From a mining city in the North East of England to an international theatre “Superstar”, many have compared Ben Forster’s real life story to that of the famous Billy Elliot movie.
Ben grew up in the UK city of Sunderland in the mid 1980’s. At the age of 16, this real life Billy Elliot, won a scholarship to attend the world famous Italia Conti Performing Arts Academy. Ben’s transition from Sunderland schoolboy to the theatre world of London was captured in a successful prime time BBC1 documentary, ‘The Dream Academy’.
Since debuting in his first West End musical at the age of eighteen, in the epic show, La Cava, created by the Broccoli family of James Bond fame, Ben has had a successful theatre career. He has performed in numerous shows including, Grease, in the West End and on international tour. In the original cast of Lennon and McCartney’s, All You Need is Love and starred as part of the original cast in the hugely successful West End production, Thriller Live, taking the show from the London onto international tours.
Ben shot to fame in 2012 after winning the ITV1 show, ‘Superstar’, Sir Andrew Lloyd Webbers TV talent search for Jesus in the rock arena musical, Jesus Christ Superstar. Ben competed against thousands and performed live to millions throughout the series. His talent and loveable personality won the hearts of the British public, who selected him to go on to win the coveted role and star along side Spice Girl Melanie C, Tim Minchin and Chris Moyles, in a spectacular arena tour of the UK. Owing to the huge success of the production, Universal Pictures produced a movie version of the show which was played in cinemas all over the world, became a best selling DVD and was recently shown on British TV as part of channel 5’s Christmas line up. In 2013 the show toured Australia, becoming one of the highest grossing Australian arena tours of all time. Ben then returned back to the UK with the show, winning critical acclaim once more for his portrayal of the role.
In between these tours Ben starred as Brad Majors in the reinvented 40th Anniversary production of Richard O’Brien’s classic hit, The Rocky Horror Show. Ben achieved rave reviews and demonstrated the versatility in his performance skills.
Ben has also produced two acoustic albums, which have won him international appraise and established him as a successful recording artist. He is currently working on and writing an original third album. Ben has performed duets with some of the UK’s most famous leading ladies of the pop and theatre world and appeared on prime time TV shows, such as The Jonathan Ross Show and This Morning.
This year sees Ben take the show, Jesus Christ Superstar, on a massive arena tour of the USA, playing at some of the largest and most famous venues in the world and performing to around a million people throughout the tour. With a new American star cast made up of rock Gods and pop divas, this tour will cement Ben as one of the most successful male theatre stars of his time.