{"id":2712,"date":"2010-12-12T10:34:50","date_gmt":"2010-12-12T15:34:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tm.org\/blog\/?p=2712"},"modified":"2011-03-12T22:00:12","modified_gmt":"2011-03-13T03:00:12","slug":"ben-foster-meditation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usa.tm.org\/blog\/people\/ben-foster-meditation\/","title":{"rendered":"Actor Ben Foster uses TM technique as a resource for energy &#038; creativity"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Ben Foster is recognized as one of America\u2019s most intelligent, sensitive, and versatile young actors\u2014and he is one of a growing number of performing artists who credits his daily <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tm.org\">Transcendental Meditation<\/a> practice with helping him be creative.<\/p>\n<p>From his popular role in the award-winning HBO series <em>Six Feet Under<\/em> to the gripping drama <em>The Messenger<\/em>, Ben Foster has shown the kind of creativity and intensity that critics and audiences love.<\/p>\n<p>In his last three films, he\u2019s played a cowboy, an astronaut, and an Iraq war vet, all to critical acclaim. Foster has done well choosing challenging dramatic roles that keep him from being typecast.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tm.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/six-feet-under-ben-foster.jpg\" alt=\"six-feet-under-ben-foster\" title=\"six-feet-under-ben-foster\" width=\"570\" height=\"416\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3023\" srcset=\"https:\/\/usa.tm.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/six-feet-under-ben-foster.jpg 570w, https:\/\/usa.tm.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/six-feet-under-ben-foster-300x218.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 570px) 100vw, 570px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>At 19, Foster worked with legendary director Barry Levinson, costarring with Academy Award-winner Adrian Brody in the movie <em>Liberty Heights<\/em>. In the years following this critical success, Foster shifted over to HBO, where many of us enjoyed watching him play the complex and mysterious character Russell Corwin in the HBO Original Series <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hbo.com\/six-feet-under\/index.html\"><em>Six Feet Under<\/em><\/a> (2003-2005). He won praise for showy parts in <em>Alpha Dog<\/em> (2006) and\u00a0costarred the same year in a Hollywood blockbuster, playing Angel in <em>X-Men: The Last Stand<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>But it wasn\u2019t until he appeared in the film <a href=\"http:\/\/query.nytimes.com\/gst\/fullpage.html?res=9B03E2DB153BF93AA3575AC0A9619C8B63\"><em>3:10 to Yuma<\/em><\/a> (2007) that he really caught people\u2019s attention and earned some Best Supporting Actor nominations. And like his character Charlie Prince, a saddle-slick sharpshooter, Foster came on screen with his acting guns blazing. In fact many movie reviewers felt Foster out shined the movie\u2019s star, Russell Crowe.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tm.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/messenger-ben-foster.jpg\" alt=\"messenger-ben-foster\" title=\"messenger-ben-foster\" width=\"259\" height=\"383\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-3024\" srcset=\"https:\/\/usa.tm.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/messenger-ben-foster.jpg 259w, https:\/\/usa.tm.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/messenger-ben-foster-202x300.jpg 202w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 259px) 100vw, 259px\" \/>His next major project,\u00a0the starring role as an Iraq war veteran in the film <a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0790712\/\"><em>The Messenger,<\/em><\/a> earned him two acting award nominations. The movie, conceived by acclaimed Israeli director Oren Moverman, was applauded by film critics. Foster made such an impression on his director that Moverman later said, \u201cWhatever I do, it will be with Ben. I have found my actor. I have found the guy I want to work with.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Foster was born in Boston but moved with his parents to Fairfield, Iowa, at the age of four, where he attended the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.maharishischooliowa.org\/\">Maharishi School<\/a> and learned the Transcendental Meditation technique. It was at this award-winning school, where all students and teachers practice meditation and yoga and have strictly organic food in their cafeteria, that Foster began his theatrical career by writing, directing, and starring in his own play at the age of twelve. Later he and his family moved to Los Angeles where he began pursuing his passion full-time.<\/p>\n<p>Recent interviews with Foster suggest his meditation continues to be a regular and important part of his daily preparation for acting. It\u2019s like \u201chitting a reset button. If my call time\u2019s five in the morning,\u201d Foster says, \u201cI gotta get up at four. But what it gives me during the day is just a resource of energy and the ability to hear what I\u2019m actually thinking, rather than spitting back what I\u2019ve been told.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m looking forward to watching this young man\u2019s career continue to grow!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tm.org\/contact-us\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tm.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/Contact-us-button-TM-blog.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ben Foster is recognized as one of America\u2019s most intelligent, sensitive, and versatile young actors\u2014and he is one of a growing number of performing artists who credits his daily Transcendental Meditation practice with helping him be creative. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tm.org\/blog\/people\/ben-foster-meditation\/\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_excerpt -->","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-people"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.tm.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.tm.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.tm.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.tm.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.tm.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usa.tm.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2712\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.tm.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.tm.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.tm.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}