Kenton Duty

Duty was born on May 12, 1995, and raised in Plano, Texas. He has two younger siblings, twin sisters, Jessica and Rebecca, born in 1999. Duty first began studying acting at the age of 9, when his parents suggested he attend a musical theatre workshop to help him feel comfortable in front of an audience for school presentations. It was at the summer workshop that he discovered he had a love for musical theatre, and it was there that he would also meet the casting director who would ask him to audition for his first play, A Christmas Carol.In 2004, Duty began his acting career in Dallas, Texas, at the age of 9, playing "Young Scrooge" in the Dallas Theater Center's musical stage production of A Christmas Carol. He appeared on-stage again the following year with a principal role in the Denton Community Theatre production of Ragtime. Duty began auditioning for roles in Los Angeles after he was discovered at a showcase performance at the Young Actors Studio in Dallas, Texas by Hollywood talent agent, Cindy Osbrink and she invited him to come to California to audition for pilot season. He has appeared in numerous national commercials for McDonald's, Wal-Mart, Pizza Hut, and Mattel.

In 2007, after several appearances in comedy sketches on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Duty landed his first featured role as Michael in the Lifetime television movie, Christmas in Paradise. Over the next two years, he appeared in guest-starring roles on Cold Case and The Jay Leno Show, as well as a co-starring role in the popular web series Ctrl.

In 2009, Duty landed his first feature film role in the suspense thriller, 2:13, as well as feature film roles in the horror film, Forget Me Not, the comedy film, Crazy on the Outside. In February 2010, he played a supporting role in the film, My Name Is Khan directed by Karan Johar and starring superstar Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol. In the spring of 2010, Duty gained popular notoriety in the role of "Young Jacob" on the hit TV series Lost, although no one, including Duty himself, knew who his character was until nearly the final episode of the series. He was billed simply as "Teenage Boy".

In the fall of 2010, Duty landed a co-starring role on the Disney Channel original series Shake It Up! as the flamboyant dancer/fashion designer, Gunther Hessenheffer alongside Caroline Sunshine as his twin sister, Tinka. The glitzy brother/sister duo of Gunther and Tinka is said to be inspired by Ryan and Sharpay Evans of Disney's High School Musical franchise. While finding some aspects of the show formulaic, People Magazine critic, Tom Gliatto expressed appreciation for the comedic twosome's work on the series, writing: "Shake It Up doesn't shake up the kidcom formula, but it has something more than the usual shiny-sparkly cuteness... The best performances are from Caroline Sunshine and Kenton Duty as an overbearing brother-and-sister act from abroad named Tinka and Gunther. They're like High School Musical's Sharpay split in two and speaking in an unplaceable accent."

On June 4, 2012, it was announced that Duty would no longer be a regular on Shake It Up, but would possibly return in a recurring capacity much like co-star Caroline Sunshine during the first season, though, he did not return at all. Not long after his departure from Shake It Up, Duty began work on the films Contest, Silver Bells and the short, Murphy.

After a brief stint in the musical group Invasion, Duty moved on to developing his solo music career. In May 2013, he released the lyric video for his first single, titled "Teenage Summer Nights".