Van Hansis (born Evan Vanfossen Hansis on September 25, 1981) is an American actor. Hansis portrayed the rich Luke Snyder on the CBS soap opera As the World Turns from December 14, 2005 until the show's final episode September 17, 2010. The son of long running characters on the series, Luke is known for a gay romantic storyline cited as one of the first in American daytime television. Hansis has had guest roles on several television series and starred in the 2011 thriller film Occupant. In December 2012, he began playing the role of Thom in the dark comedy web series EastSiders. Hansis later played Jess Gibson in the 2013 horror film Devil May Call, and starred as Dusty in the 2015 LGBT mystery film Kiss Me, Kill Me. Hansis was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award in 2007, 2008 and 2009 for his As the World Turns role, and was nominated again in 2016 for his role on EastSiders. Early life and education Hansis was born in North Adams, Massachusetts, but moved to Greenfield in the third grade when his mother became a principal in the Gill-Montague Regional School District. He attended Four Corners School and later the Greenfield Center School. Hansis began acting in theater camp as a child. He attended high school at a boarding school called Walnut Hill School for the Arts in Natick, because, he says, he knew by then he wanted to be an actor "and it was a good school for that". Hansis graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in 2004, receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting from the School of Drama. Career Hansis appeared in the play The Laramie Project in Pittsburgh in 2002, and later worked at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Massachusetts in productions including On the Razzle and The Witching Hour in 2005. As the World Turns Hansis portrayed Luke Snyder on the CBS soap opera As the World Turns from December 14, 2005 until the show's final episode September 17, 2010. Luke, previously played by Jake Weary, is the son of one of the series' long running supercouples, Holden and Lily Snyder (played by Jon Hensley and Martha Byrne, later Noelle Beck). Shortly after Hansis took over the role, the character came out as gay on May 9, 2006. Luke subsequently became involved in a romance with another male character, a pairing eventually hailed as the first