How You Know Him: Ben co-stars as Zane Walker on the new WB series Glory Days from Dawson's Creek and Scream mastermind Kevin Williamson. Before that, he appeared in guest spots on shows like Maybe It's Me and MTV's Undressed.

Moving Around: Although he was born in Colorado, Ben didn't stay there for long. "I moved around a ton with the family growing up," he says. "The two main places I would say I grew up were Arizona and Missouri." Ben and his family began skipping from place to place when his parents got divorced and continued because Ben's mom was attending various colleges and getting her masters degree. Now, his mom is a teacher living in Columbia, Missouri.

Packed House: Even though he switched schools a lot as a kid, Ben was never lacking in playmates because he's the youngest of five kids. He says he really enjoyed growing up in a big family. "It was pretty amazing," he says. "It was a really neat way to learn. The way the family separates up, it's almost exactly a year and a half apart between all of us. So it was amazing because, as a little curious kid I was always so filled with questions, and some questions were perfectly answered by my brother who is a year and a half older than me. Then other questions were perfectly answered by my sister who is a year and a half older than him, and it kind of went down the line. If it was just that one mom who always got berated with the questions, I think she'd get tired. But, you know, they kind of passed me off. It was nice."

Forced Into It: As a young teen, Ben never thought he'd end up an actor. "To tell you the truth, I thought I was way too cool for school," he recalls. "I had a wild streak in me, and I was pretty sure I was gonna drop out of high school when I turned 16." But then, he signed up for drama class to fulfill his fine arts requirement. "I was still trying to pretend like I wasn't into it; I wanted to be the cool kid," says Ben. "Then the acting teacher scared me into auditioning for the all-school musical. She said that if I didn't she would fail me. I ended up auditioning and getting the lead in something called Dames at Sea. You know, a really geeky, cheesy musical." Ben played a guy named Lucky, a fact he laughs about now. So much for the cool guy act.

Teen Magazine, 2001.