Today we’d like to introduce you to Drake Aasen
Hi Drake, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I originally fell in love with acting after I was introduced to the Indiana Jones franchise at around 5 years old. Watching those movies and seeing the behind-the-scenes of how they were made fostered an infatuation of that world in me. The sets, the costumes, the way that actors could create such iconic characters out of just some simple lines of dialogue – it was fascinating to me. Unfortunately, the world of film & television in Fargo, North Dakota (where I am from), is scarce to say the least. Instead, the area boasts a remarkably robust world of theatre and stage performance. So, at around 6, with my sights still set on Hollywood, I made my onstage (and by extension, acting) debut. As I did show after show, I became more and more invested in the theatre. My time onstage took me from community theatres, to regional, and even semi-pro. I was a stage actor all the way through high school, eventually leading me to Savannah College of Art and Design, where I am today. I had originally come to SCAD with the intention of continuing on my theatre track. However, in October of my freshman year, I attended the SCAD Savannah Film Festival. To be so immersed in the world of film & television – and on such a grand scale, took me all the way back to watching Indiana Jones with my dad back then. I was reminded why I wanted to act in the first place, and I decided then and there that I needed to re-focus my sights. Since that day, I have been on my way to develop both avenues of my craft, onstage and on screen. I am pursuing film & television acting as a career, but I am definitely never going to say no to a stage performance if given the opportunity. To me, acting is acting and there isn’t a “better” or “more refined” version it. Something I learned a long time ago that I try my absolute hardest to take with me is that: at the end of the day, I am doing this because I love it. I am lucky to be able to call this passion of mine a career, and I can only hope that my performances do that fact justice.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I have been very fortunate to have an extremely supportive family from the get-go. So much so that, when my parents’ 6-year-old (me) came up to them and told them that he wanted to be an actor, their response was, “then let’s get you trained”. It is only with hindsight that I can recognize how amazing it was that they were so willing to jump on board to a dream that I could have just as easily have given up on.
I think one of my biggest struggles has been knowing what the next step is. Coming from somewhere that doesn’t necessarily have connections to the wider world of entertainment, the most important thing I have learned on that front is to crave knowledge. Seriously. Curiosity and genuine intrigue pay off. Sit people down and ask for advice. Learn what people’s jobs within the industry are. Ask questions. But the most important thing to remember while doing all of that is to be genuinely interested. The minute you go into an interview or a question with the intention of “getting something out of it” or furthering your own agenda, your momentum grinds to a halt.
I had a very humbling experience on the first professional movie set that I was on. The shoot had been going very well and I was just thrilled to be a part of it all. I had bonded with some of the camera crew as I was looking over their shoulder at the shot we were on, and they took great pleasure in explaining what they were doing and how it all worked. Then I asked for their contact info. It wasn’t at all a natural flow of conversation. One minute we were talking about the camera they were using to capture this particular shot, the next I had offered my Instagram to trade. The ploy to “network” had reared its ugly head. I was sniffed out immediately by them, and I must’ve looked like the most shallow person on the planet.
While I recognize that it was a relatively tame experience all things considered, it just taught me to always be actually interested in the other person and what they have to say. We’re all people, of course we all want things, but more important than furthering our own agendas is making real connections and taking those people with us in our endeavors.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
If it’s not already too obvious, acting is my passion and is the career that I am actively in/pursuing. That said, with the little free time I have, I’ve enjoyed many different hobbies through the years.
One of my longest-standing hobbies is playing video games. There’s a group of friends that I am in that started gaming together around 2008. It started out by hopping onto the family computer and calling each other via landline. As we got older, we got better tech, our video game libraries improved, and we started making content for YouTube. Though we have grown slightly more distant as we’ve gotten older, we have always made a point to hop on every once and a while and catch up. For the memories alone this remains one of my favorite hobbies to this day.
In the same vein, I became a video game developer in late 2016. There was an old online game called Clone Wars Adventures which had shut down in 2014, and I started working on the game from scratch in an attempt to bring it back. The project gained momentum, and a team of other developers formed around me. We worked on the game together for many years, until I finally decided to take a step back from it around 2022. The team is still actively working on the game though! The project is called the Clone Wars Adventures Emulator (CWAEmu) and there’s still a very decent following for it.
When I moved to Savannah, GA for college, I took up surfing. I am not at all good at it, but I enjoy it. Tybee island ended up being the perfect place for me to learn how to surf because the swell doesn’t really tend to get too big. Surfing also reminds me of a water sport that I am much better at, that being wake-boarding.
Any big plans?
As far as the future goes, I am sticking around Savannah for a little while. My team is primarily based out of Atlanta, and the Southeast is ripe for opportunity right now. In years to come, I see myself maybe moving back to the Midwest. I really appreciate a lot of things out there, as well as the fact that a lot of my family is still out there.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drakeaasen007/
