“I’m very much a talker,” volunteers Lucas Adams, who plays Steve and Ava’s surprise son, Tripp. “I talk to everyone at DAYS: the cast, the makeup artists and hairstylists, wardrobe and the crew. I don’t like to be in my dressing room too long or I’ll just go crazy. So after I’ve worked on my scenes, before we go on set, I’ll usually be in the makeup room talking to whoever wants to have a conversation.”
Stephen Nichols and Mary Beth Evans (Steve and Kayla) are two of the actors who Adams connected with early on. “When I first started, Stephen and Mary Beth took me under their wing,” he credits. “Stephen’s a really cool guy, very laid-back. Whenever he gets himself prepared for a scene, he really puts himself in the moment. I’m constantly watching what they’re doing while we’re going over a scene. They’ve been at DAYS for years, so why not learn from the people who have been there? It’s a great thing for me to experience just by watching them do their work.”
JPI
The newcomer says he tries to draw from his own real-life experiences to add nuance to his performance as Tripp, but it’s tricky. “I would love to say I’m really similar to him, but he’s gone through so much that it’s hard to really relate to, not going through that myself,” he explains.
While Tripp is still trying to find himself, his portrayer knew early on what he wanted to be. “When I was a little kid, I told everybody I was either going to be a professional athlete or an actor,” relays Adams, who grew up in Texas playing sports. “I got recruited out of high school for baseball, and I was going to play in college.” There was a catch, however. “I said if I didn’t get any full-ride scholarship offers, I wanted to try out acting. I wanted to give it a shot while I was young.” When a full ride didn’t materialize, Adams spoke with his parents about heading to Hollywood. Mom and Dad gave their blessing, and Adams was on his way to L.A., where his older sister Brittnie already lived.
“It was a cultural shock,” he confesses. “My hometown had one stoplight in it. I had never actually used a crosswalk until I came to L.A.” Fortunately, on Adams’s second day in Tinseltown, he received a golden opportunity to learn the lay of the land. “My sister worked for a company that needed to have a U-Haul driven. I was about to turn 18 and no one at the company knew how to drive a trailer. So I drove one of the biggest U-Hauls that you can rent for this company. It was a rough one, because it didn’t have a rearview window; all you could use were the side mirrors. I drove it all through Santa Monica, Culver City, downtown L.A., Silver Lake. I hit almost every spot around the Los Angeles area, so that kind of helped me adjust to the roads.”
A month after Adams’s move, he landed a commercial for Toyota Tundra. “It was funny,” he smiles, “because I had to haul hay in the commercial. I remember at [the audition] they said, ‘All right, before we get started, who actually has ranch hand experience?’ A couple of us raised our hands.” The money earned from the spot helped him to cover his rent and bills.
The budding actor’s first speaking role was a one-day stint as Wesley on Y&R in 2012. “I played a fan of Angelina’s [Diana DeGarmo],” offers Adams, who was dressed to the nines in a pea coat, sweater, button-down shirt, tie, dress pants and shoes. “That was one of the fanciest times I’ve ever been dressed. I remember being very, very hot.” He also recalls having to nail the scene in one or two takes. “All I could think was, ‘Don’t mess up,’ because we’d have to do it all over again, and I would be wasting everyone’s time. So I was mainly focused on not messing up.”
Adams followed up his Y&R stint with guest appearances on shows including GRIMM, SCHOOL OF ROCK and RECOVERY ROAD before securing a recurring role in 2015 on the Disney Channel’s LIV AND MADDIE, playing Josh Wilcox. “It was a great experience,” he says, “just the people I met in general, and then being a comedy, we were all getting paid to goof around and play pretend with each other.”
Disney Channel
After nearly seven years in Hollywood and a plum new role on DAYS, Adams reflects, “In some ways it’s exactly how I imagined it, and in other ways, it’s better. I’ve met people that I would have never expected to meet. Hollywood is a really big place, but it’s also the smallest place in the world. The first time I visited L.A. I was 14 and thought it was really crazy. But now that I’ve been living here for a while, when I go home to spend time with my family, I’m like, ‘All right, I need to get back to L.A., get back to the grind.’ I feel very comfortable here.”
Did You Know?
Adams appeared in the final season of HBO’s TRUE BLOOD.
During high school, he earned all-district honors for football, basketball and baseball.
Adams was in the movie Wolves at
True Love
In addition to getting more on-set experience at LIV AND MADDIE, Adams also met his girlfriend, Shelby Wulfert. “She’s fantastic. We’re both big Star Wars nerds,” he shares. “She’s also one of the only people I know that actually likes to watch people play video games. She’ll just sit there and read a book and watch me. She’s a big-time reader, interested in all kinds of books of every genre and subject. She’s my best friend, so the fact that I’m able to have a relationship with her, and we’ll hang out and we’ll want to tell each other everything is just mind-blowing to me. It’s great.”
Just The Facts
Birthday: July 24
Hails From: Bells, TX
Fit Parents: “My dad [Brent] was a college football and baseball player, and a semi-pro football player in Texas. My mom [Shari] was a college basketball player, so it was always sports in our house.”
Life Lessons: “My sisters, Audrie and Brittnie, are 10 and seven years older than me. I was in elementary school when they both graduated, so I got to see everything they would go through. If I saw [them with a] guy I didn’t like, I’d think, ‘I’m not going to be like that guy.’ I’m a big observer, so I observed them and how they lived their lives and just kind of followed through with that.”
Sci-Fi Pooch: “I have a black Lab named Lando, from Star Wars, and Auditore, from a video game, Assassin’s Creed. I named him after both.”
Currently Watching: “THE FLASH. I’m a big fan of THE FLASH and DC’S LEGENDS OF TOMORROW, ARROW and IRON FIST. I’m a big superhero person.”
Sibling Revelry: Adams has bonded with on-screen brother James Lastovic (Joey). “He comes over all the time. We play a lot of video games together. It’s been a good time.”
Getting Social: Follow him on Twitter @lucasbrentley and on Instagram @thelucasadams.
