Ben Savage
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| Ben Savage | |
 Ben Savage is an American film and TV actor and child star of the 1990s. |
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| Birth name | Bennett Joseph Savage |
| Born | September 13, 1980 (age 26) Chicago, Illinois, USA |
| Official site | None |
| Notable roles | Eric Stevenson in Little Monsters Cory Matthews in Boy Meets World (TV) |
Ben Savage, (born Bennett Joseph Savage on September 13, 1980, in Chicago, Illinois, USA), is an American film and TV actor and child star of the 1990s.
Savage is best known for his role as the lead character Cory Matthews on the TV sitcom Boy Meets World for seven seasons, which catapulted him into stardom, and for being the younger brother of Fred Savage, who starred in the TV-series The Wonder Years.
Since the completion of BMW, Savage has furthered his education securing a degree in 2004 and now seems ready to pursue an already growing motion picture career.
He stars in 2 films scheduled for release in 2007; Car Babes and Palo Alto.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life and career
Ben Savage was born in Chicago, Illinois, of Jewish heritage, to parents Lewis, a real estate agent, and Joanne, a housewife. He spent his early days with his family in Glencoe, a suburb of Chicago.
He is the younger brother of Fred Savage, who starred in the hit series The Wonder Years and who he credits for inspiring him to become an actor. He has also an older sister, Kala, who was born in 1979 and is a stage actress (1996).
Savage's show business career started doing television commercials at the age of 5. His first job was in a TV ad for a drugstore chain in 1985. "All I had to do was sit in a pool and smile," said Savage.
[edit] Career
Savage made his film debut at the age of 9 in his brother Fred's hit Little Monsters (1989) and appeared in the feature films Big Girls Don't Cry...They Get Even (1992), as "Sam", the brainy little brother and playing a 10-year old in Clifford (1994), the latter starring Martin Short. Savage's stage debut was in The Laughter Epidemic at the Pasadena Playhouse.
Savage established himself more strenuously on TV.
His first major speaking role on network television was playing the recurring role of Matthew, son of the Judd Hirsch character, on the comedy series, Dear John (1988). Then he was one of a family of orphans who con Robert Mitchum into being their guardian in A Family For Joe (NBC, 1990).
Savage is best known for his role as lead character Cory Matthews on the TV sitcom Boy Meets World from 1993 to 2000. Cory Matthews, a '90s-model Dennis the Menace constantly at daggers drawn with authority figures -- especially his fifth-grade teacher, Mr. Feeny (William Daniels). Says Savage: "I'd never talk to my teachers like Cory talks to Mr. Feeny. I mean, they're the ones who give you the grades." When Boy Meets World premiered in the fall of 1993, advertising agencies predicted that the clever Cory Matthews character would succeed. Indeed, the sitcom became a staple of the ABC's "T.G.I.F." Friday schedule.
Savage's brother Fred appeared alongside him in one episode of BMW, guest starring where he played a lecherous college professor going after the girlfriend of "Cory Matthews" (Ben Savage). In the following season, December 17, 1999, Fred directed his brother and the cast of BMW in the episode, "Family Trees," as Shawn (Rider Strong) discovers that the woman who raised him is not his real mother.
Savage has also worked in a few TV-movies, including She Woke Up (ABC, 1992), with Lindsay Wagner, and McDonald's Family Theatre Presents: Aliens for Breakfast (ABC, 1995), as a young teen whose breakfast cereal figures come alive.
Savage received critical recognition for his portrayal of "Coty Wyckoff", an angel-faced boy with the soul of a killer, in the ABC Event Series, Wild Palms (1993).
In May, 1998, Savage again received critical acclaim. This time for playing "Roddy Stern" in Tony Award-winner Israel Horovitz's rarely seen play Unexpected Tenderness at the Marilyn Monroe Theater, Los Angeles.
He made a cameo appearance as himself in an episode of the Disney Channel original series Phil of the Future.
In 2002, Savage starred in the PG-13 film Swimming Upstream playing the best friend, who was not the most mature person in the world but whose support makes up for that, to his terminally ill friend.
[edit] Personal life
Ben Savage graduated high school in 1998 from the Brentwood School in Los Angeles.
Savage interned for U.S. Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) in 2003. He graduated from Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, in 2004, with a degree in Political Science and as a member of Sigma Chi Fraternity.
Savage regularly volunteers for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. He also remains good friends with his former Boy Meets World co-stars Matthew Lawrence, Danielle Fishel and Rider Strong. He is a huge Bruce Springsteen fan to the point where he and his father spent a summer traveling the country following Springsteen on a U.S. tour.
Savage, who enjoys music and reading novels, currently resides in Los Angeles, California.
[edit] Current activities
Ben Savage appears poised to follow his older brother and pursue a motion picture career with several film titles in post-production. Slated for 2007 release are two Ben Savage films:
Car Babes is a coming-of-age comedy starring Savage as a recent college grad living at home who reluctantly goes to work at his dad’s car dealership. "The original idea emerged from stories our co-writer Blake Dirickson entertained us with about working for his father on his car lot," say co-directors Nick Fumia and Chris Wolf, who jack up their film’s tension with the threat of a hostile takeover and the requisite romantic interest. The film is scheduled to be released March, 2007.
Palo Alto is the story of four college freshmen on their last night of Thanksgiving Break, their first time back since leaving for school. It is then that they come to realize that their small town, once seemingly boring and meaningless, has much more to offer then they ever expected.
[edit] Awards
- Nomination - "Best Young Actor" (Little Monsters) - 11th Annual Young Artist Awards (1988).
- Nomination - "Best Youth Actor Leading Role in a Television Series" (Boy Meets World) - 17th Annual Young Artist Awards (1994).
- Nomination - "Best Performance in a TV Comedy - Leading Young Actor" (Boy Meets World) - 20th Annual Young Artist Awards (1997).
- Nomination - "Best Performance in a TV Comedy Series" (Boy Meets World) - 21st Annual Young Artist Awards (1998).
- Nomination - "Best Performance by a Young Actor in a Comedy TV Series" (Boy Meets World) - YoungStar Awards (1998).
- Winner (with Rider Strong) - "Favorite Television Friends" (Boy Meets World) - 13th Annual Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards (2000).
[edit] Trivia
- Included in E!'s 50 Cutest Child Stars: All Grown Up (2005).
- According to his website, ex-Monkees member Mickey Dolenz had a turn at direction on Boy Meets World, the Michael Jacobs Production ABC/Disney TV show.
[edit] Select filmography
- See the complete Ben Savage filmography at IMDB
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1989 | Little Monsters | Eric Stevenson |
| 1993 | Wild Palms Mini-series (TV) |
Coty Wyckoff |
| 1993 | Boy Meets World Series (TV) 1993-2000 |
Cory Matthews |
| 1994 | Clifford | Roger |
| 2002 | Swimming Upstream | Teddy Benevides |
| 2007 | Car Babes (Post-production) |
Ford Davis |
| 2007 | Palo Alto (Post-production) |
Patrick |
[edit] External links
- Ben Savage at the Internet Movie Database
- Ben Savage at Yahoo! Movies
- Ben Savage at the Notable Names Database
- Ben Savage Picture Gallery
