Andrew Alfred Scott (born April 28, 1978) is a Canadian reality television personality, best known as the co-host (along with his identical twin brother Jonathan) of the TV series Property Brothers.
The home-renovation program, which is produced by Cineflix Media, features Drew as the realtor and Jonathan as the contractor.
The success of the show has led to several spinoffs, including Buying and Selling, Brother vs. Brother, Property Brothers: at Home, and Property Brothers: Forever Homes. Scott (along with his two brothers) is also a co-founder of Scott Brothers Entertainment, which creates and produces TV shows, films, and digital content. Additionally, the twins have launched the home furnishings brand Scott Living and its subsidiary, Dream Homes.Tablang, Kristin (January 26, 2017), "Online Exclusive: 'Property Brothers' Jonathan and Drew Scott Launch Dream Homes by Scott Living." . Forbes. Retrieved February 12, 2017.
Scott participates in charity and philanthropic activities. He resides in Los Angeles with his wife, Linda Phan. The couple had an HGTV show called Property Brothers at Home: Drew's Honeymoon House, that chronicled the renovation of their home, as well as a show on TLC called Drew and Linda Say I Do, which featured the festivities around their May 2018 wedding in Italy.
Early life Drew Scott was born on April 28, 1978, in Vancouver, British Columbia, the youngest of brothers James Daniel (by two years) and his identical twin brother Jonathan (by four minutes). His birth was a surprise to his parents—Jim and Joanne Scott—who had thought she was giving birth to a single child.
Their father Jim had emigrated from Scotland as a teenager with dreams of being the kind of cowboy he had seen on television.Spencer, Amy (March 25, 2016), "Property Brothers: Living the Dream" . Parade. Retrieved February 6, 2017. He worked in the film industry as an actor, stuntman, and assistant director until the late 1970s. It was around that time when he decided to focus on raising his family, and they moved to a horse farm in the nearby town of Maple Ridge.
He worked as a youth counsellor while Joanne continued her career as a paralegal in downtown Vancouver. On the twins' seventh birthday, their father encouraged them to get jobs, so they started their first business (called JAM), making nylon covered hangers. According to them, they sold them from door to door until a woman who sold American paraphernalia in Japan ordered thousands.
James would commonly purposely destroy their properties, and would pay the boys from as young as eight years old to build and repair fences, decks, and barns. Even as children, the twins would often rearrange the furniture in their family home. As teens, they attended Thomas Haney Secondary School, and Drew excelled in sports, both coaching and playing on the basketball and volleyball teams. After graduation, the family moved into their new home in Alberta, just as the twins were leaving for Calgary to go to university.Hooper, Roxanne (August 17, 2016), "TIMES EXCLUSIVE: Maple Ridge's own Property Brothers answer questions for TIMES readers" Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows Times. Retrieved February 10, 2016.
Career Early career At a young age, Scott began acting in theater, improv, and sketch comedy. As children, the twins trained as apprentice clowns, eventually performing at parties and events and charging as much as 100 dollars per hour.Strohm, Emily (April 10, 2017), "Property Brothers Jonathan & Drew Scott – Fame, Family & Finally Finding Love". People. 87 (16):48-54 However, as Jonathan's interest in magic increased, Drew began to focus more on playing basketball. As a teen and young adult, he also pursued acting, which included roles on Smallville,Aksich, Caroline (April 2, 2014), "Property Brothers' Jonathan and Drew Scott on their runaway hit show and why Forest Hill is their home away from home" . Post City. Retrieved February 16, 2017. Breaker High, and Madison. The brothers enrolled in the University of Calgary, and long time athlete Scott studied kinesiology. Despite their plans to become entertainers, the twins didn't want to be "starving artists," and—after watching an informercial by Carleton SheetsLaura, Robert (January 22, 2013), "Building A Fortune Property Brothers Style" . Forbes. Retrieved February 16, 2017.—they felt real estate investment would "ease the financial purgatory of being out-of-work actors."Real Style staff, "Interview: Property Brothers Drew & Jonathan Scott On Women, Dating & The New Season" . Real Style. Retrieved January 30, 2017. After researching the topic,Kurutz, Steven (August 21, 2014), "Hey, Here's an Idea for a Show" . The New York Times. 163 (56600):D1-D7—and during their first semester in college—they assumed the lease of a seven-bedroom rental property across the street from their university. They cleaned and repaired it, then sublet the remaining five rooms, clearing a profit of $800 a month. Taking advantage of a vendor take-back mortgage, they assumed the mortgage of the home with a $250 down payment, made conservative renovations using the rental money, and sold the house a year later for a $50,000 profit.Berk, Nancy (August 14, 2015), "Property Brother Jonathan Scott Discusses the Power of 15-Minute Renovations". Parade. Retrieved February 6, 2017. They continued to purchase and "flip" homes at wide profit margins for the next 15 years. Jonathan went to school for construction and design, eventually becoming licensed as a contractor.Lifestyle staff, "Jonathan Scott and Drew Scott" . Lifestyle.com. Retrieved February 8, 2017. While his brothers made broader repairs, Drew's labor was mostly limited to installing siding and tile. At the same time, they supported themselves with various jobs including flight attendant, personal trainer, bikini store manager, busboy, website designer, and mall cop. Always planning careers in entertainment, however, the twins—along with their older brother—co-founded Dividian Production Group in 2002, an independent film production company, and Drew continued acting, directing, and producing on the side.
