Lorenzo Lamas

Lorenzo Fernando Lamas (born January 20, 1958) is an American actor and producer. He is widely known for his role of Lance Cumson, the irresponsible grandson of Angela Channing—played by Jane Wyman—in the soap opera Falcon Crest (1981–1990), for which he received a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film.

Lamas is also known for his roles as Reno Raines in the crime drama series Renegade (1992–1997), Dr. Hollywood on the Nickelodeon TV show Big Time Rush (2009–2013), Hector Ramirez in the soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful (2004–2006), and Meap on the television show Phineas and Ferb. He served as a judge on ABC television's Are You Hot?, and starred in his own reality show, Leave It to Lamas, a series about his real-life family.

As an executive producer, he worked on such films as Night of the Warrior (1991, starring himself, his wife Kathleen Kinmont, and his mother Arlene Dahl), Ulterior Motives (1993, starring Thomas Ian Griffith, Mary Page Keller, and Ken Howard), and Mom and Dad Save the World (1992, starring Teri Garr, Jeffrey Jones, and Jon Lovitz).

Lamas was born in Santa Monica, California, the son of Argentine actor Fernando Lamas and Norwegian American actress Arlene Dahl. He is the stepson of swimmer and film star Esther Williams, who married his father when Lamas was 11 years old. Both Williams and Dahl were best friends of actress Jane Wyman (who knew him from birth), and would later work alongside Lamas on Falcon Crest. He was brought up in Pacific Palisades, California, and moved to New York City in 1971. In 1979, he took up Taekwondo, earning a third-degree black belt, also Shotokan Karate, Ju jitsu and Aikido, earning black belts in each. He graduated from the Admiral Farragut Academy in Pine Beach, New Jersey, in 1975.

Lamas had longed to be in show business since the age of five, when he approached his mother and said, "I want to be a star...I mean, an actor." With a smile, she replied, "I heard you the first time, son."

Lamas first studied acting in Tony Barr's Film Actors Workshop and quickly thereafter obtained his first TV acting role in 1976. As a last-minute replacement for Steven Ford, Lamas secured a non-speaking role as a jock in the 1978 musical film Grease, in which he dyed his hair blond. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Lamas had guest-starring roles in a number of TV series including Switch, Sword of Justice, Dear Detective, Secrets of Midland Heights, Fantasy Island, The Love Boat and Hotel.

In 1980, Lamas auditioned for and won the role of Lance Cumson, for the pilot of a new series entitled The Vintage Years. The pilot was later retooled to become the hit prime time drama series Falcon Crest, which aired on CBS for nine seasons from December 4, 1981, to May 17, 1990. During a 2006 TV interview with a Norwegian television team, Lamas said that to get the role he had auditioned twice and beat out five other actors for the part. Lamas was nominated for a Golden Globe and two Soap Opera Digest Awards for his work on the series; he was the only actor to appear in all 227 episodes.

During his tenure on the show, Lamas had the lead role in the poorly received film Body Rock (1984), where he was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actor. He also performed a song on the film's soundtrack, and the track "Fools Like Me" became his only single to date to crack the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at #85. The co-founder of the Golden Raspberry Awards, John J. B. Wilson, later named Body Rock as one of "The 100 Most Enjoyably Bad Movies Ever Made".