Guiding Light:
Me and My Character
Matthew Bomer
Born in 1986, Ben boasts one of the most convoluted family trees in Springfield.
Though he was the biological child of Maeve and Kyle Sampson (half-brother
of Billy Lewis), Maeve was so angry with her husband’s lingering
feelings for ex-love, Reva, that she gave birth to Ben in secret, then
told Kyle the baby had died. In her attempt to hide him, Maeve passed
Ben off from one pair of hands to the next. Until he ended up in Kyle’s
lap. Kyle decided to adopt little Ben for himself and Reva. Maeve, understandably,
was not thrilled with the development. She burst into Kyle and Reva’s
wedding and told all. Reva and Kyle didn’t marry, and Kyle eventually
left town. Maeve married Fletcher Reade, who became the only father Ben
ever knew, especially when Maeve was killed in a helicopter crash. When
Ben was in his teens, Fletcher moved in with Alexandra Spaulding then
married Holly, mother of Ben’s half-sister, Meg. In 2001, Ben returned
to Springfield a wealthy college boy determined to deflower Marah Lewis
and win a rather juvenile bet. That didn’t go so well after Ben fell
in love with Marah and confessed his intentions. Marah did not see the
joke. Currently, Ben has fallen for Marina Cooper -- who happens to still
be in high school. And has a cop daddy who’s really, really against
the relationship. In a single year, actor Matthew Bomer has gone from
playing Ben the creep to Ben the romantic. We sat down with him to ask:
Would the real Ben Reade please stand up?
SoapCityAlina: So, we’ve seen Bad Ben and Good Ben. Which Ben
is more real?
Matthew Bomer: Both Bens are real. People change. Of course, in
real-life people tend to change a lot slower than they do on a soap opera,
but as an actor you can't think about it like that. You have to think
about why they change. And a lot of the reasons for people making the
changes that they do is because of people who come into their lives, who
make them see things differently. Or maybe it’s people who call them
out on their issues and make them kind of realize what's going on with
themselves. Hopefully, Ben will always have a feisty element to him. But
when it comes down to it, no one wants to be alone and completely ousted
so I think that's something that Ben is kind of realizing.
SCA: Ben’s fallen for Marina. What does this college boy see
in a high school girl?
MB: I think Ben sees in her something how out on a limb she is,
how fun she is, how bold she is, the risks she takes. That element of
danger is definitely attractive to him. Also, the fact that Ben has had
this thing for Marah and has been really trying to reach out to her, but
all those efforts have been in vain. So, to have someone so blatantly
attracted to him is a nice refreshing difference. I think there is something
about the game between them that they play that he really enjoys. "I
like you but I'm going to act like I don't at all." There is something
about that game that is kind of fun for them to play together.
SCA: And the age difference....
MB: Marina and Ben don't have a horrifying age difference. He's
21. It's not like a Lolita situation. They are both young and Ben is very
immature for his age. They danger of it comes along with the danger of
getting in trouble with her parents and there are cops in her family.
The good element of it is that when we are together and things are going
well, how do you just forget about it? But I think this whole living situation
now and all the stuff that's going on and the fact that Michelle is single
provides a lot of opportunities for some really good and interesting stuff
to happen. I really hope the writers capitalize on that.
SCA: Speaking of Michelle -- growing up, Ben had quite a crush on
his pal. Does he still?
MB: I have a great time working with Nancy (St. Alban; Michelle).
It's interesting. There was the whole issue of Ben always liking Michelle
when he was a little kid and Michelle liking Bill. If that whole thing
could be recreated it could definitely be some good soap.
SCA: Young Ben also had a close relationship with Alexandra Spaulding.
She was kind of his stepmother for a while, and definitely a pal. Are
we going to see some of that?
MB: On Joan's second day here, when we were doing the Tower's opening,
we were in the scenes together and we started out one scene improvising
together because they wanted to catch us together as though we were catching
up on old times -- it wasn't anything scripted. So, while we were improvising,
I caught Joan up with everything and my relationship to Alex as far as
I knew. We talked about that and (on-camera) she was asking me about how
school was and I was said, “Good. How has your life been? How's Europe?"
When Ed (Peter Simon) came back and I had to ad-lib some lines with him,
I asked, "How's Africa?" Ask about the continents -- it's a
safe bet. But, anyway, Joan was great, just an extremely classy woman
and elegant. It was an honor to be working with her. She was very cool.
Next: Elizabeth
Keifer
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