Ben Browder (nee Robert Benedict Browder) is an American actor and writer born in Memphis, Tennessee on December 11, 1962.After a successful college football career, college theatrics and a degree in Psychology at Furman University in South Carolina, Ben moved to London to study classical acting at the Central School of Speech and Drama where he met his wife Francesca Buller. Ben and Francesca have two children.
Ben's acting career started in Charlotte, North Carolina where he was raised. In the late 60's he made a TV commercial for Jello pudding with actor and comedian Bill Crosby. In the late 70's he appeared in the children's movie Duncan's World where he played the character Gates, one of Duncan's best friends.
He worked as a guest on various TV series, TV pilots and movies before he got his first noted TV series role as Sam Brody in Party of Five's 3rd season beginning with episode 9, titled Gimme Shelter.
In 1999, Ben got his major break as the star of the science fiction TV series Farscape in which he played astronaut and scientist John Robert Crichton. The series ran for four seasons on what was then known as the SciFi cable channel until 2002 when it was canceled. After finding financing, Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars was created to finish the Farscape series which had ended with a cliffhanger at the end of the 4th season.
Ben also starred as Lt. Colonel Cameron Mitchell in the 9th and 10th seasons of the science fiction TV show Stargate SG-1 after series star and producer Richard Dean Anderson left the show.
Since May 2010, Ben has been involved in a web series project titled Naught for Hire, a noir/detective/sci-fi web series, as the star and executive producer. Naught is currently in development and is produced by Jeffrey Berman, RDRR Productions and co-written with science fiction writer and Nick Naught creator John E. Stith. A comic book prequel co-written by Jeffrey Berman and Ben is expected to be released before the web series.
In 2011, Ben was cast as a pivotal character, Max Rainwater, in the horror-comedy movie Bad Kids Go to Hell. The movie premiered privately March 1, 2012 and will be released on DVD in April 2013.
Fall 2012 saw Ben on the very popular BBC series Doctor Who. Season (Series) 7, Episode three is entitled A Town Called Mercy. In January 2013, Ben will made a guest appearance on the CW TV series Arrow.
Ben has been nominated for the genre industry's Saturn award five times. He took home the award in 2002 for Best Actor in a Television Series (Farscape) and again in 2005 for Best Actor on Television (Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars).
Ben makes a few convention appearances each year. In 2012, that included the US and Australia. In 2013, so far, he will be in the US and Germany.
Bad Kids Go to Hell is now available from many online streaming services.iTunes now has BKGTH available for rental, $3.99 for standard definition and $4.99 for high definition.
You can also find your Bad Kids from the services in the image to the left.
Its limited theatrical release hit the US and Canada in December 2013 and became available in On Demand in the US and Canada January 11, 2013. It will be re-released in On Demand day and date with the DVD release April 9, 2013. The comic book/movie sequel is already in preproduction with the release of the first issue of the comic book sequel.
Ben has been busy these past few months with a number of projects. What other surprise roles might he have up his sleeve?After not seeing Ben on any size screen since Stargate SG-1, he suddenly appeared in the cult favorite TV show Chuck. Although he spilled the beans about it at the last Farscape con in November 2011, his appearance was a surprise for some.
Of course before Chuck, Ben won the role of Max in the movie (probably soon-to-be-cult movie) Bad Kids Go to Hell. According to the filmmakers, Matthew Spradlin and Barry "Bazza" Wernick, Ben's character plays a pivotal role in the film. Bad Kids premiered privately in March 2012 in Dallas, TX, where most of it was shot.
Since May 2010 (yes that's a long time), Ben has been actively working on making his and Jeffrey Berman's project Naught for Hire a reality. Ben is the star, playing Private Investigator Nick Naught set in a future 20 years from tomorrow, co-Executive Producer and co-writer. Heck, a couple of Benaddicts even started a fan page called Naught P.I. Agency as soon as the press release came out announcing Naught for Hire. The Agency, as it is also known, has proven to be a reliable source for Naught news.
Then, a big surprise to everyone; Ben is currently (March 2012) filming an episode of the popular UK sci-fi show Doctor Who which is produced by the BBC. Filming usually takes place in Wales, UK, but season 7, episode 3 is being filmed in Tabernas, Spain. Entitled A Town Called Mercy, Ben's role has been kept under wraps so far. Is he the cyborg gunslinger? There are pictures on the Internet showing the gunslinger in full cyborg costume. It might look a bit like Ben but other clues seem to point to it not being him. We'll see. Maybe it will be another surprise that will have to wait for until the episode airs in Fall 2012.
Let's not forget the Freeze Frame movie project; it's been a long time since we saw the teaser video and the project was announced but word has it that the project is still on track, even if it seems like a slow one. Good things take time.
So what's Ben gunning for in the future? Series? Movies? Variety show? Theater? Since Ben plays his career cards close to the vest, we probably won't know until we know or, as Ben always puts it, 'until the deal's in escrow'.
But I think Ben's career is seeing new opportunities and his current popularity, shown by the number of articles about him being on Doctor Who, may be a clue that the future holds many good things for him and his dedicated fans from Farscape and Stargate SG-1 and beyond.
Ben does not have an official presence on the Internet so we must make do with what there is.Fan sites (there are quite a few) and on Facebook, a Wikipedia article page where one can click a Like button to show some support for Ben. So what does that get us in terms of getting Ben the recognition he deserves with TPTB? We don't know but it's something, at least.
BBI has been following the Like count on the Facebook Wiki page since May 2012 when the count was 5,495. Today, March 20 2013, late evening Pacific Time, the count is at 10,129, and it has been climbing steadily since it hit the 10,000 mark on March 14, 2013.
If you are on Facebook and have not yet Liked the Facebook Ben Browder Wiki Page, use this LINK to get there then click on the Like Button/Link on that page.
Somebody's watching don't you think?