Breaking the mold: Clinton actor and composer to appear in film later this month

Sep. 6—CLINTON — Aaron Fullan, an actor and composer who resides in Clinton, will appear in Surprised by Oxford, a film to be released Sept. 27 for showings in 600 theaters across six countries.

"Needless to say, I hope Iowans turn out in droves to support this film's brief theatrical run," Fullan says.

Running an hour and 49 minutes in length, the film directed by Ryan Whitaker is a romance based on the best-selling memoir by Carolyn Weber, which tells the true story of Caro Drake's first year at Oxford University when an unexpected friendship she begins with who's described as a "charming young man" played by Ruairi O'Connor of The Morning Show starts her on a transformative journey.

Fullan plays the role of Mr. Weston, an elementary education teacher who has a tense interaction with young Carolyn, played by Annabelle Holloway of The Walking Dead.

Surprised by Oxford will be the third full-length film that Fullan has appeared in.

His acting career first began with the short movies that he made with his two older brothers during the 1990s and a 45-minute version of The Three Musketeers that he made with a couple friends at Eagle Point Park.

He recalls thinking, "This is what I feel like I should be doing."

Fullan was dual-enrolled as a homeschooler at Unity Christian Elementary School in Fulton, Illinois. His mother and father, 31-year Clinton firefighter James Fullan, signed him up to begin taking piano lessons in second grade from a teacher in Clinton.

He continued to take piano lessons throughout his senior year of high school before majoring in music ministry at Emmaus Bible College in Dubuque.

Just after graduating, Fullan at 22 years old married his wife Tabby and moved to Thomson, Illinois.

"If you want to pursue film in any way, you need to be in L.A. or in Atlanta," he says. "And if you want to do theater, you need to go out to New York, and I just really didn't want to do that. I love small-town America. I loved where I was raised."

While his wife would occasionally teach English online to young students in China for additional income as needed, Fullan began to recognize that the accessibility of opportunities available via the internet offered him professional options.

In 2014, without the income to pay to build a studio in which to compose music, Fullan approached Bill Heid, a Thomson entrepreneur that he'd worked for just after graduating college.

"I came up with a pitch," Fullan recalls, "and I said, 'listen, I'll write any sort of commercial jingle for you any time you want for free from here on out if you would do this for me.'"

The studio was built into the basement of the apartment building Fullan was living in at the time. There, he would write music and email it to people who were in the industry after working a full-time job outside of the entertainment industry during the day. Fullan says that most of the hundreds of emails he sent received no response.

In 2019, Fullan moved to Clinton with his wife, their children, and the equipment from his studio.

In the summer of 2020, an agent based near L.A. who'd noticed Fullan's comedy sketches on social media reached out to him. Soon after, he auditioned and was signed to Treasure Coast Talent Agency, traveling to North Carolina two weeks later to make his first commercial.

Since given that opportunity to express his extroverted nature, Fullan has gained additional representation in Minnesota and Des Moines, where he has another commercial booked in a couple weeks.

Though he's been acting and writing film music full-time from home as of March 2022, Fullan says that for the past few months he has been booked out and has even had to turn down work for the first time.

Fullan this year received a Best Supporting Actor nomination at the Content film festival and media summit. He currently is starting on orchestrating music for a feature film and will be writing the music for another next month.

"I just love being able to be home with my family," he says, his children now the ages of eight, seven, five, and three. "I love being able to be in the community that I grew up in."

He calls the support given him by the community invaluable, hoping in return to inspire others living in smaller communities.

'Now, more than ever," he says, "you can stay and still do this type of work."

For updates on Fullan, visit his website at www.AaronFullan.com or follow him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/AaronFullan.

Tickets to see Surprised by Oxford will be available through Cinemark Davenport 18 theaters. Watch the official trailer for the movie online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcnASYlxn-w.