A Des Moines native who’s finding success as a Hollywood actor is returning to his home town this weekend to share some of his secrets with other aspiring stars.
Twenty-seven-year-old Ben Easter has had roles in big budget movies like “Pearl Harbor” and on t.v. shows including “Boston Public” and “Masterpiece Theatre.” Easter says he hopes to pass along a few nuggets of wisdom to Iowans from his seven years in Los Angeles. “I have a strong support system there and it’s important for me to be a support system for other actors, whatever age they are, or filmmakers, anyone who’s involved on any end of the spectrum when it comes to filmmaking, acting, stage as well,” Easter says.
His latest film is “I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer” — the third installment in that horror series.
Easter is leading the workshop called “From the Heartland to LA: Networking and Self-Marketing for the Actor.”
“It’s such a pleasure coming from Iowa and I welcome any opportunity I can to be of any help to any other young or old actors that are pursuing this career path,” Easter says. “It can be a long and hard journey but it can be well worth it if you believe in it and yourself.”
He says some people do still pack up all of their belongings and take a bus to LA, landing jobs in food service to get by until they’re “discovered.” It can still happen, but he says the competition for Hollywood unknowns is insane. “No matter what you have prepared, what you have set down in your path to come to Los Angeles or go anywhere, no matter what job you’re pursuing, at the end of the day, you’re in that boat. I wasn’t a waiter but I worked as a security guard for a couple of years so I sort of lived that lifestyle,” he says.
Easter’s workshop is today (Saturday), beginning at 9 AM, at the Wild Rose Independent Film Festival, underway at the Fleur Cinema and Cafe in Des Moines.