BY JOHN HOBBS

BEN CAMPBELLAge: 26Home: DetroitCurrent Residence: Silver LakeGraduated College: 2004Major in College: ActingSingle or Taken? SingleActor You Admire the Most and Why: Totally cliché, butMeryl Streep. Why? Have you seen Marvin's Room? She doesn’tact. She is. Turn-Ons: Self awareness. Responsibility takers. Big mouths—physiologically speaking.Turn-Offs: Blamers. It also makes my stomach twist when peo-ple list their resumé for you the first time you meet them—withno interest in hearing about you.Hours a Week in Rehearsal: 30

110 FRONTIERS IN L .A.

f you think you’ve seen Ben Campbell before, you might be right. The 26-year-old actor from Detroit scored it big a few years ago whenhe was cast as the Whopper Jr. for a series of Burger King commercials.This month, Campbell trades in his regular pickles, lettuce and cheese fora more conservative look, taking on the role of Benjamin Braddock

(played by Dustin Hoffman in the 1967 film) for the West Coast Ensem-ble’s stage production of The Graduate. After a poolside photo shoot

for the cover of Frontiers in L.A., we sat down to seduce—err, talk—toCampbell about the play and life after Whopper Jr.

WHAT MADE YOU INITIALLY INTERESTED IN DOINGTHE BENJAMIN BRADDOCK PART? I’m a specifictype—I always thought I was a Dustin Hoffman type—andtypically lead roles don’t come along for my type very often.We were doing it at my company, and I thought it was aperfect fit, so I jumped at it. WHAT OTHER SIMILARI-TIES DID YOU FIND BETWEEN YOU AND THE CHAR-ACTER? I actually really relate more to the Elaine charac-ter. She’s like this burst of positive energy and looks at theworld in a very positive way. It actually took awhile to fig-ure [Benjamin] out. I would leave rehearsals feeling very,very neurotic and insecure about what I was doing, and Ifinally realized that was because I had just spent two hoursin this role. It’s just how he is. HOW CONCERNED WEREYOU, BEING A GAY ACTOR, ABOUT PLAYING A CHAR-ACTER WHO BEDS NOT ONE, BUT TWO WOMEN INTHE SAME PLAY? Actually—about three weeks into it—one of the actors said to me, “You’re really straight onstage.” And I realized that this was the first time that Ihadn’t consciously thought about trying to play “straight”in a role. It was so encouraging because it was like I final-ly get that I don’t have to worry about it. If I am just authen-tic, then it’ll play. So it wasn’t weird. The thing that wasweird was that I have never had to kiss a woman beforeon stage. In this play, I not only have to kiss two women—which is fine—but I also have to be completely naked“having sex” with a completely naked woman. NOWYOU’RE TALKIN’! HOW DO YOU GET THROUGH SOME-THING LIKE THAT? I just have to really not think aboutit at all. Over the last three years, I’ve done a lot of workto really learn to control and train my thoughts. So I justconcentrate on being in the scene. If I thought about it, Iwould probably get a little freaked out. WHEN DID YOUFIRST REALIZE YOU WERE GAY? When I saw LeonardoDiCaprio on screen for the first time in Romeo and Juliet.The minute he came on screen, I was like, “Uh ... I thinkI’m gay because I want to make out with you.” [Laughs]WHAT OTHER PROJECTS HAVE YOU WORKED ONSINCE FINISHING COLLEGE? I’ve done a couple of bitparts in a couple different TV shows: House and Numb3rs.In Numb3rs, I was a Columbine killer. I got to shoot an Uziat a bunch of teenagers. I’ve done a bunch of Burger Kingcommercials. If known for anything, I am probably bestknown as the Whopper Jr. [Laughs] YOU’RE THE GUYDRESSED AS A WHOPPER JR.! Yeah, that’s me! That’sbeen supporting me for three years. It was an amazinglylucky get as far as survival as an actor goes. FINALLY, IFYOU EVER FOUND YOURSELF FACED WITH YOUR OWNMRS.—OR MR.—ROBINSON, HOW WOULD YOU HAN-DLE IT? If they were single, hot and I was into it—and itwouldn’t be morally reprehensible—I’d probably go for it.

Plays through April 5The El Centro Theatre

800 N. El Centro Ave.,HollywoodTickets: wcensemble.org

The Graduate

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