Lucas Neff

Lucas Neff (born November 7, 1985 ) is an American actor. Known primarily for his work in television, Neff received mainstream recognition for his lead role as James "Jimmy" Chance on the Fox sitcom Raising Hope (2010–2014).

After Raising Hope, Neff had main roles as Jason on the ABC sitcom Downward Dog (2017), David on the Lifetime series American Princess (2019), and Dr. Caleb Sommers on the CBS medical sitcom Carol's Second Act (2019–2020). His recurring roles include Ryan Wheeler on the Hulu series The Handmaid's Tale (2022), Paul Sutton on the Starz series Power Book III: Raising Kanan (2023–2024), and Captain Edmund Dellinger in the Netflix miniseries American Primeval (2025).

Neff had main voice roles as Donny on the Netflix animated series Trash Truck (2020–2021) and Duncan P. Anderson on the Disney+ and Disney Channel animated sitcom Monsters at Work (2021; 2024).

Early and personal life Neff was born in Chicago, Illinois, and raised in the neighborhood of Andersonville. His mother, Meade Palidofsky, is the founder of Storycatchers Theatre and his father, Alan, is a lawyer and novelist. He is of Irish and Jewish descent. He graduated from Whitney M. Young Magnet High School in 2004 and with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theater at the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2008. He started acting when he was mistakenly assigned to the performing arts department at UIC. After college, he took classes at the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago. While trying to start his career by appearing in storefront theater and commercials, Neff financed himself by cleaning houses, which he only began a week before being cast in his first major role.

When a nationwide casting call was put out for Raising Hope, Neff taped his ten-page audition and sent it in to Greg Garcia. From the first tape, Neff became Garcia's first choice for the role of Jimmy Chance. However, he was still required to go through multiple auditions, before he could be confirmed in his first major role.

Filmography Film

Television