He got his start in Kansas City theater. Now he co-stars on Rob Lowe’s new TV series

Kansas City native Aaron Branch worked as an executive assistant not long before he landed a starring role in Netflix’s new Rob Lowe comedy series “Unstable” where he plays … an executive assistant.

Branch’s first big break in Hollywood came in a pilot for a spinoff from “The Middle” where he played a hotel bellman, a role he got … while working as a hotel bellman.

“Hopefully you’re starting to see the dots now and why this is so strange,” says a jovial Branch in a Zoom interview from Los Angeles. “I think that’s what they call, ‘art mimicking life,’ that whole thing.”

It’s not been a bad thing for Branch, 27, who grew up in the Waldo area, and got into acting almost by happenstance in an after-school program at St. Paul’s Episcopal Day School.

“My mom was always really late picking me up,” Branch recalls, “so I was going to be at the regular after-school program and they introduced a program you could do instead, Theatre of the Imagination,” which offers classes and camps around the Kansas City area. “So I was in that starting at 6 and I just became obsessed with Theatre of the Imagination and doing that program, which was a few weeks once or twice a year.”

He recalls that when he was 11 or 12, his mom took him to The Coterie Theatre’s front desk at Crown Center, where Branch asked if they had any auditions scheduled.

“And they said yes,” Branch recalls with a sense of wonder more than a decade later. “So we went to the library on the Plaza, the Kansas City Library, and I found monologues, memorized a monologue, went to an audition at The Coterie and I got the role. My very first audition.”

That was for “A Star Ain’t Nothin’ but a Hole in Heaven,” in 2007. More roles at The Coterie followed, as well as at Starlight Theatre (“The Music Man”) and Theatre in the Park (“Oklahoma!”). (At Bishop Miege High School, he was more into video production, not so much the drama department.) In his senior year, Branch starred as the title character in The Coterie’s production of “Bud, Not Buddy.”

After graduating from Bishop Miege in 2013, Branch started doing stand-up comedy as a teenager, performing mostly at the since-shuttered Stanford and Sons. He continues to work in stand-up, including a trip back to KC earlier this month for a show with Josh Johnson at the Improv.

Now Branch stars alongside Rob Lowe and Lowe’s son, John Owen Lowe, in “Unstable.” Its eight-episode first season begins streaming Friday, March 31, on Netflix.

The series, created by the Lowes and writer Victor Fresco, has the comedic vibe of Fresco’s short-lived comedies “Andy Richter Controls the Universe” (2002-03, Fox) and “Better Off Ted” (2009-10, ABC)

Like those titles, “Unstable” is largely a workplace show. This one centers on brilliant biotech scientist and entrepreneur Ellis Dragon (Rob Lowe) who’s been spiraling since the death of his wife. The company’s CFO, Anna (Sian Clifford), brings Ellis’ son, Jackson (John Owen Lowe), back home to try to help get the elder Dragon out of his rut.

Branch plays Malcolm Drummond, Jackson’s childhood friend who was recently promoted from Ellis’ executive assistant to a project manager. Malcolm’s Season One arc is gaining confidence in his ability to lead.

“A lot of that is with the assistance of the amazing Sian Clifford. The majority of my storyline is with her, which is awesome,” Branch says. “It’s her showing me the ropes and Anna’s version of what confidence looks like.”

As for the Lowe father-son dynamic on set, Branch says it went how one might expect.

“It was a lot of laughs but a lot of, ‘Dad, I’ll just do what I want,’ but it was all rooted in love,” Branch says. “I thought they handled it so well and so professionally. I don’t think I would be able to do anything with my mom anywhere, though I love her to death.”

Because their characters are supposed to be childhood friends, Branch and John Owen Lowe spent some time off set. Branch discovered when it comes to healthy eating habits, the junior Lowe is the spitting image of his famously health-conscious father. Branch says he is vegan, but the Lowes are next level.

“We went over to Johnny’s house and I remember just looking at his fridge and he had drinks that I had never seen before, just the healthiest things,” Branch says, recalling that John offered him a ginger shot. “I thought I was a pro at ginger shots and he was like, ‘You’ve never had one like this.’ So I took the ginger shot and it was like coffee. And I couldn’t sleep that night. What was in that ginger shot? We had a lot of fun, a lot of laughs.”

Branch says one of the first scenes he filmed involved eating on camera. Rob Lowe tried to impart some advice.

“He was like, ‘Man, eating on camera is one of the hardest things that you can do as an actor.’ And he broke it down as to why because your brain wants to do it one way, and he was like, ‘Your best case is just don’t eat.’ And of course, me being me, I’m gonna try to eat and it did not work whatsoever,” Branch says. “I had a lot of fun laughs with Rob and got a lot of really good gems (of advice) that I still use to this day.”

Branch got a degree in comedy writing and performance at Chicago’s Columbia College, graduating in 2018 (“I have a clown degree,” he jokes). He worked as a bellman at the Chicago Athletic Association, a Hyatt Hotel, when he auditioned for “Sue Sue in the City,” the pilot of a proposed spinoff series from ABC’s hit “The Middle” (2009-18). It starred Eden Sher, reprising her Sue Heck character who moves to Chicago and gets a job at a hotel.

“I literally did the audition dressed as a bellman and it stuck out, I guess,” Branch says. The series didn’t get picked up, but it’s what brought Branch to L.A.

Other roles followed, including guest spots on NBC’s “Kenan.” Branch also put the writing portion of his college degree to work when a friend recruited him to work behind the scenes on the 2021 Disney+ kids competition series “Disney’s Magic Bake-Off.”

“It was so much fun watching these amazingly talented kids bake cakes,” Branch says. “I’m vegan so I was able to even try a couple of the cakes that were vegan.”

Prior to that gig, Branch was assistant to a CEO of a video production company — shades of his “Unstable” role — during a time he felt he might head down an executive path and veer away from performing.

“But I had an epiphany, and I was like, no, I want to dive right back into writing and acting,” Branch says. “I remember thinking to myself (while working at the video production company), this is not what I actually want to be doing but I liked it, I really did. I loved working there, I loved the people, but I guess it was preparation or training (for ‘Unstable’) and it just worked out.”

The ”Unstable” audition came up as Branch was about to shoot a role in a short film some friends were making in Chicago, “Lining,” that wound up on Roku Channel in 2022. Branch had to grow his hair out for “Lining” so he could get it cut on camera as part of the “Lining” story.

“Unstable” initially passed on casting Branch, but a month later producers reached back out. Branch was able to audition again, post-haircut, and an hour after his audition, he booked the part.

“Malcolm is a 1,020% version of myself,” says Branch. “That’s who I was during that period of my life.”

When Branch comes home to Kansas City, he mostly just spends time with his mom, Carla Tillmon, an FDIC community affairs specialist, and his grandmother, Nancy Tillmon.

“I love them so much,” Branch says. “I’m one of the only people in my family that left the nest and hasn’t really come back, so I’m trying to cherish those moments. But ever since the Chiefs won the Super Bowl, I’ll probably be spending my time cosplaying as Patrick Mahomes.”

Freelance writer Rob Owen: RobOwenTV@gmail.com or on Facebook and Twitter as RobOwenTV.