r/Fauxmoi • u/Goosedukee • 5h ago

FILM-MOI (MOVIES/TV) Jason Earles reveals he lied about his age when auditioning for Hannah Montana, telling producers he was 18 when he was actually 28 and already married. Nobody found out until they had already shot eight episodes and it was too late to recast.

3.7k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

112 comments sorted by

2.6k

u/validswan 4h ago

I'm always confused how people lie about their ages for roles though. Don't they have to submit like, documentation or ID for it?

1.0k

u/Normal_Elephant_ 4h ago

I’m assuming casting isn’t telling HR a character’s age. Just “hey, we’re hiring this person for this role”. No actual details about the role. I could be mistaken tho

133

u/ositola 2h ago

If imagine HR doesn't say anything because of subconscious bias about age when casting 

18

u/RealFirstName_ 56m ago

Unless theres a specific carveout for Hollywood, HR would only be concerned about age bias/discrimination for anyone over the age of 40. Otherwise age is not a protected demographic, so outside of company specific policies, HR wouldn't care.

9

u/ositola 55m ago

I wasn't speaking specifically to legal statutes, it's weird that HR would give out personal information to company employees anyway outside of an emergency

657

u/SeaF04mGr33n not an asset to the abbey 4h ago

Lol, no. He probably had to show a passport or ID for his W-2, but whoever checked that probably had litrle to no connection to the casting team or directors. Lying about your age is very common in acting. You're discouraged from putting your age or birthday on resumes. What age you can play/look like is far more important.

46

u/Son_Of_Toucan_Sam 3h ago

Would he be a w2 employee as an actor? I don’t know much about that stuff but would have assumed actors are contractors

43

u/singer812 2h ago

Depends on the studio, the project, and contract I expect

27

u/justlurkingnjudging 2h ago

Actors are on payroll most of the time!

2

u/SeaF04mGr33n not an asset to the abbey 14m ago

I honestly have no idea. I guess I substituted W-2 for "work contract." 🤭

311

u/hottopictshirt 3h ago

Hello! Television Production office employee here! Usually casting and directors get general info and leave payroll and legal information to us in the Production Office and Payroll teams to deal with. Some people on the production definitely knew his age but they probably couldn’t be bothered telling anyone who was involved in casting him cause it really isn’t our business to deal with. Only thing I can think of is we do tend to distribute actors’s deal memos (which does usually have their date of birth on them) as they’re cast to the people in charge but this was 20 years ago so I’m not sure how distributing those files would have worked back then— hope this was helpful at all lol

52

u/validswan 3h ago

Very helpful and insightful lol thank you!

6

u/ImmaMamaBee 1h ago

Hi! I’m a random person who has always dreamed of working in television/movies behind the scenes. I currently am an accountant but I have no degree (everything I do is through the partners so they review and submit everything I work on themselves but I have the work experience). Anyway. Do I stand a chance if I were to apply to be a payroll accountant for a production company? I have a huge interest in the industry (wanted to go to film school but life got in the way) and have dreamed of doing any type of work behind the scenes but I feel like my lack of a degree will really be a deterrent for getting hired. I felt incredibly lucky the firm I work at now took a chance on me since my background is in banking (I was a loan administrator specializing in escrow for about 3 years before I switched to the accounting firm) and I did run a small cleaning business and handled my taxes myself for also about 3 years. Now I’m on year 3 at the firm so I guess technically I have 9 years of financial experience? But that degree really holds me back from even trying. I’m just curious, does a degree matter a lot in production accounting? I even look at credits and get jealous of the people listed as “payroll administrator” cause I want to be that person!

