Actor Aaron Paul’s rocky path to stardom
Breaking Bad star returns to episodic television in new series airing on Showcase
PASADENA, CALIF.— When 17-year old Aaron Paul arrived in West Hollywood to become an actor, he knew he had worlds to conquer. His mother drove with him in his 1982 Toyota Corolla, which had a trunk that flooded in a downpour and no second gear. “My mom dropped me off, moved me into this little studio and there was a shootout at the Bank of America two blocks away,” Paul recalls over lunch at a hotel café here.
“We could hear the gunshots . . . helicopters overhead. And my mom is, of course, terrified. The first night with her leaving, I thought, ‘OK, I’m an adult.’ But I was an infant, really, with a lot to learn. I think that first night changed me.”
In spite of his youthful optimism it wasn’t going to get better soon. Paul had saved $5,000 to make the move. “That was the most money I’d ever seen in my life. And it went pretty quickly . . . I was living on Top Ramen. You could get 10 packets for $1 back then.” He managed to line up some commercials and was working as an usher at the Universal City movie theatre. “I did that simply because I could watch movies for free and I was on a fixed income. I got by doing commercials,” he says. “You just cross your fingers hoping you’d make the cut. I think I’ve probably done 30-plus commercials. I had my ups and downs, but I was having a great time. I was somewhat fulfilling my dream. But I wanted more.”
He got more all right, in a way that would alter his life. Paul, 36, landed the role of the flaky druggie Jesse Pinkman in the now classic Breaking Bad. “Right before Breaking Bad I was at my lowest low in terms of doubting myself,” he says.
“I remember the day when I called my mom and dad — it was very emotional for me — and I asked them for help with my rent. I know this was very hard for them. It’s almost impossible for them to say no, but it’s very hard for them to say yes.
“So they ended up paying my rent for three months. I knew that was that. It was 1,200 bucks a months, $3,600 and that was a lot of money for them. Then I got a script sent to me by the name of Breaking Bad. I read it and I knew that was the role that was going to change everything for me. So I just gave it my all.”
The series was such a phenomenal success that afterward Paul vowed to take a break from episodic television and concentrate on film.
After all, he’d performed in seven pilots before he landed that series. None of them were picked up except Breaking Bad.
So how does he follow a flawless effort like that? When his agent told him about The Path, which premieres on Showcase March 31 at 9 p.m. (and on Hulu in the U.S. the day before), he was reluctant. But he met with the producers. “I had a great meeting and walked out thinking, ‘I think I’m going to pull the trigger. I think I’m going to do it.’ Then I got cold feet and ended up passing on it.”
He was concerned that people would compare it to Breaking Bad. He needn’t have worried. In The Path Paul plays a conflicted husband, a convert to a Scientology-like religion that tests his commitment and faith.
“Two days later, after a couple of sleepless nights, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I was in the middle of dinner and it was just internally in my head, and I just interrupted the conversation and said, ‘I have to step outside and make a phone call.’ I left and called my reps and said, ‘Can we get this back?’ I put them through a little torture, but I’m so happy they didn’t give it to somebody else.”