Ben Foster is an outstanding and talented actor who in my personal
opinion is headed for a great life of entertaining people. He is extremely articulate,
animated, and plays several different types of roles, or maybe the mindset is
just different, seamlessly. I'll have to admit that if there was anyone on this
entire show I would like to meet, with Jewel coming in at a hair-slim second,
it would be Ben Foster. From some of the awards he's won he sounds like a bright
and levelheaded guy, which just entices me more to want to meet him. I love
to have conversations with intelligent people.
P.S. (Ben if you ever see this, my e-mail is
Here is some biographical information on Ben brought to you
by the Family Channel Canada and the Disney Channel.
(Note- Realize this stuff is all over two years old, so, we can probably
safely doubt that some of it will not apply to Ben anymore.)
Family Channel's Ben Foster Background
Ben Foster as "Tucker"Ben Foster stars as Tucker, a 13 year-old who is entering eighth grade and confronting new freedom while struggling to hang on to his past in Flash Forward. Tucker is a natural comic whose irrepressible mischeviousness puts him in more than a few hilariously difficult situations.
Born in Boston, Massachusetts and raised in Fairfield, Iowa, Ben started acting at the age of 8. His first starring role, at the age of 11, was Charlie Brown in the play You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, produced by the Iowa Theater company. Imbued with a love of performing arts, Ben, at the age of 12, wrote, directed and starred in a one-act play that won first place in Iowa's "Odyssey of the Mind" competition. He was also singled out over 3,000 competitors for a Best Actor Award.
The next year, Ben wrote, directed and starred in another one-act play that also won first place in Iowa's "Odyssey of the Mind" competition, and third place in the world competition. Again, he was singled out with the highest award for his performance.
During the summers of his 13th and 14th years, Ben attended Interlochen Theater Arts Summer Program in Michigan. In both years, he won the Best Actor Award for his performances. The role of Tucker in Flash Forward is Ben's first professional acting job. "This part was hand-made for me - it's me up there," he enthuses. "When my dad was thumbing through the scripts, he kept asking me, 'Are you sure they didn't know you before they wrote these?'" Ben looks forward to bringing to his role at least 40 new comic impressions and characters that he has created over the last year.
In early 1996, Ben also acted in Kounterfeit, an independently produced feature film starring Hilary Swank and Corbin Bernson.
In addition to watching movies, creating characters and writing screenplays, Ben enjoys tennis, basketball and listening to music.
Here is the Disney Channel's Quick-Bio on Ben
NAME: Ben Foster
CHARACTER NAME: Tucker
AGE: 16
BIRTHDAY: October 29, 1980
BIRTHPLACE: Boston, MA
FAVORITE COLOR: Green
FAVORITE FOOD: Pizza
FAVORITE HOBBY: Writing
FAVORITE SPORT: "I hate sports."
FAVORITE MUSIC GROUPS: R.E.M. & Dead Can Dance
FAVORITE MOVIE: "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"
FAVORITE TV SHOW: "The X-Files"
FAVORITE ACTOR: Living: Sean Penn Dead: James Dean
FAVORITE ACTRESS: Claire Danes
FAVORITE QUOTE: "Do you like olives?" J.D. Salinger,
Nine Stories
GOAL: "To direct my own writing."
IF NOT A PROFESSIONAL ACTOR, WHAT WOULD YOU BE? "An
unemployed actor."
How Ben Got Into Acting (Disney)
How I got into acting (in his own words "I was four when I first realized acting was for me. It was while I was watching 'The Muppet Show'; I watched that show religiously. I just saw that on TV and said, 'That's it. They're funny, they're smart, they're crazy. I'm not alone in this dark world. I want to perform.'
"So, I began studying acting. I'd run a movie and just drill and drill and drill an actor's performance until I got it down. I'll study Charlie Chaplin or Abbott and Costello all the way up to Robin Williams, Steve Martin, and Jim Carrey. I'm just trying to pick up on all angles of performance.
"I've taken some acting classes, but not many, because I'm afraid they might limit me because it's always based on the teacher's point of view. I have my own point of view, and what I do is read a lot and watch a lot of film.
"Then I started directing my friends in plays, which was quite funny, because I lost a lot of them that way. I'd be like, 'No, no, no, it's not good enough.' And they're like, 'Ben, it's only a play, man. Relax!'
"I started performing in plays and even got to direct some of my own writing, which I won awards for. I really took no steps whatsoever to become a professional actor, although I told my parents, 'For about five years, I'm dying here in Iowa. I'm freaking out. I really have to act professionally.' They were like, 'Yeah, we understand, but it's tough out there. Maybe you should look for something else to do for a living.'
"Then, finally, it just so happened that a relative of ours had a friend, who's good friends with an agent and manager in L.A. And my folks were headed that way on business, so we like stopped off to talk with these agents, just trying to figure out the ropes. And as we were leaving, they said, 'It looks like you have an agent and a manager,' and I'm like, 'What? Excuse me? Are you serious? Orange juice on me!'
"They sent me on some auditions, but it was a wonderful fluke that the first job I actually landed is the pilot for 'Flash Forward.' It's all pretty unheard of.
"Acting is so much more than I believed it was. It all comes pouring out of nowhere. I have to act, and I have to direct. At the same time, it's a difficult business and should never be taken lightly. If someone wants to act, they need to make serious soul-searching decisions first."