Ben Savage Biography

Bennett Joseph "Ben" Savage (born September 13, 1980) is an American film and TV actor and child star of late 1980s and 1990s. Savage is best known for his role as lead character Cory Matthews on the TV sitcoms Boy Meets World from 1993 until 2000.

Early life

Savage was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Joane and Lewis Savage, who were an industrial real estate broker and consultant. His brother is actor/director Fred Savage, and his sister is actress/musician Kala Savage. His grandparents were Jewish and from Poland, Ukraine, Germany, and Latvia, and Savage was raised in Reform Judaism.

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 as 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 until 2000. Cory Matthews 1990s-model Dennis the Menace, was 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. Along with Rider Strong, he is one of only two actors to appear in all 158 episodes of "Boy Meets World" (1993).

Savage's brother Fred appeared alongside him in one episode of Boy Meets World, guest starring as a lecherous college professor pursuing Cory's girlfriend. In the following season, December 17, 1999, Fred directed his brother and the cast of Boy Meets World in the episode "Family Trees," as Shawn (Rider Strong) discovers that the woman who raised him is not his biological mother.

Ben has also worked in several TV-movies, including She Woke Up (1992) with Lindsay Wagner, and McDonald's Family Theatre Presents: Aliens for Breakfast (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 received an Ovation Award for his performance.

In 2002, Savage starred in the PG-13 film Swimming Upstream playing the best friend who was slightly immature but very supportive to his terminally ill friend.

Savage took a break from acting in both film and television for three years, but he later made a guest appearance in Still Standing as Seth Cosella, the boss of Bill Miller, played by Mark Addy. That same year he starred as Ford Davis in the independent feature Car Babes, which was shot on location in Los Gatos, California, and also guest starred as himself in an episode of the Disney Channel original series Phil of the Future.

In 2006, he starred in the critically acclaimed independent film Palo Alto, which first premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2007.

In 2007, he starred in the ABC pilot from Sachs/Judah Making it Legal alongside Scott Wolf and Robert Wagner.

In 2008, he starred as Mark Ratner in an episode of the NBC series Chuck, as well as murder suspect 'Kirby Morris' in an episode of Without a Trace.

In 2011, he appeared in an episode of the Fox series Bones.

In November 2012, it was announced via his Twitter account that he had signed on to the Boy Meets World spin-off series, Girl Meets World.

Personal life

Savage interned for U.S. Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA at the time) in 2003 as a requirement for completing his studies at Stanford University, where he graduated in 2004 with a degree in Political Science and as a member of Sigma Chi Fraternity.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1989	Little Monsters	Eric Stevenson
1992	Big Girls Don't Cry... They Get Even	Sam
1994	Clifford	Roger
2002	Swimming Upstream	Teddy Benevides
2006	Car Babes	Ford Davis
2007	Palo Alto	Patrick
2010	Closing Time	Jared	Short film
2011	Peace and Riot	Scott
2012	White Dwarf	Ben	Post-production
2012	'	Lincoln	Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1988–1990	Dear John	Matthew Lacey	Recurring role (5 episodes)
1990	'	Curtis Hartsell	Episode: "The St. Valentine's Day Massacre"
1990	Hurricane Sam	Sam Kelvin	TV film
1990	'	Chris Bankston	Main role (9 episodes)
1992	She Woke Up	Andy	TV film
1993	Wild Palms	Coty Wyckoff	TV miniseries
1993–2000	Boy Meets World	Cory Matthews	Lead role (158 episodes)
1994	Aliens for Breakfast		TV film
1996	Maybe This Time	Cory Matthews	Episode: "Acting Out"
1996	Party of Five	Stuart	Episode: "Close to You" Episode: "Christmas"
2005	Still Standing	Seth Cosella	Episode: "Still the Boss"
2007	Making It Legal	Todd	TV film
2008	Chuck	Mark Ratner	Episode: "Chuck Versus the Cougars"
2008	Without a Trace	Kirby Morris	Episode: "Cloudy with a Chance of Gettysburg"
2011	Shake It Up	Andy Burns	Episode: "Review It Up"
2011	Bones	Hugh Burnside	Episode: "The Male in the Mail"
2012	Lake Effects	Carl	TV film
2014	Girl Meets World	Cory Matthews	Main role

Awards

Awards
Year	Result	Award	Category	Nominated Work
1990		Young Artist Awards	Best Young Actor Starring in a Motion Picture	Little Monsters
1994		Young Artist Awards	Best Youth Actor Leading Role in a Television Series	Boy Meets World
1997		Young Artist Awards	Best Performance in a TV Comedy: Leading Young Actor
1998		Young Artist Awards	Best Performance in a TV Comedy: Leading Young Actor
		YoungStar Award	Best Performance by a Young Actor in a Comedy TV Series
2000		Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards	Favorite Television Friends