Drew Ray Tanner in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images)

About Drew Ray Tanner
Age32 Years
BirthFebruary 12, 1992 Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
GenderMale
SiblingsTaylor Tanner
AlumniAldergrove Community Secondary School, W. J. Mouat Secondary School
HometownAldergrove, British Columbia
Movies, ShowsWork It, Riverdale

Drew Ray Tanner, who intrigued fans as a Southside Serpent, is now starring in the most anticipated dance movie of the year. The Riverdale star shows a different side of himself in Netflix’s Work It, which also stars Sabrina Carpenter, Jordan Fisher, and Liza Koshy. Before his breakthrough, Tanner’s acting journey had more lows than highs. We trace his career right here in Drew Ray Tanner’s wiki.

Drew Ray Tanner’s Early Life

Drew Ray Tanner was born on February 12, 1992 in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. He and his brother Taylor were raised in Aldergrove, also in British Columbia.

Tanner attended W. J. Mouat Secondary School in Abbotsford and Aldergrove Community Secondary School. He was involved in football and acting during his time as a student.

Having grown up in a small town with lots of farmland and open spaces, Tanner is a self-described “inner city country bumpkin.”

“I enjoy both aspects of the country and the city, but I think I’ll always be a country kid at heart. When I lived at home we would go and cut firewood every other saturday, my brother went fishing a lot and we always listened to country music on the radio. I think it surprises people when they meet me and learn that I can sing probably every lyric to every country song from the late 90’s to the early 2000’s.”

Drew Ray Tanner’s hometown had no malls, theaters, or rec centers where kids could spend their time. With nothing to keep them occupied, many teens and young adults got into some trouble. Tanner, too, had a rebellious teenage phase.

He would later outgrow his troublemaking ways, moving to the city briefly when he was 18. But he couldn’t adapt to the change in lifestyle and returned to his hometown.

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Drew Ray Tanner’s Career

Drew Tanner Began Performing When He Was a Child

Before he was an actor, Drew Ray Tanner was a performer. A five-year-old Tanner was taught how to perform magic by his beloved grandfather, a retired veteran of the Canadian army, and put on a show for family and friends. Their reactions were what got Tanner addicted to the spotlight.

Although he believes that performing and acting are two different things, Tanner’s background as a performer helped him when he took to the stage.

“When I was little I had a very big voice that carried. I talked a lot and I was a bit of a class clown,” said Tanner when describing how he caught the acting bug. “My teachers were like, ‘Okay, what do we do with this little energy ball, this kid with the loud voice? Where do we place this kid?’ So, they asked me if I wanted to perform in a school play and I did. I really took to it.”

When he decided to turn his acting passion into a career, Tanner’s family was both discouraging and encouraging. He nonetheless stuck to his goal, acting in every school production and joined an improv class in high school. He was even the first biracial actor in town to play Santa Claus in a play.

After his first attempt at city life didn’t go so well, Tanner returned to Vancouver to pursue an acting career. And this time he was able to adapt to city life.

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Drew Ray Tanner Was Cast in Power Rangers

Tanner dreamed of a career on television when he was 11. Unfortunately, his family’s financial situation didn’t allow for him to travel to Vancouver for auditions frequently.

So, until around age 17, he focused on football and getting opportunities and scholarships to play in universities. He had taken a break from the stage back then, but returned to it in his senior year.

Tanner’s passion for acting reignited, he declined the football scholarships. With the support of his parents, he then planned how he would pursue an acting career.

Drew Ray Tanner made minor appearances in big TV titles like Arrow, iZombie, Supernatural, Supergirl, and more. His resume boasted several minor appearances when Tanner was determined not ro accept roles if he didn’t like the script.

So, when he was offered a role of “Young Lover #2” in a major movie script, Tanner debated whether he should audition or stick to his artistic stance.

But he loved the scene and decided to audition because of it…then he was cast. That movie was the 2017 remake of Power Rangers.

His single scene took a week to film and Tanner had to perform stunts and do a scene around getting shot in the leg. His scene also got him to share some screentime with Elizabeth Banks.

Tanner has since been more open to saying “yes” to scripts. He has acted in various TV movies, had a recurring role on Somewhere Between, and most recently appeared in DC’s Legends of Tomorrow.

And now he’s starring alongside Sabrina Carpenter, Jordan Fisher, and Liza Koshy in the upcoming dance-comedy film, Work It.

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Drew Ray Tanner Is on Riverdale

The TV adaptation of the Archie’s comics universe was in the works in 2015 when Tanner was asked to audition for Jughead and then Reggie. The show’s direction was still unclear at that point, so Tanner did his own interpretation of the characters and scripts at the audition.

He didn’t get either roles. But Tanner wasn’t too dejected about a show that was not fully developed at that point.

A year after Riverdale premiered, he visited Rocco’s Diner, aka the famous Riverdale diner a year later. After that, Tanner finally watched the show. Now a fan of Riverdale, Tanner put in the effort to get a spot in the show’s cast.

His efforts paid off and he was called for an audition.

“When I auditioned again it was for Sweet Pea. In the scene that I was reading there was this character named Fangs who has to go and challenge Archie on the North side of town as an initiation into the Serpents gang. When I was done auditioning for Sweet Pea, I went in again and read for this Fangs guy.”

Tanner made a better Fangs Fogarty, so he bagged the role. His fellow B.C. native, Jordan Connor, landed Sweet Pea.

Interestingly, both actors turned down football scholarships for acting, frequently ran into each other at auditions before Riverdale, and often lost roles to each other, until they both landed Riverdale.

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