Hannah Montana's Jason Earles admits he lied about his real age to get cast on show

"I was desperately afraid that I was going to be fired and recast because I had a big secret."

24 March 2026, 16:35 | Updated: 28 March 2026, 16:02

Hannah Montana's Jason Earles lied about his age to get cast on the show. Picture: Amy Sussman/Getty Images, Michael Buckner/Getty Images for HRTS

By Katie Louise Smith

How old is Jason Earles? The actor who played Jackson Stewart was over a decade older than his character on the show.

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Did you know that Jason Earles lied about his real age to land the role of Jackson Stewart on Hannah Montana? And it wasn't just a few years she shaved off either... it was a whole decade!

Jason, who played Miley's older brother on the Disney Channel show, retold the story how he landed the role of Jackson on the Best of Both Our Worlds podcast.

Of course, if you're well-versed on your Hannah Montana lore then you'll already know all about Jason's big lie he told Disney exec in order to get on the show but with the 20th Anniversary Special now here, the story has done the rounds again.

"I was desperately afraid that I was going to be fired and recast because I had a big secret," he said. "When I auditioned for the show, I lied to them and told them I was 18 years old."

Read more: Here's why Emily Osment and Mitchel Musso aren't in the Hannah Montana 20th Anniversary Special

Jason Earles joins Miley Cyrus and the Hannah Montana cast at the 20th Anniversary premiere. Picture: Getty

In reality, he was actually 28... 10 years older than he said he was, and much older than the character of Jackson who was supposed to be 16.

"It was another reason why I almost didn't audition for the show because like, I'm too old... the character is 16, nobody is gonna buy it," he continued before revealing that the casting director also told him to lie about his age, unaware that he's already lied to her about his real age.

"She was like, 'Hey, I know you're 19', because I had lied to her in a different audition... And she was like, 'Would you be ok when you go in there, they're trying to cast it as close to age as possible, would you lie and tell them that you're 18?'"

Jason Earles was 28 when he was cast as 16-year-old Jackson Stewart. Picture: Getty

Jason, now 48, was able to keep his real age a secret for quite a while after landing the role. It wasn't until half-way through the first season that network execs actually caught on and found out.

"I remember one of the higher-up network executives showed up on show night and he was like, ‘Hey, so you're 28,'" he recalled. "And I was like, ‘I am.'"

Not only that, but Jason was also married! Jason went on to say that showrunner Steve Peterman later confirmed that they would have recast the role if they had found out about his age during the pilot.

Can you imagine how different Hannah Montana would be is someone else had played Jackson Stewart?!