| Ben Savage | |
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| Birth name | Bennett Joseph Savage |
| Born | September 13 1980 Chicago, Illinois, U.S.   |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1985 - present |
Bennett Joseph Savage, better known as Ben Savage (born on September 13, 1980) is an American film and TV actor and child star of the 1990s. Savage is best known for his role as the lead character Cory Matthews on the TV sitcom Boy Meets World for seven seasons, which catapulted him into stardom, and for being the younger brother of Fred Savage, who starred in the TV-series The Wonder Years.
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Biography
Early life
Ben Savage was born in Chicago, Illinois to parents Lewis, a real estate agent, and Joanne, a housewife. He spent his early days with his family in Glencoe, a suburb of Chicago. He is the younger brother of Fred Savage, who starred in the hit series The Wonder Years and whom he credits for inspiring him to become an actor. He also has an older sister, Kala, who was born in 1979 and is a stage actress (1996). Savage's show business career started doing television commercials at the age of 5. His first job was in a TV ad for a drugstore chain in 1985. "All I had to do was sit in a pool and smile," said Savage. As a child he loved acting and he once told a press reporter that acting was what he lives for.
Career
Savage made his film debut at the age of 9 in his brother Fred's hit Little Monsters (1989) and appeared in the feature films Big Girls Don't Cry. ..They Get Even (1992), as "Sam", the brainy little brother and playing a 10-year old in Clifford (1994), the latter starring Martin Short. Savage's stage debut was in The Laughter Epidemic at the Pasadena Playhouse. Savage established himself more prominently on TV. His first major speaking role on network television was playing the recurring role of Matthew, son of the Judd Hirsch character, on the comedy series Dear John (1988). Then he was one of a family of orphans who con Robert Mitchum into being their guardian in A Family For Joe (NBC, 1990).
Savage is best known for his role as lead character Cory Matthews on the TV sitcom Boy Meets World from 1993 to 2000. Cory Matthews, a '90s-model Dennis the Menace constantly at daggers drawn with authority figures — especially his sixth grade teacher, Mr. Feeny (William Daniels). At age 13, Savage once said: "I'd never talk to my teachers like Cory talks to Mr. Feeny. I mean, they're the ones who give you the grades." When Boy Meets World (BMW) premiered in the fall of 1993, advertising agencies predicted that the clever Cory Matthews character would succeed. Indeed, the sitcom became a staple of the ABC's "T.G.I.F." Friday schedule. Savage's brother Fred appeared alongside him in one episode of BMW, guest starring where he played a lecherous college professor going after Cory's girlfriend. In the following season, December 17, 1999, Fred directed his brother and the cast of BMW in the episode, "Family Trees," as Shawn (Rider Strong) discovers that the woman who raised him is not his real mother. Ben has also worked in several TV-movies, including She Woke Up (ABC, 1992), with Lindsay Wagner, and McDonald's Family Theatre Presents: Aliens for Breakfast (ABC, 1995), as a young teen whose breakfast cereal figure comes alive. Savage received critical recognition for his portrayal of "Coty Wyckoff", an angel-faced boy with the soul of a killer, in the ABC Event Series, Wild Palms (1993). In May, 1998, Savage again received critical acclaim, this time for playing "Roddy Stern" in Tony Award-winner Israel Horovitz's rarely seen play Unexpected Tenderness at the Marilyn Monroe Theater. He made a cameo appearance as himself in an episode of the Disney Channel original series Phil of the Future. In 2002, Savage starred in the PG-13 film Swimming Upstream playing the best friend, who was not the most mature person in the world but whose support makes up for that, to his terminally ill friend.. In 2005, he made a guest appearance on the show Still Standing as Seth Cosella, the boss of Bill Miller, played by Mark Addy.
Personal life
- Ben Savage graduated from high school in 1998 from Brentwood School in Los Angeles.
- Savage interned for U.S. Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) in 2003. He graduated from Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, in 2004, with a degree in Political Science and as a member of Sigma Chi Fraternity.
- Savage regularly volunteers for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. He also remains good friends with his former Boy Meets World co-stars Matthew Lawrence, Danielle Fishel, Will Friedle and Rider Strong. He is a huge Bruce Springsteen fan to the point where he and his father spent a summer traveling the country following Springsteen on a U.S. tour.
Awards
- Nomination - "Best Young Actor" (Little Monsters) - 11th Annual Young Artist Awards (1988).
- Nomination - "Best Youth Actor Leading Role in a Television Series" (Boy Meets World) - 17th Annual Young Artist Awards (1994).
- Nomination - "Best Performance in a TV Comedy - Leading Young Actor" (Boy Meets World) - 20th Annual Young Artist Awards (1997).
- Nomination - "Best Performance in a TV Comedy Series" (Boy Meets World) - 21st Annual Young Artist Awards (1998).
- Nomination - "Best Performance by a Young Actor in a Comedy TV Series" (Boy Meets World) - YoungStar Awards (1998).
- Winner (with Rider Strong) - "Favorite Television Friends" (Boy Meets World) - 13th Annual Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards (2000).
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Other notes |
| 2007 | Doesn't Texas Ever End | John | |
| Palo Alto | Patrick | ||
| Car Babes | Ford Davis | ||
| 2002 | Swimming Upstream | Teddy Benevides | |
| 1994 | Clifford | Roger | |
| 1992 | Big Girls Don't Cry... They Get Even | Sam | |
| 1989 | Little Monsters | Eric Stevenson | Young Artist Award (nominated) |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Other notes |
| 2008 | Making It Legal | Todd | |
| 2005 | Still Standing | Seth Cosella | Episode: Still the Boss |
| 1993-2000 | Boy Meets World | Cory Matthews | Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards (won) Young Artist Award (nominated-4Xs) |
| 1997 | Teen Angel | Cory Matthews | Episode: One Dog Night |
| 1996 | Party of Five | Stuart | Episode: Close to You Episode: Christmas |
| Maybe This Time | Cory Matthews | Episode: Acting Out | |
| 1994 | Aliens for Breakfast | ||
| 1993 | Wild Palms | Coty Wyckoff | |
| 1992 | She Woke Up | Andy | |
| 1990 | A Family for Joe | Chris Bankston #2 | |
| Dear John | Matthew | Episode: John's New Job (1) | |
| The Wonder Years | Curtis Hartsell | Episode: St. Valentine's Day Massacre |
