Langara grad Travis Turner starring in new YTV show

A graduate of Langara’s department of film arts is starring in YTV’s new show, Some Assembly Required.

Travis Turner, 26, plays 16-year-old Aster who works for his friend’s toy company. He designs the overall look of the toys while managing to critique everyone around him.

The ‘King of Swag’

“If you have bad style, he’s gonna tell you, or he’s gonna leave the room. He’s super into fashion,” said Turner. “He calls himself ‘The King of Swag.'”

He said he tries to find ways to relate to his characters, but finding swag wasn’t difficult because of his budding rap career.

In August 2012 Turner released the album Back to Basics under the name Little T.

Filming for the show began in the summer, but Turner started auditioning at the beginning of last year. After multiple auditions, he made the final cut.

A true professional

The soon-to-be head of the department, Garwin Sanford, had nothing but praise for Turner’s acting ability and professionalism.

“He always got better the whole time he was here,” said Sanford. “You don’t get that with every actor. You don’t get that with every student.”

During a taping of the show, Turner earned laughs from the audience during his scenes. But between takes he continued to work hard and practice his lines.

Turner at Langara

Turner enjoyed his time at Langara, thanking the program for allowing writers, directors and actors to collaborate on films.

“The writers, the directors and the actors all work together on producing your film,” said Turner. “A lot of places will have them all separate, when in actuality, you wanna be working with those people.”

Alyson Drysdale, a teacher in the department, remembers Turner as being a upbeat student.

“He never complained. Just an incredibly positive person,” she said.

Turner’s advice to students?

“Persistence overcomes resistance.”

Reported by Lauren Collins