Ben Foster

American actorTemplate:SHORTDESC:American actor[[Category:**Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Pagetype/config' not found.**s with short description]]

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**Benjamin A. "Ben" Foster** (born October 29, 1980) is an American actor. He has had roles in films including *The Punisher* (2004), *X-Men: The Last Stand* (2006), *Alpha Dog* (2006), *The Messenger* (2009), *Pandorum* (2009), *The Mechanic* (2011), *Contraband* (2012), *Kill Your Darlings* (2013), *Lone Survivor* (2013), *The Program* (2015), and *Leave No Trace* (2018). He was nominated for a Saturn Award and a Satellite Award for his role in *3:10 to Yuma* (2007) and won an Independent Spirit Award for portraying Tanner Howard in *Hell or High Water* (2016).

## Early life

Foster was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of restaurant owners Gillian Kirwan and Steven Foster. He has described his parents as "free-spirited, Vietnam-protesting hippies". He has a younger brother, Jon, who is also an actor. When Foster was four years old, his family relocated to Fairfield, Iowa, after their Boston home was broken into by robbers while they were present.

Foster was raised Jewish, and had a Bar Mitzvah ceremony. His paternal grandparents were Celia (Segal) and Abraham Foster, who was a prominent judge and politician in Boston; their families emigrated from Russia. While living in Fairfield, he attended the Maharishi University of Management.As a youth, he attended Interlochen Arts Camp, studying theatre.

## Career

 File:Ben Foster (22618765614).jpg
Foster began working as an actor when he was sixteen years old. In 1996 and 1997, he starred in the Disney Channel television series *Flash Forward*.

In 2001, he acted in the film *Get Over It*. Foster also had a recurring role as Russell Corwin (22 episodes) in the HBO Original Series, *Six Feet Under*. After appearing in the films *11:14* and *The Punisher*, Foster appeared in *Hostage* with Bruce Willis, Kevin Pollak and Michelle Horn. In 2006, Foster appeared in *X-Men: The Last Stand* as the comic-book hero Angel / Warren Worthington III. In the crime thriller *Alpha Dog*, he played the character Jake Mazursky and added glaucoma drops to his eyes to simulate the appearance of a drug addict in the film. In 2007, he played cold-blooded killer and outlaw Charlie Prince in the Western film *3:10 to Yuma*. In February 2013, he was cast to replace Shia LaBeouf in the Broadway play *Orphans* as his first theater performance. In May 2014, it was announced that he would star opposite Gillian Anderson and Vanessa Kirby in Benedict Andrews' new production of *A Streetcar Named Desire* at the Young Vic in London. That production closed on September 19, 2014. The same production transferred to New York in 2016, opening at St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn.

Foster played Lance Armstrong in the biopic *The Program*, and co-starred in the fantasy adventure *Warcraft*, released in June 2016.

Also in 2016, Foster appeared in *Hell or High Water* as the dangerous Tanner Howard, opposite Chris Pine and Jeff Bridges. Foster was acclaimed for his roles and has received numerous awards nominations.

Foster has continuously received praise from critics for his "intense" and "unhinged" performances in numerous films. Film critic Matt Zoller Seitz described Foster in 2016 as "one of those actors who makes even a bad film worth seeing. Sometimes he suggests the film you'd rather be watching."

## Personal life

Foster was in a relationship with German actress Antje Traue, his co-star in the movie *Pandorum*. Traue revealed in an interview that she had moved to Los Angeles and lived with Foster until their relationship ended around 2010.

Foster began a relationship with actress Robin Wright in early 2012. They became engaged in early 2014, but called off their engagement on November 12, 2014. Foster and Wright reconciled in early 2015, however, on August 29, 2015, they announced they were ending their second engagement.

In October 2016, Foster announced his engagement to actress Laura Prepon. In January 2017, it was announced that the couple were expecting their first child. Prepon gave birth to their daughter Ella in August 2017. Foster and Prepon married in June 2018. In October 2019, it was announced that the couple are expecting their second child. Their son was born in February 2020.

