Interviewer: Hello, everybody, and welcome to our daily program, 5 Minutes with a Star. Today, we are happy to have here Ben Jones, a famous actor and musician. Hi, Ben.
Ben: Good afternoon.
Interviewer: So, Ben, now you are a celebrity, but how did it all start for you? Tell us about your younger years.
Ben: I was raised in a creative household, so to speak, with an actress, mother and a father who founded the American Comedy Institute in New York. It was only natural that I went into acting, too. I began my acting career off-Broadway opposite Carey Mulligan in 2011, and then I was cast for a supporting role in a major gangster drama of HBO.
Interviewer: That was a breakthrough, right? How did it happen that you got the role?
Ben: Mark Douglas, the producer and director, reached out to my agent and we all skyped and they offered me the role. I was really taken by the script. It wasn't a script, really. They called it a script, but it was a combination of descriptions of scenes. Some scenes were written out and pictures.
Interviewer: That's quite unusual.
Ben: It is. This is how Mark works. He even collects photos for this reason. It's a big way that he works, which is fantastic. As an actor, for me, at least it's really important to know the director has a real visual sense and to get a sense of what the movie is going to look like because it is a visual medium. It helped me to relate to the story a lot. I thought it was really starkly truthful.
Interviewer: Did you have any acting classes at all? I mean, did you learn to be an actor?
Ben: Yeah, actually, the first acting class I ever took was taught by my mother, and it was an improvisation class. That was my foundation as an actor. It's a great way to work. The spontaneity of it was incredible. It was really cool. My first acting jobs were very scripted. You needed to say the lines exactly as they're written and all the rest of it. So coming from this experience to Mark, where we didn't have to do any of those things and trying to bring that energy into a different set of circumstances was really fun and helpful for the performance.
Interviewer: What are some of the downsides of improvisation?
Ben: The downside is that if it's not well directed and if people don't have the sense for thinking of some funny things or interesting things to say, it can go nowhere. But I think it's a great thing for all actors to do as an exercise, whether it's in a class or actually for a final product. I think it's a really, really important skill.
Interviewer: You've worked with some great directors. Do you feel like you've been able to pick and choose the roles that really interest you? Or as a young actor, do you sometimes have to take roles because they will lead to other roles?
Ben: The first few years in my career, it was about having experiences and learning and making some money so I can afford to live. But beyond the fact that I did a great TV show, it also gave me some financial freedom. So, these days I'm trying to absolutely only take on projects that I feel a very strong connection to, which can be scary sometimes. But it feels like the right thing for right now.
Interviewer: Is it scary if you go through a period when you're reading all these scripts and nothing strikes you like that?
Ben: It's incredible how much bad content is produced, in my opinion. There's also a lot of great stuff. You've got to read through everything because you never know when you're going to find a gem somewhere, and they always come up. There's never too long to wait.
Interviewer: Thank you, Ben. It's been a pleasure talking to you today.
