Posts Tagged ‘Ben Stark’

A Vancouver native, Avan’s love for acting began when he nabbed the lead in his school play, Harry Potter in his 4^th grade play. His interest continued as he jumped into numerous drama courses including the Tarlington Training professional program. This young actor will be starring in Nickelodeon’s singing and dancing extravaganza musical-comedy, Spectacular! premiering in January of 2009.   Next up, Avan will be a series regular on the upcoming SCI FI Channel series Caprica, which was just green-lit to go to series.  Avan will play Ben Stark on television’s first science fiction family saga.. This series is a prequel to Battlestar Galactica and stars Eric Stolz and Esai Morales.  Most recently, Avan starred as Champ in Nickelodeon’s original movie Gym Teacher: The Movie.

Avan recently took time out from his busy schedule to talk about his upcoming projects.  The interview took place just a few days before SCI FI’s official announcement that Caprica would be picked up as a series in 2010.

Can you start off by telling us about the movie, Spectacular, that you have coming up on Nickelodeon?

Spectacular is about a show choir group that finds itself in trouble when they loose their lead singer.  I play this kind of show choir nerd, who helps put the group back on track.  His name is Tajic.  I didn’t really know what show choir was when I got the job, being Canadian, because we don’t really have show choir, so I had to do some research.

Are you singing and dancing in it as well?

I dance and act in the movie; dancing, acting and lip synching actually.  My character doesn’t have to sing lead parts in it, thank God, because he has an accent.  Singing in an accent could have been kind of difficult, because I don’t have an accent.  So I was thankful I didn’t have to do any singing.  But dancing and acting is what I do in this.

Do you think you’ll be doing a couple of these if they are pretty successful, like High School Musical?

I’m not sure.  Depending on what happens and what I’m doing at the time, and if they make more.  I wouldn’t mind doing it again.  It was a fun experience and I met some really nice people.

How did you get the bug to go into entertainment and acting, and all the other things that you do?

I got started when I was a little kid.  I bugged my parents forever when I was a little kid, to put me in acting classes, and they did.  When I was 13 I told them I really wanted to start acting and to get an agent.  So I got an agent and started auditioning.

Can you tell us about some of the various projects that you’ve been in?

My first job was called The Gwen Araujo Story.  I play the bother of a transgendered individual who gets killed.  So dark stuff.  That’s one of the first roles I did, then I did a couple of appearances on Aliens in America, then I did Gym Teacher, which is for Nickelodeon.  Then I did Spectacular, and just finished up doing Caprica.

Have you done most of your work in Vancouver, or have you gotten to LA yet?

I’m in LA now and that’s where I audition and stuff.  But most of the stuff that I’ve done filmed in Vancouver.  They’re all US projects, but most of the film in Vancouver.

What kinds of things do you like to do in your free time, or is all  your free time devoted to acting and the entertainment world?

I play loads of guitar and piano.  And I collect a lot of junk.  I have a lot of old crap at my house; like 50’s skates and stuff.  I’m kind of a weird collector like that.

One of the roles that we really want to get into with you is Caprica.  We have a lot of fans of Battlestar Galactica here and we have a couple of the actors official sites and we’ve interviewed most of the cast at one point or another.  I know we can’t talk about too many spoilers and such, but what can you tell us about it?

Yeah, plot line stuff we can’t get into.  But filming Caprica was amazing.  I play Ben Stark.  He’s a member of a monotheistic cult, which is made up of fanatic religious zealots basically.  He is a very dark character because of his intense love for his religion His willingness to do whatever he needs to do to get his ideas across is kind of really dark and hard to play.  It was an amazing cast and crew.  Jeffrey Reiner is the director, he did Friday Night Lights, and he’s such a visionary.  I really can’t wait to see if it goes to series or what’s happening with it.  I really want to figure out what happens with the characters, because it sets up a really big cliffhanger.  I really want to know what happens.

Is the word still out about whether or not it’s going to go to series?  We’ve heard rumors that it might.

There’s no official word yet.  There’s been some rumors that it would air on Sky TV in November, but I think it’s most likely that it will air after BSG.  There’s no real date.  I really hope it goes to series, because I think BSG is such a great show.  I watch it a lot and was kind of a nerd for awhile.  I think it challenges a lot of interesting ideas like religion and politics and our social interaction.  It’s a great show and the most exciting sci fi show I’ve ever watched.  I’m not huge into sci fi TV, and that’s something that got me into it.

If you’ve been a fan of the show for a few years, how does it feel to find out that you are going to be right there involved with the origin of the Cylons?

It’s kind of awesome.  I started auditioning for the show, and hadn’t really watched it as intensely.  Then I got the three series and watched them back to back to back with chips and pop.  I really got into it, and it’s so interesting.  I’m in the beginning of the Cylon’s.  Everything in BSG is based around this prequel.

If it does go to series, are you prepared for the fandom?  We’ve talked to a lot of the cast from the show, and they say it can sometimes get pretty insane at fan conventions and the like.  Is that something you’d look forward to or would it seem a little bit scary?

I don’t know, I guess you don’t think about till it actually happens, then you deal with it.  I don’t think anyone goes into auditions for a show thinking, “Oh if I do this, there will be all these fans.”  I love people who like the show.  They’re the same kind of people as me, because I like the show, and their appreciation is validating to what I do.  Fans are a really big important part of a show.  If you don’t have fans, you don’t have a show.

So where do you think you’ll be in five or ten years?  Do you think you’ll be on a TV series?

I don’t know.  You go with what happens.  I don’t even know what I’m going to be doing in six months.  This industry is so wishy-washy.  You just go in there and you do your best and you go with it.  You have to be really, really flexible in a show like this.  In five or ten years I really want to be acting in challenging roles that are changing the way people think about stuff.  If I can do that in six months, if I can do that in 20 years, I’ll be happy.

We’ve seen a lot antics from young Hollywood in the past couple of years.  What is there in your life to keep you grounded when you are getting so much attention?  What keeps you sane, and keeps you from going that route?

My parents and my family.  I think family is really important.  In this industry, if you are doing well, no one is going to tell you that you are out of line.  They are just going to keep on patting your back and saying it’s ok.  Family are the only people who will not put up with that.  They knew you when you were two years old, and don’t care if you are successful now.  Everyone else will deal with you and say it’s ok, but family are the only people who will ask, “What are you doing?” and knock you in line.  So I think having parents, being very close to your parents and who you hang around with is very important.  If you hang around with grounded people, you will be grounded.  If you hang out with people who are into drinking and drugs at my age, my God.   You’re not going to be grounded.  So I surround myself with good people and keep my family close.  It’s really important.

So what have been your best and worst experiences in this industry?

The atmosphere and cast of Spectacular were the best.  I met a lot of really cool people that I’m really good friends with still, and just met a lot of really nice people who made my transition from Vancouver to LA so easy.  I don’t know what my worst experience would be.  I don’t think I’ve come across an experience that I’d say was my worst, but I’ll let you know if I do.  I haven’t across anything that I’d say was jarringly bad.

SOURCE: Media Blvd Magazine