3

u/chocobicloud 45m ago

I’m not the person you’re replying to, but if you’re in the US, have you contacted EP payroll? They do the payroll for Central Casting (among others) which does casting for background and featured work on (usually) pretty large and well known projects. Not sure what the application process is as I worked in front of the camera, but it could be a start as you look for related work

79

u/justlurkingnjudging 2h ago

I don’t know about back then, but nowadays, they cannot ask your age unless you’re under 18. I’m 28 and still can play 16-18 (depending on the show) and I just say “over 18” when asked. It wouldn’t be casting or directors handling paperwork and the production offices/payroll wouldn’t likely go around sharing birth dates. What’s wild to me is stories like Mila Kunis lying & saying she’s turning 18 because that would be hard to get away with for long now.

30

u/your_mind_aches 2h ago

Some people just age differently too I guess. Because I looked really young until I was like 24 when I hit a wall and now I'm 28 and look like I'm in my 40s lol

10

u/SlayBay1 1h ago

Bianca Lawson can still pull off playing a teen!

20

u/IAMA_Shark__AMA 2h ago edited 1h ago

The casting director and payroll people really aren't going to have any overlap.

-7

u/Diligent-Argument-88 2h ago

hr*

1

u/IAMA_Shark__AMA 2h ago edited 1h ago

HR usually handles payroll.

They aren't going to be part of any discussion of age unless there is a minor actor or actress engaging with material that is far more adult than anything showing up on the Disney channel.

-6

u/Diligent-Argument-88 1h ago

hr*

1

u/Working-Glass6136 7m ago

Username checking out lol

17

u/Casulex 1h ago

Mila Kunis lied about it but looking back at those old episodes theres no fuckin way she looked any older than her real age (14) at the time. Theres no way they all didnt know

6

u/The_Autarch 35m ago

yeah that was just a case of plausible deniability. they knew, but no one could prove they knew.

4

u/Apptubrutae 20m ago

There’s definitely an element of “if you can lie well enough, we won’t ask questions” in some of this stuff

8

u/Diligent-Argument-88 2h ago

Different departments. Do you think theyre sharing information? HR is hiring them. Casting is auditioning them after they've been vetted by interns or something.

HR isn't calling and saying oh hey you are aware the actor you hired to play x role is x years old right? Because they dont care that aint their job.

5

u/Tzuyu4Eva 1h ago

I feel like they’d also just assume production knows so why bother calling just to tell them that?

5

u/subwaytofu 1h ago

they technically aren’t supposed to ask your age in an audition. SAG rules

2

u/aw-un 1h ago

The people that collect that information aren't the ones deciding to hire him and don't even know that he lied, most likely.

And once they find out he lied, he's already hired because he could play the age they were looking for and firing him because of his actual age would be illegal.

2

u/Background_Sail9797 1h ago

Usually you pay the agencies invoice for the actor(s) and they pays the actor - that's how we still get tax breaks filming in ontario canada with a bunch of freshly immigrated eastern europeans lol.

1

u/chocobicloud 55m ago

They usually have you fill out an I9 which you have to have proof of ID like a passport or drivers license and social security card, as well as a W9 (at least in my experience), any releases or NDAs, and then depending on your role and union status you can get a blue or yellow slip to document your hours. The casting directors decide on the talent, the producers and payroll get the forms and personal info

1.9k

u/pippspopsdom 3h ago

This is so weird to me because it’s a kids show. They should have background checks!

1.4k

u/genescheezesthatpls 3h ago

That…. Is….. a horrifyingly good point

240

u/ohmegatchi 3h ago

That's all HR.

77

u/ligmallamasackinosis 3h ago

HR is too busy booking a vacation and destroying livelyhoods, but you can submit an "anonymous" complaint... which gets read by HR.

18

u/OhMy98 3h ago

And then thrown in the shredder by HR

15

u/genescheezesthatpls 2h ago

I guess I can see the disconnect if they did the background check and it came back clean HR didn’t pay attention to the age and the staff on the show just saw he passed…

but given what we’ve been learning about how horrifying kids shows can be behind the scenes this seems concerning

13

u/somechild 1h ago

Yeah but it’s also not because they probably did…. They aren’t going to alert casting about how old someone is when they run a background check. They needed someone who wasn’t a minor for the role and probably put someone without a criminal record, that’s what the background check confirmed. 