Foster practices Transcendental Meditation.

## References

1. ↑ "Ben Foster Biography (1980–)". FilmReference.com. http://www.filmreference.com/film/31/Ben-Foster.html. Retrieved October 15, 2013.
2. ↑ Ordona, Michael (November 1, 2009). "Ben Foster puts his heart into *The Messenger*", *Los Angeles Times*. Retrieved on November 15, 2010.
3. ↑ "Ben Foster". *Yahoo! Movies*. 2010. https://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800332837/bio. Retrieved November 15, 2010.
4. ↑ "2017 Film Independent Spirit Awards Winners Announced! – Film Independent". 25 February 2017. https://www.filmindependent.org/blog/2017-film-independent-spirit-awards-winners-announced/.
5. ↑ Fee, Gayle (September 3, 1995). "Inside Track: Pool barons foster son's fledgling career", *Boston Herald*. Retrieved on November 15, 2010.  Template:Subscription
6. ↑ Sherman, Paul (December 9, 1999). "New *Heights*; After landing the lead role in Barry Levinson's latest film, Boston native Ben Foster is flying", *Boston Herald*. Retrieved on November 15, 2010. Template:Subscription
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 Abel, Judy (November 15, 2009). "Exploring life’s ‘darker corners’", *The Boston Globe*. Retrieved on November 15, 2010.
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Miller, Gerri (1999). "Foster Reaches for the "Heights"". *JVibe*. Archived from the original on 2000-05-23. https://web.archive.org/web/20000523011623/http://www.jvibe.com/popculture/heights.shtml. Retrieved November 12, 2006.
9. ↑ Sragow, Michael (December 16, 1999). "It's a boy's, boy's, boy's world (and a girl's)", *Salon.com*. Retrieved on November 15, 2010. Template:Dead link
10. ↑ Breed, Allan G. (February 4, 1999). "Ben Foster reaches for new *Heights*", *Lawrence Journal-World*. Retrieved on December 10, 2007.
11. ↑ Lakshmanan, Indira A.R. (December 27, 1994). "A. Frank Foster, judge who once halted a man's beating; at 84", *Boston Globe*.
12. ↑ "CELIA ( SEGAL) FOSTER « Brezniak Rodman Funeral Directors". Brezniakrodman.com. 2010-06-28. http://brezniakrodman.com/obituary/celia-segal-foster/. Retrieved 2014-05-12.
13. ↑ https://www.interlochen.org/story/halloween-hollywood
14. ↑ "X-Men star Foster risks eyesight to play druggie", Contact Music (December 12, 2006). Retrieved on December 12, 2006.
15. ↑ "Interview: Ben Foster, actor and producer", *The Scotsman* (February 17, 2012). Retrieved on September 15, 2012.
16. ↑ Lawson, Richard (21 February 2013). "Ben Foster to Replace Shia LaBeouf, Esquire Reader, on Broadway". *The Atlantic Wire*. Yahoo!. https://news.yahoo.com/ben-foster-replaces-shia-labeouf-190602363.html. Retrieved 21 February 2013.
17. ↑ "Ben Foster and Vanessa Kirby join Young Vic's Streetcar". https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/theatre-news/news/ben-foster-and-vanessa-kirby-join-young-vics-streetcar. Retrieved 9 June 2014.
18. ↑ "St. Ann's Warehouse – A Young Vic & Joshua Andrews Co-Production". http://stannswarehouse.org/show/streetcar-named-desire. Retrieved May 9, 2017.
19. ↑ Windsor, Richard (2014-11-13). "Bikes from Lance Armstrong movie to be sold off". Time Inc.. http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest-news/bikes-lance-armstrong-movie-sold-144586. Retrieved 2014-11-14.
20. ↑ Roxborough, Scott (October 23, 2013). "First Look: Ben Foster as Lance Armstrong in Stephen Frears' Biopic". *The Hollywood Reporter*. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/lance-armstrong-biopic-first-photo-650359. Retrieved June 20, 2018.
21. ↑ Collura, Scott (December 4, 2013). "Ben Foster and Dominic Cooper Head for Warcraft". IGN. http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/12/05/ben-foster-and-dominic-cooper-head-for-warcraft. Retrieved December 5, 2013.
