Ryan Thomas Lane (born November 23, 1987) is an American actor.
Beginning his professional career at the age of nineteen, Lane is best
known for his portrayal of Cincinnati Reds center-fielder William
Ellsworth Hoy in the Documentary Channel biography Dummy Hoy: A Deaf
Hero, and for his recurring role as Travis on the ABC Family drama
series Switched at Birth, which earned him the RJ Mitte Diversity
Award at the 2013 Media Access Awards.Lane was born on November 23,
1987 in Fullerton, California to parents William, who is hard of
hearing, and Jill Lane. Lane was born deaf and diagnosed at two weeks
old with congenital nerve deafness. He has two older sisters, Kristyn
(b. 1983) and Hayley (b. 1986) who are both hearing. His parents
divorced when he was eight and he then split his time between living
with his father in Ontario, California and his mother in Diamond Bar,
California. He attended school in the County School District of Los
Angeles and graduated from the California School for the Deaf,
Riverside (CSDR) in 2007.In 2007, director David Risotto discovered a
photograph of Lane in his football uniform on the wall at CSDR (some
conflicting sources reporting it as a photograph in the CSDR
yearbook). Risotto had been searching for a young man who was deaf and
could play baseball to portray Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame
center-fielder William Ellsworth "Dummy" Hoy in the documentary Dummy
Hoy: A Deaf Hero (aka: I See the Crowd Roar) and cast Lane, who he
believed had both the perfect "look" and the athletic abilities to
portray the role. After altering his Mohawk hairstyle and learning to
bat left-handed, Lane spent the spring of 2007 filming on location in
Southern California, later re-shooting some key ballpark scenes in
Evansville, Indiana in the fall of 2008.
Beginning his professional career at the age of nineteen, Lane is best
known for his portrayal of Cincinnati Reds center-fielder William
Ellsworth Hoy in the Documentary Channel biography Dummy Hoy: A Deaf
Hero, and for his recurring role as Travis on the ABC Family drama
series Switched at Birth, which earned him the RJ Mitte Diversity
Award at the 2013 Media Access Awards.Lane was born on November 23,
1987 in Fullerton, California to parents William, who is hard of
hearing, and Jill Lane. Lane was born deaf and diagnosed at two weeks
old with congenital nerve deafness. He has two older sisters, Kristyn
(b. 1983) and Hayley (b. 1986) who are both hearing. His parents
divorced when he was eight and he then split his time between living
with his father in Ontario, California and his mother in Diamond Bar,
California. He attended school in the County School District of Los
Angeles and graduated from the California School for the Deaf,
Riverside (CSDR) in 2007.In 2007, director David Risotto discovered a
photograph of Lane in his football uniform on the wall at CSDR (some
conflicting sources reporting it as a photograph in the CSDR
yearbook). Risotto had been searching for a young man who was deaf and
could play baseball to portray Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame
center-fielder William Ellsworth "Dummy" Hoy in the documentary Dummy
Hoy: A Deaf Hero (aka: I See the Crowd Roar) and cast Lane, who he
believed had both the perfect "look" and the athletic abilities to
portray the role. After altering his Mohawk hairstyle and learning to
bat left-handed, Lane spent the spring of 2007 filming on location in
Southern California, later re-shooting some key ballpark scenes in
Evansville, Indiana in the fall of 2008.
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