Originally published in Pool & Billiard Magazine May 2006

Celebrity Shots: Drake Bell

Jason A. Zwiker

The youngest son of WPBA legend Robin Dodson, once “the kid sitting next to the older guys in the pool hall watching mom’s tournaments,” has moved from the sidelines to center stage. One of the stars of hit Nickelodeon series Drake & Josh, Jared Drake Bell began acting at age five and picked up the guitar eight years after.

His filmography includes appearances in major feature films Jerry Maguire, High Fidelity, and Yours, Mine and Ours as well as TV shows such as Home Improvement, The Pretender, The Drew Carey Show, Seinfeld, and Caroline in the City. He became one of Nickelodeon’s breakout stars on The Amanda Show alongside Amanda Bynes and Josh Peck. Soon after, he and Josh had their own series. With his debut album, Telegraph, in stores nationwide and a new film with himself and Drake & Josh co-star Josh Peck in pre-production, Drake is clearly blazing his own career trail.

He credits time spent on the road with his mom as she racked up honors on the pro billiards tour with easing his transition into the demands of a career in film and music. “The fact that my mom was somewhat of a celebrity helped,” he says. “Notoriety, traveling, and the rest didn’t seem as foreign to me.”

Growing up in Orange County, California, also helped make the idea of a career in acting far from foreign. The story is that one day, when Drake was five years old, his father asked him if he wanted to be an actor, he agreed to give it a go, and the rest grew from there. He did the standard commercials and bit parts en route to landing bigger and better roles. As well, he attended the prestigious Orange County High School of the Arts. Ask him when he really saw what he wanted to do with his career, however, and he points to his time on the set with the front man from The Who.

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