Shawn Ashmore Biography - Teen Idols 4 You

Date of Birth

7 December 1979, Richmond, British Columbia, Canada

Birth Name

Shawn Robert Ashmore

Height

5' 11" (1.8 m)

Mini Biography

Shawn Robert Ashmore was born one minute after his twin brother Aaron Ashmore in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada, on October 7, 1979. He is the son of Linda, a homemaker, and Rick Ashmore, a manufacturing engineer. By the age of seven, when their mother became a part of the Multiple Births Association in Alberta, Canada, the Ashmore twins were already in front of cameras impressing their elders. But it was Shawn that at the age of 14, stole the hearts of many with his wonderful performance in Guitarman (1994) in which he played the main character and was nominated for a Gemini Award. Since then, his career has skyrocketed. He has done many made-for-television movies and series, and has guest starred on various television shows, but it was his brief appearance in X-Men (2000) that landed him a role in X2: X-Men United (2003) and got him on the road to stardom. As an added bonus, he even got his own personal action figure modeled after him.

After only three months after X2: X-Men United (2003) he easily earned the very minor role of his brother's double in My Brother's Keeper (2004) with a release date in spring of 2004. Apart from acting, Shawn enjoys spending time with his brother, listening to music, playing guitar and snowboarding. His special skill is that he's fluent in French. His mother Linda, who is a twin herself, is a homemaker, while his father Rick is a manufacturing manager. Shawn has one pet, Jessica, a golden retriever, that he got from his grandmother when he was nine.

Trivia

Is twin brother of Aaron Ashmore.
For his made-for-television movie, Cadet Kelly (2002), he had to attend military school for 3 months, also taking voice lessons to be able to project as a cadet major.
For X2: X-Men United (2003), he had to undergo physical training for 6 months with no alcohol consumption and a strict diet.
Attended Turner Fenton High School in Brampton, Ontario.
When filming Animorphs (1998) he had to pet a tiger. During one scene, the tiger jerked its head and Shawn's fingers went up its nose. Luckily, the tiger's trainer helped him escape injury.
Reunited with actor Eugene Lipinski (Del McAllister in Guitarman (1994)) after 4 years for the hit television series Animorphs (1998).
Landed a role as his brother's twin in the movie My Brother's Keeper (2004) due to come out in Spring 2004.
Attended the 2004 MTV Movie awards with actress Michelle Trachtenberg.
His X-Men character, Bobby Drake/Iceman, was the first character from the comic series to make an appearance in another medium, as one of the main characters on Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends. His character, and Ray Park's character of Toad, have both appeared in animated adaptations of the comics. In both, their characters were voiced by Frank Welker.
For the 2005 TV movie Terry (2005), Shawn's prosthetic leg was digitally added in. However, for long-distance shots, Grant Darby (a leg amputee and a world triathlon champion) was used as a double.
Has the letters 'GMA' tattooed on his right wrist. The letters stand for 'Good Man Ashmore', in dedication for his grandfather. His twin brother also has the same tattoo on his left wrist.
Stayed in contact with co-star Anna Paquin (Rogue) after filming X2: X-Men United (2003).
Taught Aaron Stanford the lighter tricks he used in X2: X-Men United (2003).
Shawn Ashmore made two guest appearances on "Smallville" playing an adversary of Clark Kent. Shawn's real-life twin brother Aaron Ashmore later appeared on "Smallville" as Jimmy Olson.
Is good friends with actor Kevin Zegers.
Shawn is sharing an apartment with his brother Aaron in Los Angeles. [May 2003]
Finished filming X-Men 3, due to be released 2006. [December 2005]
He was considered for the role of Jimmy Olsen in Superman Returns (2006) before Sam Huntington. His identical twin brother Aaron Ashmore would later play the same character in Smallville (2001).
Has a son, Oliver Ashmore (b. July 2017), with wife Dana Renne Ashmore.

Quotes

My brother and I have been in auditions where they said to our agents, "We like them both, so we're just going to flip a coin."
It doesn't get more iconic than Terry Fox.
Our first scene is sort of a reunion between the X-Men characters, which establishes everyone's relationship to one another, sort of like a recap for all those who have forgotten since the last movie.
My power is the ability to control water molecules and form them into ice.
Every day on set, there was something to watch and learn.
There are rumors, rumors, rumors. I'm always the last one to know about these things, literally.
Style is a reflection of your attitude and your personality.
As a teenager at high school, I felt like an outsider.
I'm a video game buff.
No designer has really wowed me yet, I'm into other people's recommendations when it comes to fashion.
Above and beyond having the social life, to have a core group of people that you work with and spend time with and learn how to work with is a nice thing.
I would love to be able to pursue music as a career but honestly, I'm just not good enough.
I think Ian McKellen made it all happen, because he used to throw dinner parties and invite everyone over.
Getting to play superheroes is a pretty good job.
Being a villain is great, even though I've only gotten to do it a few times.
Comic books and The Chronicles of Narnia. My mother used to read those to me and my twin brother growing up.
I read the comics long before I was ever involved with the films.
Instead of being on teams at school, I was preparing for auditions.
Why would people spend good money to have my pants?
I think it's more fun to play a hero with an edge.
The genre of fantasy is about magic and occult characters.
The real excitement and big deal for me started when I got cast in the first X-Men, which was sort of a fluke.
I just got Kill Bill: Vol. 2. I've watched it like eight times in the past two months. I just love the scene at the end between David Carradine and Uma Thurman.
I never could have planned this, and now I'm in my ideal situation career-wise and just sort of where I am in my life, and I'm super happy with how everything's going.
You get bored if you do the same thing too much.
I think it is important that you care about the characters, and you are not just waiting for the next action sequence but have a vested interested in what happens to them.
I'm 25, so I've already gone through what my character Ged goes through, though it's on a general scale because I haven't studied at a wizard's school.
Ultimately, I think it's just going to get you that exposure, get you in that door, get you that recognition that will hopefully get you opportunities.
Some people talk about screen kisses being strange or uncomfortable. But I think that I got along with Anna well enough that it just happened; it was a fun day of shooting.
So it wasn't actually that bad, it took a couple of weeks to sort of get used to uh, you know, standing around and pretending to have ice shoot out of your hand, but once you got used to that it uh, it was actually not that hard.
Playing a character who's dealing not only with a superpower but having a normal relationship is easy to associate with, because I feel that everyone has been through it.
Lord of the Rings is a good thing for us because it opened the door for the genre in general. Le Guin's stories are very different from Lord of the Rings.