Biography

Lathan McKay (born January 10, 1978) is an American producer, historian, actor, writer and co-founder of the Evel Knievel Museum. As a former professional skateboarder, he has amassed the largest collection of Evel Knievel memorabilia in the world. The collection now resides at the official Evel Knievel Museum alongside Historic Harley Davidson. McKay was born on January 10, 1978, in Austin, Texas. The second of the two children of Karlan McKay and Karen McCall. He and his older sister, Amy, were raised in Missouri City, Texas.

He started skateboarding as a child, and became sponsored at 14. Inspired by Evel Knievel, he spent a decade on the road as a professional, breaking for a year to attend the University of Texas at Austin. McKay became a 70s-era cinephile and was inspired by existential films like Cisco Pike, Night Moves, Charley Varrick, Little Fauss and Big Halsy, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, films by Sam Peckinpah, and particularly Monte Hellman’s Two-Lane Blacktop.

2003-2011

In 2003, McKay starred in Levelland, a film about coming of age in the flatlands of Texas. Several of its non-fictional characters were skateboarders, and director Clark Lee Walker, co-writer of The Newton Boys, cast avid skateboarders to act in the film. Levelland premiered at the 2003 Tribeca Film Festival.In 2004, McKay moved to Los Angeles to continue a career as an actor. As he was looking for a place to live, he was introduced to his favorite film director Monte Hellman by a friend, actor Nicky Katt. Hellman had a spare room in his Laurel Canyon home, and McKay moved in. He performed in several films, and in 2008, he was cast to portray Layne Staley of Alice In Chains in Layne Staley: Get Born Again. This biographical film went into production but was never completed due to estate and legal issues.McKay continued to act, but became more interested in all aspects of filmmaking. In 2008 he joined Melissa and Monte Hellman’s newly formed production company, wearing many hats as his late mentor Hellman's assistant on the 2010 Golden Lion award-winning film Road to Nowhere. He also performed and produced alongside the Hellman family.McKay played a significant role in the re-release of Two-Lane Blacktop, assisting production on Somewhere Near Salinas with Kris Kristofferson and appearing in On the Road Again; Two-Lane Blacktop Revisited, through The Criterion Collection.