Page 5 - My FlipBook

star. Tall, good looking, with a deep, expressive voice and a win-
ning personality, Drake became an immediate fan favorite. When-
ever the cast would make a personal appearance to promote the
show, Drake would be mobbed by screaming fans—mostly girls.
For Drake, who had earlier experienced so much rejection by the
opposite sex, the turnaround was eye-opening. Many of his later
raps would explore how fame makes a person more attractive
but also how a star should be wary of those attracted by fame.

Rising Star
Drake emerged as one of the stars of Degrassi, earning a nomi-
nation for best supporting actor in a television series in 2005 from
the Young Artist Association, a nonprofi t organization founded to
recognize and award excellence in youth performers. Impressed
with Drake’s acting skills, the producers of the series decided to
make the most of Drake’s talent by featuring him at the center
of a plotline that would explore another important social issue:
school shootings. In one episode, a bullied teen responds to the
abuse he has received by bringing a gun to school and threaten-
ing Jimmy Brooks. Drake’s character tries to escape from the
gunman, but the classmate shoots him in the back. The gunshot
wound leaves Jimmy paralyzed from the waist down.
Drake had to call on all of his skills to make Jimmy’s plight believ-
able. “I saw it as a challenge, so I did my research,” Drake told MTV.
“I actually took a kid that was in a wheelchair out and tried to un-
derstand how diffi cult it is to be mobile and live life as if nothing was
wrong.” To better understand the life experience of a wheelchair-
bound person, Drake spent most of his workdays
bound person, Drake spent most of his workdays
in a wheelchair, learning to use it more natu-
in a wheelchair, learning to use it more natu-
rally so his character would seem real. The “Playing Jimmy all
experience made Drake more sensitive day and being able to
to those who are physically challenged. get up and walk away
“Playing Jimmy all day and being able to is weird. I appreciate
get up and walk away is weird,” he said. “I things a lot more
now.”
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appreciate things a lot more now.” 18
—Drake

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