Benjamin A. "Ben" Foster (born October 29, 1980) is an American actor. He has had roles in films including The Laramie Project, Liberty Heights, Get Over It, The Punisher, Hostage, X-Men: The Last Stand, Alpha Dog, 30 Days of Night, The Messenger, Bang Bang You're Dead, The Mechanic, Contraband, Pandorum, and Lone Survivor. He received best supporting actor nominations from both the Saturn and Satellite Awards for his 2007 role in the film 3:10 to Yuma.

Early and personal life

Foster was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of restaurant owners Gillian Kirwan and Steven Foster. He has described his parents as "free-spirited, Vietnam-protesting hippies". He has a younger brother, Jon, who is also an actor. When Foster was four years old, his family relocated to Fairfield, Iowa, after their Boston home was broken into by robbers while they were present.

Foster was raised Jewish, and had a Bar Mitzvah ceremony. His paternal grandparents were Celia (Segal) and Abraham Foster, who was a prominent judge and politician in Boston; their families emigrated from Russia. Foster practices Transcendental Meditation, and, while living in Fairfield, attended the Maharishi University of Management.

Foster began a relationship with actress Robin Wright in early 2012. They became engaged in early 2014, but called off their engagement on November 12, 2014 before reconciling again. On August 29th, 2015 they announced they were ending their second engagement.

Career

Foster began working as an actor when he was sixteen years old. He dropped out of high school and moved to Los Angeles to pursue his career.[citation needed] In 1996 and 1997, he appeared in the television series Flash Forward and had an unsuccessful audition for the lead role in Richard Kelly's Donnie Darko. Over the next three years, Foster obtained small roles in two made-for-TV movies as well as two episodes of the TV series Freaks and Geeks.

In 2001, he acted in the film Get Over It. Foster also had a recurring role as Russell Corwin (22 episodes) in the HBO Original Series, Six Feet Under. After appearing in the films 11:14 and The Punisher, Foster appeared in Hostage with Bruce Willis, Kevin Pollak and Michelle Horn. In 2006, Foster appeared in X-Men: The Last Stand as the comic-book hero Angel / Warren Worthington III. In the crime thriller Alpha Dog, he played the character Jake Mazursky and added glaucoma drops to his eyes to simulate the appearance of a drug addict in the film. In 2007, he played cold-blooded killer Charlie Prince in the Western film 3:10 to Yuma. In February 2013, he was cast to replace Shia LaBeouf in the Broadway play Orphans as his first theater performance. In May 2014 it was announced that he would star opposite Gillian Anderson and Vanessa Kirby in Benedict Andrews' new production of A Streetcar Named Desire at the Young Vic in London. That production closed on September 19, 2014.

On December 4, 2013, Legendary Pictures announced that Foster would be joining the cast of the Warcraft film adaptation, set to be released in March 2016. Foster is to play Lance Armstrong in an upcoming biopic.

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