Christian Kane is an American actor and singer-songwriter. His television roles include Lindsey McDonald in Angel, Eliot Spencer in Leverage and its revival Leverage: Redemption, Jacob Stone in The Librarians and its spinoff sequel series The Librarians: The Next Chapter (2014-2018; 2025–present), and Abe "High Wolf" Wheeler in Into the West. His cinematic filmography includes Just Married, Taxi, Love Song 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 Kane has stated that he is Cherokee (Native American). 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). 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. In Los Angeles, he worked at a talent management company, where he delivered scripts in exchange for getting acting jobs.
Career Acting
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 with 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. 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 in 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 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 of the original series.
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.
Music
The band consists of Kane (lead vocals, guitar), Steve 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 on December 7, 2010. It debuted at no. 1 on the Billboard Heatseekers album chart and no. 25 on the Country Albums chart., Billboard.com The album was produced by Bob Ezrin and Jimmie Lee Sloas.
The first single from the album, also titled "The House Rules", debuted at no. 54 on the Billboard Country Songs chart and was the seventh-most added song on Mediabase Country stations on its official impact date. 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. 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 .
Trace Adkins released a song written by Kane called "Happy Man" on his 2010 album, Cowboy's Back in Town.
Kane's co-writing efforts include songs written with Blair Daly, Brett James, David Lee Murphy, Casey Beathard, and Jerrod Niemann. "Thinking of You", a song he co-wrote with Blair Daly, was featured in Leverage Season 3 episode 6, "The Studio Job."
Filmography
Film 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 2007 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 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 castNominated – 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." 2019 Supernatural Lee Webb Episode: "Last Call" 2020–2023 Almost Paradise Alex Walker Main cast 2021–2025 Leverage: Redemption Eliot Spencer Main cast 2025 The Librarians: The Next Chapter Jacob Stone Guest cast
Video game Year Title Voice role 2006 24: The Game Peter Madsen
Discography Soundtrack 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"Supernatural — "Last Call" (2019)"The House Rules" (as Lee Webb/Christian Kane)Supernatural — "Last Call" (2019)"Good Ol' Boys" by Waylon Jennings (as Lee Webb/Christian Kane)*Sung with Dean Winchester/Jensen Ackles
Studio albums Title Album details Peak chart positions US Country US USHeat Kane Release date: 2001 Label: self-released Formats: CD Re-release date: July 22, 2002 Label: self-released Formats: Multimedia Enhanced CD — — — The House Rules Release date: December 7, 2010 Label: Bigger Picture Music Group Formats: CD, music download 25 178 1 "—" denotes releases that did not chart
Extended plays Title Album details Peak chart positions US Country US USHeat Christian Kane (aka American Made 5-Song EP) Release date: March 9, 2010 Label: Outlaw Saints Music / Bigger Picture Music Group Formats: CD, music download 28 159 5
Live albums Title Album details Acoustic Live In London! Release date: October 2005 Label: self-released Formats: CD
Singles Year Single Peak positions Album US Country 2010 "The House Rules" 49The House Rules 2011 "Let Me Go" 58
Music videos Year Video Director 2010 "The House Rules" Timothy Hutton 2011 "Let Me Go" Roman White
References
External links