Originally from Tsawwassen, British Columbia, Aaron Smail grew up in a musical household where his parents, Marla Mayson and Ron Smail—both working musicians, choral singers, and music educators—nurtured his passion for the arts.  

Aaron attended Southpointe Academy from kindergarten through grade 12, where he was active in the school’s band program in middle and high school under the direction of band instructor Boris Pekarsky.  Aaron played trombone in a range of ensembles including Concert Band, Jazz band, Honour band, and Wind Orchestra, taking him on a variety of award-winning band trips to Vancouver Island, Washington State, and Oregon. Aaron got his a first-hand taste of film music when he got to play a music cue from Disney’s Atlantis live to picture at Disney Music Group’s studios on a band trip to California in 2014. Eagerly partaking in the school’s drama program under instructor Greg Kean, Aaron was featured in roles such as Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Barnaby Tucker in Thornton Wilder’s The Matchmaker, The Ragpicker in Jean Giraudoux’s The Madwoman of Chaillot, and Otto Frank in Goodrich and Hackett’s The Diary of Anne Frank.

Intent on pursuing theatre performance in his post-secondary education, Aaron attended the University of Victoria, where he focused in acting in the Performance program at UVic’s Phoenix Theatre, training with instructors including Fran Gebhard, Jan Wood, Brian Richmond, Kevin McKendrick (acting for stage), Conrad Alexandrowicz, Treena Stubel (stage movement, masque, clown) and Michael Elliott (voice for stage).  Aaron has explored roles in Shakespeare, American comedies, contemporary Canadian dramas, and musicals. In addition to acting, Aaron found a calling in studying sound design, and has sound designed several award-winning shows in Victoria, as well as touring shows in Western Canada.  Some of his sound designs have featured his own original music.  Aaron graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Theatre Performance in 2020.  

That summer, with Covid-19 putting a halt to the original plan, Aaron turned to investing his time in learning all he could about film scoring and composing. The stars aligned, and he scored his first short film, The Settler, with Haley House Productions. Since, he has scored The Gladiolus Blossoms (2022), Tradecraft (2023), and The Twelve Step Strangler (2024) with Haley House Productions, Stay (2023) with King Louie Films, The Only Bar on King Street (2023) with Fourth Curtain Productions, Auganic (2024) with Kreations Media, and Implanted (2024) with Hidden Valley Entertainment. Aaron is always looking for new stories to help tell and new connections to make, so please don’t hesitate to reach out via email at aaronsmailemail@gmail.com or through a dm on Instagram to inquire about original music for your film or project.

In 2020/21, Aaron ran a podcast called Film Music Friday in which he shared his passion for film music and film scoring. It’s available to listen to on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music.  Aaron is currently working on a passion project, a documentary film about his late grandfather, Ireal A. (Don) Mayson, a former Vice President of RCA Canada and Spar Aerospace, called Finding Ireal.

Aaron is an avid reader and enjoys listening to music, going to the cinema, film photography, playing piano, and drinking tea.

Aaron is a member of SOCAN (Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada)