Ben Foster Biography

Ben Foster is best known for his turns as a bad guy in movies such as Hostage (2005), Alpha Dog (2006) and 3:10 to Yuma (2007).

Born in Massachusetts but raised in Iowa, Foster quit school at 16 and headed to Los Angeles to star in the Disney TV series Flash Forward (1996). Since then he’s worked steadily in TV and films, from independent productions to big-budget Hollywood features.

Off-screen, he’s known for his willingness to immerse himself in a role — he says he took performance enhancing drugs while preparing for the Lance Armstrong biopic The Program (2015) — and in the tabloids he’s known because for three years he was romantically involved with actress Robin Wright.

Foster is also known to viewers of the cable series Six Feet Under for his recurring role as a sexually ambiguous art student (2003-05).

His films include The Punisher (2004); X-Men: The Last Stand (2006); 30 Days of Night (2007); The Messenger (2009, with Woody Harrelson); Lone Survivor (2013, starring Mark Wahlberg); The Finest Hours (2016); Hell or High Water (2016, with Chris Pine); Hostiles (2017); and Leave No Trace (2018).