Aaron Nomakchteinsky

Student

“Sometimes you have to swallow your pride, especially with those who are training you. They’re just trying to help you learn all you can.”

In show biz, it pays to have a good moniker, a catchy name. So it is with Aaron Nomakchteinsky. At auditions, they might not be able to pronounce it. But they sure won’t forget it either. “My ancestors were Russian, but my family is actually Argentinean. And I’ll admit the name helps when I’m out there doing TV and films. But I came over to SMC to do theater because all I’ve heard from anyone who’s acting on the stage is that SMC has the best program around. And it’s true! I’m studying with Ms. Jones, and she’s awesome. She really makes you stretch as an actor.”

Aaron likes being a character actor. And one place he developed a lot of that ‘character’ was in the U.S. Army. “I was all over the East Coast for two years, and it was a tough job,” he recalls. “But it’s a great place to learn more responsibility and how to get along with different kinds of people. When I got out of there I was motivated,” he says. “I was kind of a screw-up when I was younger: into drugs and all that stuff. But I’m clean now and feeling really proud about that.” When asked how he quit his destructive ways he responds, “I O.D.’d, simple as that. I ended up in the hospital and everything blew up in my face. So if I didn’t want to end up in a coffin, I had no choice. That was my ‘wake-up call.’”

Aaron knows he’s going to “burst into the business, big time. But I’m going to have my degree, too. And if my name doesn’t go up in lights—which would take a lot of light bulbs!—I’m still going to have a good productive life.”

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