Ben Browder AKA: Commander John Crichton Website: FarScape.com

The Battlestar Galactica Fan Club Reporters Gregory L. Norris & Laura A. Van Vleet recently spoke with Ben Browder from the Sci-Fi Channels hit show Farscape. Below is Ben's Bio followed by the interview. The interview has some intersting insights on Ben.

Ben Browder portrays Commander John Crichon, a 20th-Century American astronaut caught in a space accident that hurls him across many galaxies and int the adventure of a lifetime, in the SCI FI Channel original series Farscape.

Browder is best known to television audiences for his role as "Sam," Neve Campbell's boyfriend in the Fox series, Party of Five. In addition, he appeared in several TV movies including Paper Mansions: The Dottie West Story starring Michelle Lee, Danielle Steel's Secrets starring Christopher Plummer and Josie Bissett, Innocent Victims with Rick Schroeder, and A Wing and a Prayer with Patty Duke. His serial TV credits include guest-starring roles in Melrose Place, Grace Under Fire, Murder She Wrote and Boyes of Twilight with Wilford Brimley.

Browder made his feature film debut in Memphis Belle. He also appeared in Nevada with Gabrielle Anwar and Kirstie Alley. A Kiss Before Dying with Matt Dillon, and the independent feature Boogie Boy, directed by Craig Hamann.

Browder also appeared in the Broadway production of The Merchant of Venice starring Dustin Hoffman as well as regional theatre productions. Born in Memphis, TN, and raised in Charlotte, NC, where his family owns and operates a NASCAR Busch series racecare, Browder is a graduate of Fruman University in Greenville, SC. He received his acting training at Central School of Speech and Drama in London.

by

Gregory L. Norris & Laura A. Van Vleet

If the hit television series Farscape borders on science fiction art, it’s a medium that star Ben Browder has bled for – literally. On a hot summer day in Los Angeles during the summer of ‘98, Browder met with creator Rockne O’Bannon – "Rock", as he’s known to the Farscape cast – and Executive Producer David Kemper to discuss portraying lost astronaut John Crichton on the new Sci Fi Channel adventure.

"This was my very first meeting with them, when I auditioned for the part of Crichton," Browder recounts. "We were sitting down, just talking about things like El Nino and El Nina – talking about the weather, doing that sousing out thing you know so they could see if I was really a complete jerk." Browder adds a good-natured laugh. "We’re having our conversation. I’m wearing a suit jacket and feeling hot and sweaty, because like I said, it was a scorcher. Rock is talking to me and starts edging his head sideways, blinking his eyes. Finally, he points at my face and asks me if I’m okay. I could feel this bead of sweat dripping down my nose. So I touched my nose to wipe the sweat away, and I looked down to see blood on my fingers. For some reason, right at the start of my audition, a pore opened up in the middle of my head like a stigmata."

The memory makes Browder cringe. "Blood was running from the center of my forehead down my nose," he continues. "This has never happened before, never happened since – but at the time, they were talking to an actor who they didn’t know from hole in the ground, and he was bleeding from the center of his forehead! They slapped a huge Band-Aid on me and had me do my screen test. The end of the story is I obviously got the job, but for a while, I was known around the set as "the Bleeder". If I hadn’t bled, maybe they wouldn’t have noticed me. Man, if I ever test for Spielberg, first thing up I’m bleeding!" he laughs.

Farscape can be seen Friday nights at 9 p.m. EST on the Sci Fi Channel.

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