Jason Earles admits his real age gap with Jackson in Hannah Montana, as he lied to get cast

The actor who starred as Miley’s brother in Hannah Montana is way older than he looked. Jason Earles finally fessed up to the actual age gap between him and his character Jackson, and how he lied to the Hannah Montana casting directors.

On the podcast Best of Both Worlds, Jason admitted: “When I auditioned for the show, I lied to them and told them I was 18 years old. It was another reason why I almost didn’t audition, because I was like, “I’m too old. The character is 16. Nobody’s gonna buy it.

“And what’s funny is Lisa London – who cast it – when she brought me in, she was like, ‘Hey, I know you’re 19.’ Because I had lied to her in a different audition. And she was like, ‘When you’re in there, because they’re trying to cast it close to age, would you lie and tell them you’re 18?’ And I was like, ‘I think I can do.’ And so I went into the audition and everybody thought I was 18.”

Jason Earles was born on 26th April 1977. Filming for the first season of Hannah Montana began in November 2005, when Jason was 28 years and six months old. That makes him at least 12 years older than his character Jackson. Miley Cyrus was 13. So, the age gap between the actors was 15 years, even though their characters are supposedly two years apart.

Although time works a bit inconsistently in the Hannah Montana universe, Jackson’s age is about 20 by season four. Jason was 33 when filming wrapped.

Jason pretending to be a minor
(Image via Disney+)

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The producers didn’t wise up to how old Jason really was until he’d filmed approximately eight episodes of season one. “I remember one of the higher-up network executives showed up on show night, and he was like, ‘Hey, so, you’re 28.’ And I was like, ‘I am.’ And he’s like, ‘So, you’re married?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, that girl I keep making out with? That’s my wife.’ And he was like, ‘Any more secrets? Anything we should know? Do you have any kids?’ And I was like, ‘No,’ Because he’s like, ‘Let’s go ahead and keep it that way for a few years.’ And I was like, ‘Absolutely.'”

There was a moment when Jason “was going to be fired and recast”. But because several episodes had already been made, the producers decided to just kept Jason in the role.

According to Jason, the showrunner Steven Peterman eventually told him: “Hey, thank you so much for lying to us, because we would’ve gotten nervous if we’d found out during the pilot, and we would’ve recast you.”

Apparently, the younger cast members thought Jason was a teenager too. The crew found it helpful to have somebody more mature in the cast, as the younger actors would follow his lead.

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