For Shawn Ashmore, he’s had to go against his twin brother, Aaron Ashmore, for roles throughout their careers.
“When we were doing commercials, they would call us back in after we both auditioned,” Shawn, 45, exclusively told Us Weekly ahead of the premiere of his new film, It Feeds. “And [they] said, ‘We love you guys both. And so it’s fair, we’re gonna flip a coin so that you guys can see it’s not preferential treatment.’”
Shawn confessed that the toss-up was not just a one-time circumstance.
“That happened four or five times where they’d say, ‘Hey, come on, come in, we’re gonna hire one of you. But so that the other one doesn’t get their feelings hurt or they don’t think it’s personal, we’re gonna flip a coin in front of you guys.’”
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While having a job determined by luck isn’t ideal, Shawn confessed that the method actually helped him and Aaron, 45, handle the rejection.
“That was a really good thing for us to learn that it wasn’t like one person was getting chosen over the other,” he admitted. “It was like, ‘We like you both. We can only hire one. Let’s flip a coin.’”
Shawn and Aaron got their start as kids in Toronto working on various commercials. Their first gig came when they were approached by a casting agent for a toy commercial — which was ideal at the time.
“That sounds great. We just have to come in and play with toys,” he recalled. “We both auditioned.”
Aaron ultimately booked the role but ended up coming down with the flu — which worked out in Shawn’s favor.
“My mom brought both of us to set and my mom was like, ‘You cast him, but he is sick as a dog. So I brought his twin brother.’ And they were like, ‘OK, I guess we’ll take the one that’s not sick,’” he reflected. “So I have to thank Aaron for my big break because if he hadn’t booked that commercial, we might not still be doing this.”
Since that commercial, Shawn has gone on to star on multiple TV series including The Rookie, The Following, The Boys and more. Currently, he’s starring in the horror film It Feeds alongside Ashley Greene. Shawn plays Randall Harris who is the father of daughter Riley who has been possessed. While trying to save his child, Randall takes extreme and violent measures to save her life. When getting into character, Shawn confessed he “never looked at Randall as a villain.”
“If we were watching this movie through Randall’s perspective, he would be the hero. In a way, he’s making horrible choices, right? But I understood the bad choices he was making,” he told Us. “Because he is in an impossible situation. He’s just watched his wife wither away from a circumstance that he has cannot understand as he starts to grasp what this thing is, his daughter is at risk, and he is at risk of losing his daughter.”
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While working on the movie, Shawn actually got to spend some quality time with his brother who lived nearby.
“I opted to stay with my brother while we shot the film,” he said. “So when I came home from shooting these very intense scenes, I got to hang out with my nieces, I got to hang out with my brother.”
It Feeds is now in theaters and available on demand.
