar energy which he can then launch as plasma energy from his body in the X-Men spin-off X-Men: First Class, a superhero film produced by 20th Century Fox and Marvel Entertainment directed by Matthew Vaughn. This role allowed him to receive a nomination for the 13th Teen Choice Awards in the Choice Movie: Chemistry category (shared with Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Zoë Kravitz, Caleb Landry Jones, and Edi Gathegi).
In 2011, the actor took his first steps into the world of audiovisual production, collaborating with the production of the independent superhero film All Superheroes Must Die (also known as Vs)
and in which he also plays the role of Ben / Cutthroat. In the film, four superheroes (one of whom is Till) are kidnapped by their arch enemy and are forced to compete in a series of challenges to save an abandoned city full of kidnapped innocent civilians. Later that year, he collaborated on the music video accompanying the performance of Adele's song "Someone like You" by Tony Oller. In the video, Till plays Tony's friend who gets in the way of their love affair. In 2011, he also made a commercial for an international brand of sports shoes.
In 2012, Till returned to work in dramas by participating in the movie Dark Hearts in the role of Sam, a young man who travels to the city to spend time with his older brother and thus escape problems at home. He next worked with Nicole Kidman on the 2013 film Stoker, in which he played a bragging young man named Chris Pitts. He was also part of the starring cast in the direct-to-DVD film Crush as Scott Norris, a star member of the high school soccer team who despite having a knee injury caused by a blow in a game runs every morning. That same year, he returned to collaborate with Jason Trost in the production of the independent comedy Wet and Reckless and in which he played Toby 'Dollars'. He also participated with Liam Hemsworth, Gary Oldman and Harrison Ford in the film Paranoia as Kevin, friend and co-worker of Adam (Liam Hemsworth).
2020s: MacGyver finale and critical success in film
He renewed his contract in 2020 to continue his leading role in the fifth season of MacGyver. Till has said in interviews that he was the subject of verbal abuse and body shaming from the showrunner of MacGyver, Peter Lenkov. Till reported being suicidal in the first year of the filming of MacGyver due to Lenkov's abuse. Lenkov was later fired from CBS on July 7, 2020.
Till played Bob Zellner, the grandson of a member of the Ku Klux Klan, who joins the civil rights movement in the United States in the film Son of the South, based on Zellner's autobiography The Wrong Side of Murder Creek. Written and directed by Barry Alexander Brown, the film received mixed reviews from critics, although Till's performance was widely praised. YouTube film critic Jackie K. Cooper praised his performance, saying Till "does a very good job". The New York Times and Variety also praised Till's performance.
In March 2024, Till was cast as Garret Van Ness in the Netflix western series The Abandons, starring opposite Gillian Anderson and Nick Robinson. Filming began in Spring the same year, after being delayed due to the 2023 Hollywood labor disputes.
Personal life
Around 2017–2018, Till began dating actress Skyler Samuels. In March 2024, Samuels revealed that the two had since gotten married and were currently residing in Till's hometown of Atlanta, Georgia. In May 2024, Samuels announced that they had welcomed their first child earlier that year. Samuels's second pregnancy was announced in December 2025, and their second child was born in early 2026.