Descended of a long line of Spanish-Jewish pirates,
ophthalmologists and, sadly, lawyers, Benjamin
Pelteson has been acting since the age of 4, when he
staged a coup at summer camp and made himself the
lead of a semi-improvised musical about a New
Orleans Jazz club.
He still has a piece of the costume, which involved
shoulder pads.
Among the cooler things he has done, Benjamin has
paraglided off a Swiss Alp, conducted research into
infant Hydrocephalus (that's the one where a kid's
head swells from too much liquid in the brain), learned
to flip over tables at acting school in Russia, and, to
his rabbi's great chagrin, hiked up the side of a
Chilean volcano on Yom Kippur.
He is still repenting.
Beyond that, Benjamin can make a mean risotto,
bake crusty bread using the New York Times no-knead
recipe, and keep his room relatively neat.
He cannot ice skate, maintain tied shoelaces, or
perform karaoke comfortably unless he has at least 3
beers. So, please do not bother him about those
things.
As far as acting goes, Benjamin has played everything
from an Israeli assassin with post-traumatic stress
disorder to a hip-hop Dionysus to a Marx brother. He
has also schlepped large puppets around New Jersey
with very little complaining considering.
In terms of type, people generally think of him as a
young Tina Yothers with an edge. Or a Marcia Gay
Harden without all the crying. Unless you want crying,
in which case, he can make that happen...
(One person called him the love-child of Tony Shaloub
and Aida Turturro, but he won't say who.)
When he grows up, Benjamin fully expects to be a real
live movie star. With a healthy stage career, rockin'
abs, two dogs, a canary named Susan, Democrats in
office, the mid-east at peace and an end to AIDS in
Africa. He's really working hard to manifest all that.
No, seriously. He's read The Secret. His mom gave it
to him.