In 2001, Graham began his acting career, playing the role of Jimmy Brooks, a character on Degrassi: The Next Generation. His role on the show ended in 2009, when producers cut the entire Degrassi staff for a new group of actors. In February 2006, Drake released his first mixtape Room for Improvement. It was made available via his website and official MySpace page. From the success of his first mixtape, he later began releasing more, capitalizing from the buzz.
In 2001, Drake began his acting career, playing the role of Jimmy Brooks, a character on Degrassi: The Next Generation. In the show, Brooks is a basketball star who became physically disabled after he was shot by a classmate. His role on the show ended in 2009, when his character graduated from Degrassi. He appeared in 138 episodes. He also appeared in the 2008 television movie Degrassi Spring Break Movie. Drake is mentioned in the 2010 television movie Degrassi Takes Manhattan, making him one of two Degrassi actors (along with Shenae Grimes) who exist within the series' fictional universe independently of their characters.
In June 2010 it was announced that Drake would have a prominent role in the video game Gears of War 3. He was scheduled to play the part of Jace Stratton, but a scheduling conflict meant it went to someone else.[17]
n February 2006, Drake released his first mixtape Room for Improvement. It was made available via his website and official MySpace page. From the success of his first mixtape, he later began releasing more, capitalizing from the buzz.In late January 2011, Indiewire announced that Drake was in negotiations to join Eva Green and Susan Sarandon in the cast of Nicholas Jarecki's forthcoming feature-film "Arbitrage.".[18] However in April 2011, it was announced that Drake will no longer be starring in the movie as his plan is to focus fully on his sophomore album Take Care instead.[19]
In 2007, he released Comeback Season to much critical acclaim and praise. It was from here on where Graham started gaining popularity when he did his first song with Lil Wayne, a remix of the already popular song “Man of the Year” which Wayne didn’t rap in but had ad-libs in the end of the song. In 2008, he released Heartbreak Drake, yet again a popular release and gaining more acclaim and buzz for the artist. So Far Gone, which included Drake’s mentor Lil Wayne, and members of Young Money, was released in 2009. Also in 2007, Graham became the first unsigned Canadian rapper to have his music video featured on BET when his first single, “Replacement Girl” was featured as the “Joint of the Day” in April 2007.