22. ↑ "Ben Foster on Shooting The Messenger’s Most Harrowing Scenes". New York Media LLC. 13 November 2009. http://www.vulture.com/2009/11/the\_messengers\_ben\_foster\_on.html. Retrieved 26 February 2017. "Ben Foster has been attracting attention for some time thanks to his intense (sometimes even downright unhinged) portrayals in action flicks..."
23. ↑ "BEST WESTERN". NYP Holdings, Inc.. 7 September 2007. https://nypost.com/2007/09/07/best-western/. Retrieved 26 February 2017. "The role [of Charlie Prince] is played with great flamboyance by Ben Foster, who manages to steal scenes left and right from Crowe and Bale – no easy feat."
24. ↑ "Delivering Bad News and Truths About War". The New York Times Company. 12 November 2009. https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/13/movies/13messenger.html. Retrieved 26 February 2017. "... with this performance Mr. Foster, having shown intriguing promise in “Alpha Dog” and “3:10 to Yuma,” places himself in the first rank of young American screen actors."
25. ↑ Template:Cite tweet
26. ↑ Pauli, Harald (2018-04-14). "Antje Traue, Der schoenste deutsche Hollywood-Import (in German)". *Focus Magazin (Nr. 16, 2018)*. https://www.focus.de/kultur/medien/kultur-der-schoenste-deutsche-hollywood-import\_id\_8760630.html. Retrieved 2018-06-08.
27. ↑ "Robin Wright and Ben Foster Get Cozy". People.com. February 10, 2012. http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20569270,00.html. Retrieved April 19, 2013.
28. ↑ Justin Ravitz (December 24, 2012). "Robin Wright, 46, and Ben Foster, 32, Affectionate During Shopping Trip". US Magazine. http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/robin-wright-46-and-ben-foster-32-affectionate-during-shopping-trip-20122412. Retrieved April 19, 2013.
29. ↑ Alexis L. Loinaz (January 11, 2014). "Robin Wright and Ben Foster are engaged". People.com. http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20774776,00.html. Retrieved January 11, 2014.
30. ↑ Marquina, Sierra (November 12, 2014). "Robin Wright and Ben Foster Split, Call Off 10-Month Engagement – Find Out What Went Wrong". *Us Magazine*. http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/robin-wright-ben-foster-split-call-off-engagement-details-20141211. Retrieved November 13, 2014.
31. ↑ "Introducing Robin Wright, Our April 2015 Cover Star", Vanity Fair.
32. ↑ Webber, Stephanie. "Robin Wright, Ben Foster Call Off Engagement For the Second Time". http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/robin-wright-ben-foster-call-off-engagement-for-the-second-time--2015298. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
33. ↑ "Laura Prepon and Ben Foster Are Engaged! See Her Gorgeous New Ring". 5 October 2016. http://people.com/style/laura-prepon-ben-foster-engagement-ring/.
34. ↑ "Pregnant Laura Prepon Steps Out with Baby Bump at Sundance Film Festival". 24 January 2017. http://people.com/babies/laura-prepon-pregnant-baby-bump-sundance-film-festival/.
35. ↑ "Laura Prepon and Ben Foster Are Married! 'Thank You for All the Love'". *People*. June 3, 2018. https://people.com/movies/laura-prepon-ben-foster-are-married/. Retrieved June 4, 2018.
36. ↑ DeYoung, Bill (October 27, 2009). "Extreme closeup: Ben Foster". *Connect Savannah*. https://www.connectsavannah.com/savannah/extreme-closeup-ben-foster/Content?oid=2131727. Retrieved November 15, 2010.

## External links

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* Template:IMDb name
* Ben Foster at TV.com

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