By MICHAEL SCIANNAMEA
Correspondent
EAST BRUNSWICK — From spending a great deal of time seeing movies at the what is now known as the AMC Loews 18 Theatre on Route 1 in New Brunswick to a featured role in the online series “StartUp,” East Brunswick native Aaron Yoo says the times he spent in Middlesex County during his childhood still resonate with him as he continues his versatile acting career.
Yoo and his family moved to East Brunswick when he was 8 years old, and he attended Lawrence Brook Elementary School and East Brunswick High School. He recalled his youthful days playing the popular fantasy game “Dungeons & Dragons” with his friends in his parents’ basement and compared them to “Stranger Things,” a popular science-fiction drama series on NetFlix that involves a group of friends trying to unravel a complicated mystery with supernatural forces getting in their way.
“That was exactly my childhood,” Yoo said. “It was always a natural step from playing structured make-believe in my East Brunswick basement to, well, playing structured make-believe on a stage.”
Yoo’s favorite memories of his times in East Brunswick and the surrounding area, besides going to the movies, include spending time at the pool hall on Ryders Lane and attending parties with his friends on the Rutgers University campus.
“I remember going to the massive parking garage at the Tower Center next to the Turnpike entrance at Exit 9 with my friends and playing ‘Manhunt,’” Yoo said. “We’d sneak in there on our rollerblades and go down those 100-200-foot ramps and catch so much speed.”
Yoo’s credits also include roles in network television series such as “The Blacklist,” “The Mysteries of Laura” and “The Closer” and feature films such as “Money Monster” and “Disturbia.” He has worked with Shia LaBeouf, Jodie Foster and Arnold Schwarzenegger, among other notable performers.
Yoo said he has been fortunate enough to witness quality work from both actors and directors firsthand.
“A great performance is art; you sit back and enjoy it,” he said. “I’ve been able to learn from great, supportive directors including Jodie, Pete Sollett and Ben Ketai, who created, wrote and directed most of ‘StartUp.’”
After graduating with a degree in theater from the University of Pennsylvania in 2001, Yoo began his professional acting career on the stage in various off-Broadway productions before finding opportunities in television and films.
Yoo credits Bruce Lee, James Dean, Audrey Hepburn and his wife as the strongest influences in his life and career.
“Bruce Lee is the kind of strong Asian male image that there just wasn’t any other of when I was growing up,” he said. “I think in popular opinion he’s been put into a box as this martial arts dude, but he was so much more than that — he was an icon.”
And his wife?
“She is, by far, the biggest personal influence in my life,” he said. “She has a way of being in the world that attracts other people to her. I really admire that, and I’m always trying to learn from her example.”
“StartUp” is a 10-episode series available on Crackle, a streaming platform similar to NetFlix and Hulu. The show — which is set in Miami although it was shot in Puerto Rico — tells the story of a digital currency that brings together three strangers trying to get rich from it while a crooked FBI agent goes to extraordinary lengths to take them down.
Yoo says his character in the series, Alex Bell, is a role that is much different from any other role he has had before.
“Without giving too much away, I’ll say he’s the kind of guy that holds all the cards,” he said. “He’s the dealer, and he’s showing an ace.”
“StartUp” has garnered mostly positive reviews, and Yoo is looking forward to a second season, as well as a number of other roles for both stage and screen.
“I just wrapped a film with Arnold Schwarzenegger that will be in theaters next year, ‘Why We’re Killing Gunther,’ and I’m waiting to hear about a couple of other projects still in the works,” he said.
Despite a career that affords him little time off, Yoo and his wife still visit East Brunswick from time to time.
“We try to make it there about once a month to see my parents,” Yoo said. “They still live in the house I grew up in, although they’ve made so many improvements over the years that there are still times that we’ll drive right by the house without recognizing it.”