Before he became one of the biggest names in music, Drake was Jimmy Brooks on Degrassi: The Next Generation. Now, in the new documentary Degrassi: Whatever It Takes, he is looking back on the moment that turned his character’s story upside down and left a lasting impact on him as a young actor.
The Toronto native revealed that he had no idea what was coming until the script reading. “I didn’t know about the end of ‘Time Stands Still’ until I was in the read through. Somebody told me to mentally prepare for today’s script, but they didn’t tell me there was going to be a shooting at the school and that it was me,” Drake recalled. The shock hit hard as the cast read through the tragic twist together. “There was shock and sadness. We were holding hands and crying in the read through. It was dark. It was intense.”
Playing a character who would spend the rest of the series paralyzed was a difficult adjustment. “My question was ‘What now? I don’t want to spend the rest of my years in a wheelchair. I want to be with everyone else, what do you mean?’ Unfortunately, that’s not how life goes,” he admitted.
Even with the challenge, Drake now sees the importance of what Degrassi chose to do. “I think that was why I think that show’s so good, because life is f***ed up and they weren’t afraid to let you know that,” he explained.
Taking on the role after the shooting gave him a new sense of responsibility. “A lot more went into playing Jimmy after I got shot, for sure. It gave me something to study. It gave me homework,” Drake said. The storyline may have been painful, but it shaped his craft and became one of the defining chapters of his early career.