Lorenzo Lamas
Lorenzo Lamas is an actor, born 1958.
Falcon Crest handed Lorenzo Lamas the role that defined him: Lance Cumson, the irresponsible grandson of Angela Channing, played opposite Jane Wyman across the soap's 1981 to 1990 run. It brought him a Golden Globe nomination for best supporting actor in a series or television film. He had been near film sets long before that, with an uncredited bit as a child in 100 Rifles and a small part in Grease in 1978.
What Lamas does well is play charm with something petty underneath. Lance was written as a spoiled heir, and Lamas never begged the audience to forgive him, which is why the character stayed useful for as long as the show did rather than being written out as a nuisance.
The 1990s turned him into an action lead. Renegade cast him as Reno Raines and carried him through the decade, and around it he built a direct-to-video filmography that has its own loyal following: Snake Eater and its sequel, Bounty Tracker, The Rage. By the 2000s he was in on the joke, turning up as himself in The Muse and on The Joe Schmo Show, then moving into creature features as Sergeant Rock in Sharknado 3 and a lead in Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus.
He has never stopped working. There is voice and kids' television in the mix, Meap in Phineas and Ferb and Dr. Hollywood in Big Time Rush, and two 2025 credits, President Down and CheckMate.
Movies (14)
- Grease (1978)
- 100 Rifles (1969)
- Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! (2015)
- The Muse (1999)
- American Beach House (2015)
- Bounty Tracker (1993)
- President Down (2025)
- Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus (2009)
- CheckMate (2025)
- Boone: The Bounty Hunter (2017)
- The Rage (1997)
- Body Rock (1984)
- Snake Eater (1989)
- Snake Eater II: The Drug Buster (1989)
TV (10)
Where to start with Lorenzo Lamas
Falcon Crest is the correct entry point, because it is the only place where Lamas had years of screen time to build one character instead of ninety minutes to sell a premise. Watch Lance early, while the show still treats him as a punchline, then watch how much weight he is carrying by the end.
For the action years, Renegade is the cleanest version of the persona and Snake Eater is the pure video-store cut of it, cheap, fast and entirely uninterested in your opinion. Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! and Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus are where he plays the whole thing for laughs, so take them in that spirit or skip them. Completists can go back to Grease for a small early role, and to The Muse, where he sends up his own celebrity.