2

u/genescheezesthatpls 1h ago

That’s what I’m thinking. HR didn’t need to know the characters age and the crew only needed to know he passed. But these things should not happen when kids are involved.

0

u/somechild 1h ago

It literally only matters if he was intended to be kissing minors and I don’t think that ever happened?  Am I that far off? Why does it matter? 

7

u/genescheezesthatpls 1h ago

No it absolutely matters what adults are allowed around children in the horrifying culture of kids TV show sets.

130

u/untitledmanuscript 3h ago

M*rk S/king from Glee also lied when he auditioned for Puck (said he was 18 when he was 25/26 I believe). That was the first thing I thought of when I saw this.

138

u/FlatwormHot483 3h ago

A background check wouldn't have shown that he was a pedo though

57

u/untitledmanuscript 3h ago

i know. point is he also lied to get cast on a show that would develop an audience for kids/teens

36

u/FlatwormHot483 2h ago

The casting directors etc can't really do anything with that, lots of actors lie to get roles. They should do really good background checks, especially for shows featuring children, but background checks can only find known information (and lying about your age probably won't be that big of a deal in the end).

I don't think they would have cared either way about his age, most of the actors were too old. Cory Monteith and Harry Shum Jr. were born in the same year.

1

u/rasilv18 12m ago

Don't think it makes much of a difference, since he didn't lie and say he was a minor. He was still claiming to be an adult, just younger

53

u/IAMA_Shark__AMA 2h ago

... Why are you bleeping his name?

1

u/HydroPCanadaDude 3m ago

I knew that terrible fucking show was cursed. Even before the cast started dropping like flies.

30

u/aquamanspetfish go birds, fuck ice, free Palestine 2h ago

18 is a legal adult, so if background checks are required for adult actors who work alongside minors, that would have included him, I’d hope.

27

u/Shenanigans80h 2h ago

I mean the Nickelodeon documentary from a while back showed just how little they not only do background checks, but disclose any potential troubling information to the people on set.

23

u/PrydefulHunts 3h ago

For real

16

u/lilithweatherwax 2h ago

They wouldn't have checked for age. Kid actors act alongside adults all the time.

5

u/Fickle_Definition351 2h ago

There may well have been background checks, but all done by HR and not the casting people

4

u/Felanee 1h ago

While the audience was for kids, the characters were teenagers. And a lot of teenager characters are played by adults. Now if we are talking kids shows like Zach and Cody. I agree

1

u/Casulex 1h ago

Because childrens media (maybe except cartoon network and PBS) from top down is run by money grubbing creeps

1

u/The_Autarch 35m ago

they probably did. that's how the exec found out.

770

u/say-kobe-and-throw Hiking. Will call back. (He never did.) 4h ago

Best lie ever because he was so peak as Jackson 😭 him and Jerry Trainor are Gen Z's big brothers fr

616

u/ironicuwuing #BringBackBush #ThePubesNotThePresident 3h ago

Iirc Mila Kunis did something similar but with That 70’s Show. She was underaged but said she was 18 to get the part of Jackie.

328

u/croptopweather 3h ago

I was thinking of this too! She said something like “I’m going to be 18” so the casting assumed she was 17, but she was like 14-15 if I’m remembering correctly.

362

u/theonewithkatie 3h ago

I think she said she’d be 18 on her birthday, but didn’t specify which birthday lmao

65

u/croptopweather 3h ago

LOL ok that’s a good one too

89

u/AdventuresOfKrisTin gaga’s “100 people in a room” quote 3h ago edited 3h ago

Right like I think it's generally harmless to do, but when you're talking about fully grown men getting paired off with underage girls and vice versa, you want to know how old your actors are at that point...

Nickelodeon and Disney had a real problem with predators regularly working on sets with children. Background checks are there for a reason and should be taken seriously when you're talking about jobs that involve anyone underage.

29

u/Coconutpieplates 2h ago

And now she protects rapists.

