Page 4 - My FlipBook

TELEVISION STAR

At age thirteen Drake had a strong interest in the arts. He
had both sung and acted onstage in front of live audiences.
He had modeled professionally and been in television com-
mercials. He enjoyed writing rhyming verse in his private
notebooks. It was unclear which, if any, of these interests
he would pursue seriously. That changed in 1999, when a
classmate introduced Drake to his father, a talent agent.

A Big Break
The classmate’s father was in search of a teen actor to audi-
tion for the television series Degrassi: The Next Generation, a
Canadian teen drama television series set at the fi ctional De-
grassi Community School. The classmate’s father had asked
his son if there was anyone at school who could make the
other kids laugh. The boy immediately thought of Drake, and
his father asked to meet him. The agent was impressed with
Drake’s looks, personality, and speaking voice. He arranged
for Drake to audition for Degrassi, a program that was known
for its ensemble casts and willingness to dramatize hard-
hitting subjects, including bullying, drug abuse, mental dis-
orders, gang violence, and death. A few days later, Drake’s
mother received a telephone call telling her that her son had
landed the coveted part. Sandi Graham remembers the mo-
ment well. “I called Aubrey and I asked him to come home,
because we lived right across the street from the school at CHAPTER TWO
the time. He came home, and I told him, and of course he
went crazy. He couldn’t believe it.” 17
Originally, the producers of Degrassi had planned for
Drake’s character, Jimmy Brooks, to be a white football
player. But they were so impressed with Drake’s audition
that they decided to make the character a black basketball

17