Evan Vanfossen Hansis, professionally known as Van Hansis, was born on September 25, 1981 in North Adams, Massachusetts. He began acting as a child, initially during theater camp. Already intent on pursuing such a career, he entered Walnut Hill in Natick, Massachusetts, thinking that it is a good school for cultivating his interests. He then appeared in several productions at the Shea Theater there.
In 2004, Hansis graduated with an acting degree from Carnegie Mellon University. Throughout his time there, he appeared in several more plays, and toured to Moscow for further theater studies. He then made his mark on stage, making his professional debut in a Pittsburgh production of The Laramie Project, which was shown on Broadway at one point. He also participated in several productions during the Williamstown Theatre Festival. In 2006, he starred in the direct-to-DVD film The Time Machine.
Hansis unsuccessfully auditioned for a slot in the second season of the reality show I Wanna Be A Soap Star, but later in 2005, he ended up joining the cast of the daytime soap As the World Turns in There, he played the role of Luke Snyder, the son of supercouple Holden and Lily Snyder (Jon Hensley and Noelle Black), a role he inherited from Jake Weary. He was in the middle of a landmark storyline in 2006, when Luke came out as a gay man. Luke would later be paired with Noah Meyer (Jake Silbermann), a move which some critics called as the first gay male soap opera supercouple despite the controversial nature of the decision and the storyline. This role earned him two Daytime Emmy nominations, in 2007 and 2008.