Drew had long abandoned his aspirations to play professional basketball after a string of injuries, but in 2003, an Alberta college recruited him. Already 25 years old, however, and feeling like he was moving backwards, he left after a few weeks and rejoined Jonathan in the real estate business. Having had several negative experiences with realtors, Drew decided to enroll in a real estate program and got his license in 2004, shifting his focus to the real estate transactions. That same year, the twins founded Scott Real Estate Inc., a company designed to provide clients, in their words, a "one stop shop" for services in buying, selling, and renovating properties, as well as design consulting and staging open houses.Geist, Willie; Scott, Drew; Scott, Jonathan (May 2, 2016), HGTV's "Property Brothers" Jonathan and Drew Scott with Willie Geist" (Video). 92nd Street and Y. May 2, 2016.
Transition to television
Despite the success he was having as a realtor, Drew became increasingly dismayed that real estate was overtaking his true passion—acting—so in January 2006 he headed to Vancouver. Moving in with his best friend Pedro, he gave himself one year to pursue his dream in earnest. Meanwhile, Jonathan remained in Calgary to run the business. In Vancouver, Scott began taking acting and voice classes, networking with influential persons in the industry, and rising in the ranks on movie production crews, while keeping a color-coded spreadsheet to manage it all. As the year drew to a close, however, he found himself over $100,000 in debt and not as far along as he had hoped. In an interview with Entrepreneur magazine, Scott relates that, on one sleepless night, he listened to a Jim Cuddy song called "Pull Me Through" and realized that he needed to 'go back to his roots.' He sent Jonathan an email asking for Scott Real Estate's marketing template. Soon, he took out a realtor's license in Vancouver and opened a Scott Real Estate branch there. Jonathan moved to Las Vegas in 2008 with his wife, and began purchasing and renovating homes to use as rentals.CBS News staff (December 29, 2014), "HGTV, "Property Brothers" stars on growing up and their dream home" . CBS News. Retrieved February 12, 2017. Having expanded to have offices in Vancouver, Calgary, and Las Vegas, Scott Real Estate had dozens of employees.
Drew began pitching shows with real estate themes, but was mostly being offered (oftentimes with Jonathan) hosting gigs. Eventually, Cineflix offered him a hosting job for a show called Realtor Idol, based on the American Idol format. The show never materialized, but the company's producers wanted Scott for a show tentatively called My Dream Home, with the intention of finding a female co-host. When they learned he had a brother who was also in real estate, they developed a show around the pair, and that company would later film the pilot for Property Brothers. The show was later picked up by HGTV.
Scott joined his brothers in Las Vegas in 2010 and purchased a condo on "The Strip," a highly concentrated urban area just south of Las Vegas. However, he and Jonathan purchased a joint home in 2011. Its renovation became the subject of the twins' fourth TV series, Property Brothers: At Home, and aired on HGTV in the United States, as well as on the W Network in Canada. It became the most highly rated HGTV series premiere since 2009. After the success of Property Brothers at Home, Scott Brothers Entertainment went on to create another spin-off series called Property Brothers: At Home on the Ranch, where the brothers went back to their old stomping grounds of Alberta, Canada to accomplish a 10-week renovation for a family friend's Rocky Mountain estate. As part of the show, Drew and Jonathan wrote and recorded two country singles that premiered during the third and fourth episode of the series. The singles "Hold On" and "Let the Night Shine In" were released on various music platforms, including iTunes, Amazon.com and Google Play. Both songs were co-written by the brothers along with Nashville songwriters Victoria Shaw and Chad Carlson. "Hold On" hit number 38 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart and was accompanied by a music video that has more than three million Vevo views. The Scott Brothers released a third song, "My House," featuring Eric Paslay, on January 12, 2017. Filmed at the brothers' Las Vegas home, the song's music video depicts a raucous house party, and includes cameos by Carrot Top, RaeLynn and Lindsay Ell. All proceeds from "My House" single sales have been donated to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
Drew and his fiancée, Linda Phan, filmed a five-episode chronicle of the 12-week remodel of their home in Los Angeles called Property Brothers at Home: Drew's Honeymoon House.Stein, Megan (April 18, 2017), "You Should Sit Down for This: Drew and Jonathan Scott (and Drew's Fiancé!) Will Star in a New Series, Drew's Honeymoon House" . People. Retrieved April 19, 2017. Jonathan and JD participated in the project. The program premiered on November 22, 2017, on HGTV, and on November 27 on HGTV Canada. In conjunction with the show, the couple made Wedding Crafts with Linda, a web series in which they demonstrate do-it-yourself wedding-themed crafts, including party menus, cocktails, rehearsal dinner invitations, table centerpieces, and wedding favors. The 11-part series began on November 15, and will be featured on HGTV's Facebook and Instagram pages. He and Linda also appeared on the cover of People magazine the week of the show's premiere, capping off what HGTV called Drew's "best week ever."