Jason Earles
American actor (born 1977)
Jason Daniel Earles (born April 26, 1977) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Jackson Stewart in the Disney Channel sitcom Hannah Montana and as Rudy Gillespie in the Disney XD series Kickin' It.
01Early life
Earles was born in San Diego, California. After living in Ohio and Washington state, his family moved to Oregon. In Oregon, he graduated from Glencoe High School in Hillsboro. Before moving back to southern California, Earles lived in Billings, Montana, where he graduated in theatre arts from Rocky Mountain College in 2000.
02Career
Earles played a nerdy card gamer who was friends with the character Brian Miller in the CBS sitcom Still Standing. In 2004, he appeared in the film National Treasure as Thomas Gates, ancestor of Ben Gates (Nicolas Cage). In 2005, Earles played Ernie Kaplowitz in the film American Pie Presents: Band Camp.
Earles' most notable role was as Jackson Stewart, the older brother of Miley Stewart (Miley Cyrus), in the Disney Channel series Hannah Montana from 2006 to 2011. Earles was 28 years old when the show began, notably older than his 16-year-old character.
He guest-starred twice in the Disney Channel series Phil of the Future as Grady Spaggett, an advanced math student. Earles appeared in the 2006 Disney Channel Games on the Blue Team, and in the 2007 and 2008 Disney Channel Games on the Red team.
Earles was the co-host of Disney Channel's Sing-Along Bowl-athon (Disney Channel's 2006 New Year's Eve special) and the corresponding online voting.
He voiced Spudnik in the 2009 talking dog film Space Buddies. Earles starred as the sensei Rudy Gillespie in the Disney XD original series Kickin' It, which premiered on June 13, 2011.
Earles served as the acting coach for High School Musical: The Musical: The Series and guest-starred in season three as Dewey Wood, a camp counselor.
In 2026, he started a podcast dedicated to Hannah Montana, titled Best of Both Our Worlds, alongside director Shannon Flynn and writer-producer Douglas Danger Lieblein.
03Personal life
Earles has contributed cast memorabilia to fundraisers for Rocky Mountain College.
He was married to Jennifer Earles from 2002 to 2013. On August 12, 2017, Jason Earles married Katie Drysen.
04Filmography
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | National Treasure | Thomas Gates | |
| Table 6 | Bus boy | Short film | |
| 2005 | American Pie Presents: Band Camp | Ernie Kaplowitz | Direct-to-video |
| Special Ed | Young David | ||
| 2007 | Gordon Glass | The Boss | |
| 2009 | Space Buddies | Spudnick (voice) | Direct-to-video |
| Hannah Montana: The Movie | Jackson Stewart | ||
| 2013 | Super Buddies | Jack Schaeffer | Direct-to-video |
| 2014 | Hunted | Dax | |
| 2018 | Battle Drone | Dax | |
| 2026 | Second Chances |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | MADtv | Swirley kid | Season 8, episode 18 |
| The Shield | Kyle | Episode: "Breakpoint" | |
| Malcolm in the Middle | Marshal School pupil on the left | Uncredited; episode: "Academic Octathalon" | |
| 2004 | Still Standing | Goran the Invincible | Episode: "Still Winning" |
| 2005 | One on One | Brad | Episode: "Glug, Glug" |
| 2005-2006 | Phil of the Future | Grady Spaggett | 2 episodes |
| 2006-2011 | Hannah Montana | Jackson Stewart | Main cast; 98 episodes |
| 2007 | Shorty McShorts' Shorts | Guy / SheZow (voice) | Episode: "SheZow" |
| 2008 | Boston Legal | Mitchy Weston | Episode: "Indecent Proposals" |
| 2009 | Yin Yang Yo! | Himself (voice) | Episode: "Yin! Yang! You!" |
| Aaron Stone | Hunter | Episode: "S.T.A.N. by Me" | |
| Dadnapped | Merv | Television film | |
| 2010-2014 | Fish Hooks | Kevin / Hamster boy (voice) | 2 episodes |
| 2011-2015 | Kickin' It | Rudy Gillespie | Main cast; 83 episodes, Co-producer (seasons 2-4), Directed 4 episodes |
| 2013 | Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja | Brent (voice) | Episode: "Sword Quest" |
| 2016 | Best Friends Whenever | Dax Fraggins | Episode: "The Friendship Code" |
| 2016-2018 | WTH: Welcome to Howler | Chuck | 8 episodes |
| 2017 | Vampirina | Curt Spookman (voice) | Episode: "Little Terror/Super Natural" |
| Linda from HR | Todd | Television film | |
| 2019 | Mood Swings | Angel | Main role; 8 episodes |
| 2020 | Just Roll with It | Skeeter Swindell | Episode: "Shayna Pennsylvania" |
| 2022-2023 | High School Musical: The Musical: The Series | Dewey Wood | Recurring (season 3), Guest (season 4) 8 episodes |
Web series
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | The Most Popular Girls in School | Santa (voice) | Episode: "Mall Santa" |
| Jennifer McMinamin (voice) | Episode: "New Year" | ||
| 2017 | Betch | David | Episode: "A Makeup-Free Sketch Show" |
| 2018 | Hotel Du Loone | Flynt Rogers | Main role; Brat sitcom |
05Awards and nominations
| Year | Award | Category | Work | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Teen Choice Awards | Choice Movie Actor: Music/Dance | Hannah Montana: The Movie | Nominated |
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Jason Earles”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Jason Earles 2010.jpg by Cruise Buzz at http://www.cruisebuzz.net, CC BY 2.0
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