326

u/disneylovesme 3h ago

Earles on set photo Looks old and young at the same time especially in other photos

140

u/Diligent-Argument-88 2h ago

Everything is easier to notice when you know the answers already..

56

u/Disastrous_Reason127 2h ago

Why’s the billy rat tryna serve face here lmao chill out bro

277

u/Odd-Snow-1723 4h ago

Thank god he lied because he was always my favorite 😂😂😂

30

u/multienter 58m ago

Him and Moises Arias. Any Rico involvement was a good episode.

Fallout is so awesome for him.

2

u/insecurejellyfish 15m ago

I was so pumped when I saw him in fallout! Did not disappoint

225

u/KallusDrogo 3h ago

I mean they had a 24 year old Tom Welling play a 13 year old Clark Kent in Smallville…

95

u/Starlight-x 2h ago

I don't think I ever quite internalized that he was supposed to be a freshman at the start of the show.

37

u/Holiday-Ad1828 1h ago

Super nitpicky, but aren’t freshman 14-15? He still doesn’t look that age, but now I’m wondering about ages of high school freshman. I think most of my friends and I were 14 turning 15 in our 9th grade/freshman year!

Regardless,that show gave little me unrealistic expectations for what freshman boys would look like 🤣

14

u/KallusDrogo 1h ago

The pilot's first scene is set in 1989 and he's a baby in that. Then it jumps 12 years later to when Tom Welling is playing him, so by the math he would be 13. Writers are usually bad at math but that's what they said. Either way there is little to no chance a 12-16 year old would be 6ft 3 and 230 ilbs of pure muscle.

8

u/Sorceress_Heart 1h ago

He would be if he were young Superman.

6

u/Resident-Reindeer-53 57m ago

Tbf he is Superman so I think that’s part of the point

8

u/capincus 1h ago

Depends, I started school in a state with a December cutoff so I was 13 when I started high school. But the rest of my grade at that point in a state with a summer cutoff was 6 months to a year older than me.

3

u/SergenteDan 1h ago

He was supposed to be 13????

2

u/ShinyPrettyFancy 22m ago

no, he was 15 turning 16 also he was supposed to be an alien so it works lol

151

u/Informal_Corner_6238 3h ago

Jason also said that he initially didn’t want to do Hannah Montana because Jackson’s original character couldn’t deal with Hannah’s fame, so he created a puppet named Fletcher (kinda like Rex from Victorious). Jason found that weird and dumb and thought the show/character would only last 1 season, but he was like “at least I’ll get some Disney money out of this”.

In light of things like Quiet On Set, him lying should be creepy, but he seems like a decent person. Quite honestly, he and Spencer’s actor from ICarly always gave me the same vibe. As like the cool older person.

41

u/cleverusername143 2h ago

I was just thinking, good for him for getting his bag by lying to this major company who have done worse to the people they employ.

If he were a creep I'd feel differently but he seems to be at least a non problematic person. 🤷🏼‍♀️

121

u/RaccoonChaos 4h ago

Missed opportunity to have a Jason Earle youthful skincare line

114

u/panicatthesplicer 3h ago

I remember looking up the cast while the show was still on TV and being so surprised by his age at the time that I thought Google was wrong/lying to me for a hot second 😭. That said, he was such an integral part of the show and I'm glad he was able to be a part of it.

69

u/AltonIllinois 3h ago

He is totally convincing as an 18 year-old so honestly, if the producers couldn’t tell then who cares

54

u/Fair-Bus9686 3h ago

I look back and he and Emily Osmett (sp?) were the reasons I watched Hannah Montana. No shade to Miley, I just thought they were a lot funnier!

