Cody Christian on the impact of storytelling

Since 2018, Christian has played Asher Adams on All American, whom he describes as “a kid playing pretend.” Asher has a troubled past and is hopelessly lost, constantly struggling to find a sense of identity beyond football. Without the status or money to make it in Beverly Hills, Asher’s life feels like an illusion — something that can be shattered as easily as it was created. The sport becomes his only way out, his life or death. In the earlier seasons, Asher would do anything to accomplish his goal of playing professionally, even if it meant sacrificing his own morals and ethics. 

“For me, it was very important in the beginning of All American — and specifically, with Asher — to understand what that meant, to really put myself in the mind of an athlete,” Christian says. “I have a lot of friends who are professional athletes now. At the time, they were the first people that I went to and sought advice from. For me to tell Asher’s story properly, I had to understand what it actually felt like to not really see the world outside of a football helmet.”

Christian has come to terms with the kind of intense mentality athletes are trained to have, one that transcends the field or the court. He sympathizes with their challenges and understands the stakes that extend to every aspect of their lives. “It’s a lot of pressure, and some people can’t understand or grasp why they look or think or act the way that they do. But to a lot of these kids, this is everything to them. They put their heart and soul on the line every single day. Especially with Asher, his journey was specific because for a majority of his life, he believed it was going to head in one direction. Then we fast forward to the end of season three, [and] his life has completely turned upside down. It was fun to establish where he was and what the stakes were.”

Aside from adopting that “all-or-nothing” mindset, Christian physically built himself like an athlete to prepare for the role. “[It was] a lot of being out on a field and thinking like an athlete, moving like an athlete, training like an athlete, and eating and sleeping like an athlete. It really took over everything in my life.” He even purchased his own football throwing machine, a decision he confesses was “so expensive and so unnecessary” in hindsight. But at the time, Christian was dedicated to going the whole nine yards for All American. “I bought a JUGS machine that would shoot footballs at you up to a hundred miles an hour. I got in the habit of going out there every day and putting gloves on and going through all of my routines and my catches. It was something that connected me to the character at the time.”

Like any other character on the show, Asher is evidently flawed and far from perfect. It’s this reality, albeit admittedly frustrating at times, that Christian appreciates. He’s been able to tackle new storylines time and time again, using his character as a vehicle for change. “My favorite part of his whole journey was how real we kept it. A lot of the time, I was the one doing the bad stuff,” Christian says. “But when you zoom out, it was so integral to Asher’s growth. Time and time again, you’re almost face palming like, ‘yo, come on, man, haven’t you learned your lesson?’ Looking at where he started and where he’s at now, he’s been a human and everything that that means.”

Put simply, Asher’s been through a lot throughout All American — a heart condition that benches him from the sport he loves, the loss of a father figure-like coach, and the end of what was once a mutually healthy, healing relationship. He’s just entered yet another phase of life, becoming a young dad to a baby boy named AJ. “It comes with a lot of stress and anxiety and baggage, but we see him and his partner maneuver through it. It feels like I’ve been granted the opportunity to play so many different characters in one, to have a show and a character arc that stretches over six and a half years,” he says.

While Christian relates to the gratitude and patience Asher has accumulated through a painstakingly long process of character development and maturity, he hopes that audiences interpret his presence on-screen separately from his own persona. 

“I really relish in the opportunity to let go of everything that I am — who I am as a person, the way I think, and the way I feel. A lot of actors have different opinions about this, but where I stand is that if I’m inhabiting a character and telling a story that’s occurred in their life, it isn’t always necessary to inject how Cody thinks and feels. Sometimes, I perceive it as a little selfish to want to put myself in there. For a lot of the stories that I like to tell, and especially moving forward in my career [with] the roles that I want to choose, I hope that I’m not reflected in them at all. Actually, I hope that there’s not too much that I can identify with, because to me, that is the fun part.”

All American also features complex social issues, such as mental health, substance abuse, and racial discrimination, that are directly tethered to real world discourse. To Christian, incorporating these recurring topics within the fictional premises of the show helps viewers comprehend and synthesize current events. It’s an approach that breaks down established defenses and one he considers more digestible. “People want to see a reflection of the real world in which they live. If you go back to the origins of storytelling and the performative art of theater in ancient Greece, choruses of people would cite songs and poetry and hymns. There was an opportunity for them to almost break the third wall and take it from directing it towards you, to now directing it towards another character on stage with them. It allows the audience to view, perceive, feel, and come along with the journey and not be so right in your face. I think it’s always refreshing. It’s important to see a slice of that reflected in the storytelling we consume.”