Scottsdale native Dillon Lane’s hair is usually long. But at the start of the year, he decided it was time for a new look, so he chopped off about nine inches of hair.
Then he auditioned for a role on History Channel’s upcoming mini series Texas Rising, which tells of the story of the rise of the Texas Rangers during the Texas Revolution in 1836. After a few callbacks, the producer for the show told Lane he wished that his hair was longer, and that he had more of a ratty Western look to him.
“The first thing I thought to myself was, ‘I just cut all my hair off! I could have been that ratty Western kid.’ I told him to give me a few months since shooting doesn’t start till then,” Lane said.
Lane’s character on the show is Yancey Burns, a vagabond 20-year-old kid with a shady past.
Yancey joins Adam Hicks’ character, Truett Finchman, to produce a mischievous duo and youngest people to join the Texas Rangers.
“I think Yancey has a lot of redeeming qualities. He’s tough and wants to do the right thing and enforce good morals,” Lane said.
Texas Rising is certainly not Lane’s first time on television. He left Scottsdale, Ariz., and headed for Los Angles to pursue a life of acting a few years ago.
Lane started his acting career with auditions in Arizona and California. After some small commercials and other bits, Lane decided to plunge right in and moved to California. Commercials soon turned into gigs with Nickelodeon and Disney channels.
“Everything I wanted to do was happening. It was something that I couldn’t question,” Lane said.
For a period of time, Lane co-starred with Taylor Gray in the Nickelodeon show Bucket and Skinner’s Epic Adventures. His other appearances include roles in Cloud 9, Longmire, and Mind the Gap.
While Texas Rising is still his number one project at the moment, Lane is involved with a few other projects. He just wrapped up filming for the TV show Secrets and Lines, which is set to come out in a few months.
Although moving onto the big screen was an exciting change, Lane said the experience was not without its challenges.
“It was difficult. The biggest challenge was leaving my family and not seeing them as much as I would like to. That was probably the hardest,” Lane said.
The other vast challenge Lane faced was school. Lane would meet with a tutor for schoolwork a few hours a day. Lane said he felt like he was juggling a lot of things, but once he finished high school, things changed.
While acting is his current focus, Lane has other side projects such as writing music and scripts and photography.
“Acting is something that’s always been there. I love art and I love creating, but acting isn’t necessarily the only thing that I want to do,” Lane said.
Lane’s new show Texas Rising is slated to premiere on the History Channel on Memorial Day.