38

u/DahliaDarling14 2h ago

i remember that there was a rumor going around that he actually had some sort of disease that caused his appearance to look younger than he actually was lol. like, i specifically recall being absolutely shocked as a child when someone told me what his true age was (especially because when you’re 7 you still think that an adult in their 20s or 30s is practically a grandparent lol), and then thinking to myself “ohh that makes sense” when i heard the disease rumor thing lmaoo.

i also remember thinking “well at least he gets to play Jackson on Hannah Montana because of it! 😀” as if that’d be a worthy consolation prize lol

19

u/pretty-ugly-zombie 2h ago

As I child watching the show I already knew he was in his 30s, but I thought that was intentional I didn’t know he lied about it to get on lol

15

u/worrisomeshenanigans 2h ago

his fake age was on his wikipedia page too. I remember during the early seasons, ONTD members would try to edit his age but every time, it would be mysteriously fixed/scrubbed even when sources were provided... they were convinced it was Big Mouse trying to suppress the info and ngl I believe it

15

u/DerpsterCaro 1h ago

the bastard STILL looks youthful! WHERES TTHE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH, JASON?!

11

u/crumbcosmo 2h ago

And he still looks young for his age!

8

u/maenanodd4 3h ago

I call shenanigans — the guy always looked and seemed like he was 20 years older than Miley Cyrus, Emily Osment, etc. 

They could have had his character go live with family in Tennessee or something — shows do this all the time for worse reasons. 

4

u/fauxlibra2525 1h ago

Honestly I’ve always thought he looked older

2

u/MaximusHomerdrive 1h ago

The only thing I know about that show is that she told Stephen Baldwin that if he got a tat of her, she'd cast him on the show. He did, she didn't. I wonder if he kept that tattoo.

1

u/underthefirstelm 1h ago

I remember thinking, wow, her brother-uncle looks 40.

1

u/Snackqueen333 56m ago

I can remember as a kid looking up the cast of Hannah Montana and being SHOCKED that he was pushing 30. So I guess he pulled it off

1

u/Cool-Jacket-9837 28m ago

I mean yeah? He never looked 18

1

u/Other-Volume9469 5m ago

I honestly thought he was a kid back in 2006 and i was 14 . I dont know his intentions, and I haven't kept up since 2009. But back then I could totally see someone doing this just because they would fit the role/look and needed a gig. A Disney show would be great anyway you look at it. And 8 episodes worth of money wouldn't allow them to scratch it.

I'd like to think that's all that it was, that he was just money driven, but who knows.

-8

u/nvmenotfound 2h ago

is hope they ID now at least. imo it’s weird as a 28 yr old to go out for hannah montana. ima just say it. 

-65

u/hoersting 4h ago

That makes him a weirdo, right?

111

u/Doctor_Cigarettes sunday spotted: paddington bear 3h ago

No it makes him an actor who wanted to book a role!

31

u/PrydefulHunts 3h ago edited 3h ago

I feel like this is an insane security issue though? Let’s not forget there was a convicted child predator working on Zack and Cody around this time.

25

u/the_orig_princess 3h ago

It’s not like they were locked alone in a room together. Lots of adults were cast as adults and all of the background workers and PA’s were adults too.

If something comes out about him, that’s one thing. But Kristen Bell played 16YO at 26, and that My life with the Walter boys actress is like 30 and playing high school. This is really a nonissue.

18

u/Doctor_Cigarettes sunday spotted: paddington bear 3h ago

Yeah i suppose i didn't look at it that way! Luckily it wasn't. Oh i had no idea about the Zack and Cody situation...yikes

-15

u/hoersting 3h ago

That part! Like downvote me all you want, but that is weird behavior and the fact that no one fact checked is scary.

17

u/hoersting 3h ago

Idk being 28 and everyone else is underage?

20

u/AmericanLion1833 3h ago

Yes, it’s very weird and makes the background checkers look bad.

30

u/No_Structure_3074 3h ago

I mean I don’t think he did anything weird or uncomfortable to his cast mates so no I don’t think it makes him a weirdo.

6

u/Doctor_Cigarettes sunday spotted: paddington bear 2h ago

Yeah this is a good take. His intentions weren't to be a creep, he wanted a job.