When Aurora native Josh Ackerman first heard Christina Aguilera sing, he said he knew she was bound for pop-singing stardom.
“I remember when Christina Aguilera’s audition tape came in, she was singing like Whitney Houston,” Ackerman said about his fellow Disney’s “Mickey Mouse Club” alum. “I knew that she more than anybody was going to be a mega star.”
Ackerman, who moved from Colorado to Orlando, Fla., when he was 11, answered an open casting call for the famed “Mickey Mouse Club,” and landed a place on the show. During his tenure there (he was the only male cast member who stayed on from the pilot to the last episode when he was 18), Ackerman performed alongside Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, Ryan Gosling and (Highlands Ranch native) Keri Russell.
“I was around really, really talented people,” he said. “I learned the importance of collaboration and just the inception of an idea. I definitely think at an early age built the foundation of where I am today. I knew what I wanted to do when I grew up; I was living it.”
But Ackerman’s show business career shifted from in front of the camera to behind it. He learned the basics of what would become his craft by hanging out with editors and producers to learn the intricacies of their jobs.
After graduating from the prestigious Tisch School of the Arts at NYU, Ackerman moved to Los Angeles and pursued an on-camera career doing national commercials for companies including Burger King and Taco Bell.
“But I knew that wouldn’t be my life,” he said. “I still felt a void and wanted to tell stories.”
About five years ago, Ackerman and his business partners built Bodega Pictures from a garage-based fledgling start-up to a full service production house with more than 50 employees and five network deals including shows in development with AMC, E! and the Cooking Channel.
At the end of last month, his show “South Beach Tow” on TruTV returned with a new season. On Sunday, the Bodega-produced show “On the Rocks” premieres on the Food Network. “On the Rocks” features host John Green, founder of a bar consulting company, as he travels around the U.S. in his quest to turn around failing bars.
“He can change little things that can bring in big dollars for the owners,” Ackerman said. As for returning to his Denver-area roots, Ackerman said he hasn’t been “home” for seven or eight years.
“I’ve been building my business,” he said.
‘South Beach Tow’ is just one of the many projects produced by Josh Ackerman’s Bodega Pictures. (Tru TV photo)
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