Fourteen-year-old Benjamin Stockham stars as Marcus on NBC’s “About a Boy” with David Walton and Minnie Driver, and discusses what he’s learned from the experience thus far.
On his “About a Boy” audition.
“I was a little bit nervous about it because in the actual script [Marcus sings for his talent show]. And I was like, ‘Mom, I gotta sing. I don’t think I can do this.’ But I did and they cut me off halfway through, like, ‘That’s enough,’ and I’m like, ‘Oh, crap.’ I didn’t know, but I actually wasn’t supposed to sing the whole thing anyway. So I was like, ‘Oh God, they hated it.’ So…I’m really glad everything worked out.”
On when he decided to pursue acting.
“I was watching TV one day—I think it was ‘Hannah Montana’—and I was like…‘I want to do that.’ So I started with commercials and then when I got my first TV show, I was like, ‘This is it. This is what I want to do for the rest of my life.’ ”
On the best acting advice he’s ever heard.
“There’s this little piece of advice Minnie gave me while we were still early on in Season 1—it’s the best advice I’ve heard.... She said, ‘Ben, here’s how you get along in comedic acting. Be…funny.’ That’s all she told me. And I take it to heart and I really think it’s changed how I act.”
On what he’s learned from Walton and Driver.
“I like to think that I get taught best when I observe, so I kind of observe what they’re doing and adapt. I’m more of a comedian than I was when I first got a TV show. Also, I think, in a way, observing other people act is like me maturing. So they’ve taught me comedic timing and just how to say things, because there are multiple ways to say certain lines, but there’s that one way that’s just knockout funny.”
On the most challenging part of playing Marcus.
“Probably the most challenging part is seeing all these bad things happen to Marcus and just saying, ‘OK, I gotta act that out.’ Some really bad things happen to him—not, like, really terrible, but unfortunate. And it’s not just because I’m him, but I really, actually have gotten pretty attached to Marcus and it’s hard seeing these things happen to him.”
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