Shawn Robert Ashmore (born October 7, 1979) is the son of Rick and Linda Ashmore, a manufacturing engineer and a homemaker respectively. He has an identical twin named Aaron, who is also an actor. Though born in Richmond, British Columbia, Shawn and Aaron were raised in Ontario.
Ashmore began acting at the age of seven and continued to land small roles until age fourteen when he took the role of Waylon Tibbins in the TV movie Guitarman in 1994. The film itself—a sort of modern retelling of the pied piper story—isn’t particularly notable though audiences were taken with Ashmore’s performance which later earned him a Gemini Award (Canadian Emmy) nomination.
Ashmore continued to gain momentum, appearing in TV shows and movies, and eventually, in 2000 was cast in Bryan Singer’s adaptation of the X-Men franchise, playing Bobby Drake (Iceman) in a bit role. Due to the popularity of the character and Ashmore’s portrayal, the character was given an expanded role and his own subplots in sequels X2: X-Men United and X-Men: The Last Stand.
He was specifically lauded in X2 for the thematic subplot involving Ashmore’s Bobby Drake revealing to his parents that he is a mutant. The X-Men franchise was initially a way of exploring race relations in America with mutants representing the minority community that was often marginalized and vilified. As things changed in America, the franchise’s focus turned to a representation of the gay community. In response to Bobby Drake’s revelation, his parents are terrified, upset and deflated. His father remained quiet while his mother whimpered, “Well, have you tried not being a mutant.” This scene resonated with the gay community, and had been a direct episode from Bryan Singer’s own life, having had an identical conversation with his parents when he came out of the closet years before.
His other subplot involved romantic entanglements with fellow mutants Rogue (Anna Paquin) and Kitty Pryde (Ellen Page) but didn’t receive the same fanfare as his familial story had before.
While absent from the spinoffs and prequels such as The Wolverine movies and X-Men First Class, Ashmore returned for the latest entry in the franchise—X-Men: Days of the Future Past. Audiences were glad to have his character return and utilize his powers the way he had in the comics. Ashmore, a fan of the comics and the 1990s animated series, was excited as well. In our exclusive interview Ashmore said, “I think the toughest scene was also my favorite scenes to be honest and that was doing the ice slide, which I’ve been waiting to do for about 14 years now.”
The film itself was released to the most acclaim of any film in the X-Men series and by far had the largest box office return. While the large ensemble cast didn’t leave much time for his character, it is revealed by the end of the film that Bobby Drake now teaches at the Xavier school, leaving him open for an expanded role in future installments.
Shawn Ashmore spoke to uInterview just following the premiere X-Men: Days of Future Past. He discussed his love of the franchise, the difficulties in filming action heavy scenes, and his possible future in the series, alluding to the recently announced X-Men: Apocalypse, due out in theaters in the summer of 2016.
Returning to the role of Bobby Drake was something he was grateful for—not only because of the affection he has for the character but also because he was able to reunite with the cast. “It feels like a family reunion, when we come back and that’s what it felt like on this film. I’ve definitely bonded with them over the years,” Ashmore told uInterview exclusively. “I feel like it took about two hours to get one take done because everybody started laughing and that’s the comradery and ease we have with each other, so it was a really fun shoot to get everybody back together again.
With the exposure he received from the X-Men franchise, Ashmore’s career has been on the rise. In 2013, he was cast as FBI agent Mike Weston on the FOX series The Following, starring alongside Kevin Bacon, James Purefoy, and Natalie Zea, which follows an FBI manhunt to catch serial killer Joe Carroll (Purefoy) and his acolytes.
The character was different than the fresh-faced roles Ashmore had often taken. His agent Weston sported a five o’clock shadow and was often a magnet to beatings, sporting a few facial scars by the second season where he also routinely found himself as an aggressor, sometimes torturing suspects.
In March 2014, FOX announced The Following would return for a third season.
Shawn Ashmore has an identical twin named Aaron who is also an actor. They both were cast in Smallville but played different characters seasons apart.
On July 27, 2012, Ashmore married film executive Dana Renee Wasdin. They originally met while he was filming Frozen (2010). The couple has one child together, son Oliver Ashmore, who was born in 2017.
Earlier this week, Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy delivered passionate tirades over whether Americans or Asian…
The tour is in support of the band’s 2020 album Power Up, which topped at…
A sign of his improving health, Bolton has intentions of returning to the stage soon…
Interestingly, most internet users' anger over Beyoncé's offensive motion quickly shifted to derogatory remarks about…
He shared, I’m very proud to be part of television in that era."
At an intimate party, Paulina Gretzky celebrated turning 36 last week with her husband, golf…