Lan Artis was born in Ljubljana, Slovenia. He started acting in school plays, before landing his first professional role in the made for TV youth drama Nina, at age 10. At 13, he was part of the Slovenian delegation in the Ciak Junior film festival in Italy, as one of the young actors in the participant film The Photo. In 2005 he landed a supporting role in The Suffering of Young Igor a made for TV film. At age 16, while attending his second year in high school, he wast cast as the main antagonist in Distorsion, a music drama which had a limited theatrical release in Slovenia. He also wrote and composed on of the songs on the soundtrack called Voices. After moving to London, United Kingdom, he had bit parts in a few Bollywood productions and a role as an immigrant in the Patrick Hughes directed The Hitman's Bodyguard.