SP: Audio interview with Sterling

"Bonnie: Hello Lost fans, this is Lostaway(?) Bonnie from lost.about.com, with a special guest Sterling Beaumon who plays young Ben. Hello Sterling.

Sterling: Hey!

Bonnie: Hey! So I have to tell you that one of my all time favorite episodes of Lost, top five for sure, was “The Man Behind the Curtain” when you first played young Ben.

Sterling: Well that's good to hear cause I have not heard that that often. I think a lot of people say that their favorite episode actually the one where Desmond is caught up in all the going back in time in season 4.

Bonnie: Right, yes, but I personally loved the Ben stories.

Sterling: That's good to hear.

Bonnie: Yeah, and especially the young Ben stories. So, knowing that was one of my favorite episodes, do you have anything exciting to share with me?

Sterling: Yes, I do actually. I'm going to be back next week starting March 18 on a four episode arc.

Bonnie: Four episodes! Fantastic. Okay I'm so excited. So I'll ask you all about that in a minute but first I want to find out a little bit about you. So how old are you Sterling?

Sterling: I'm thirteen.

Bonnie: How long have you been acting?

Sterling: I've been acting since I was like five but I've been doing modeling jobs since a little baby.

Bonnie: What other things do you do besides acting and modeling?

Sterling: I like to play guitar and I sing. And I'm actually recording a CD in the studio right now.

Bonnie: Oh wow, so we might be hearing you on that.

Sterling: Yeah, hopefully.

Bonnie: Oh great, and I heard you want to be a director. Tell me about that.

Sterling: Yes I do want to be a director. I want to go to USC film school. I just want to be in the business for the rest of my life, it's just such a fun place to be.

Bonnie: Well that's exciting. It sounds like you have a hectic schedule. Do you like it that way?

Sterling: Yes I do. I love it that way, I mean I don't know what else to do without having a hectic schedule.

Bonnie: So how do you do school?

Sterling: I do school online on a program called K12. It's through an online school called CAVA and another online school called K12 and it's sort of a collaboration of both.

Bonnie: Were you a Lost fan before you got the part?

Sterling: No! I actually hated the show because I actually was in another show `called In Case of Emergency which kept getting preempted because of Lost.

Bonnie: Oh no. So did you watch Lost at all then before you got the part?

Sterling: No as soon as I got the part me and my mom we bought both the first two seasons because the third hadn't come out yet and we watch them. And we watched the first season in Hawaii and the second season as soon as we got home.

Bonnie: Would you consider Lost your big break? I know you've done quite few other things but is Lost your big break or is something else?

Sterling: Well it is one of my two main big break things. I mean Lost is more for adults and adults would recognize me for that, but a universal Disney Channel movie that I did would really be what most kids recognize me for.

Bonnie: Okay and what was that?

Sterling: It was called Mostly Ghostly and it was on the Disney Channel.

Bonnie: What do your friends think of you being on Lost?

Sterling: I don't know. I think that they... I don't know. I mean most of my friends don't care. They're like 'Oh it's Sterling.'

Bonnie: That's kinda cool, really.

Sterling: Yeah it is.

Bonnie: What kinds of things do people say when they recognize you when you're out and about?

Sterling: Most adults they're a little too shy to say anything. Cause you know they don't want to sound stupid if its not me, so I actually get recognized most by kids. Like 'Were you in Mostly Ghostly?' or something like that or I'm ordering pizza at Costco or something and they're like 'Were you in Mostly Ghostly?' and it's just so much fun because they're so like 'Is it you?' like I'm almost like a puzzle they are trying to solve like is it me or what?

Bonnie: That's really funny but the adults don't really say anything?

Sterling: The adults don't really say anything. Except once at a surf shop I was just looking at some clothes and this guy says 'Hey were you on TV?' and I say 'Yeah' and he said, 'Were you on Lost?' and I say 'Yes' and he was like, 'You're young Ben!' and he totally freaked out. It was so hilarious.

Bonnie: Well that must make you feel good.

Sterling: Yeah but now especially I don't get recognized as much even for Mostly Ghostly because I'm so much older than I was in Lost and in Mostly Ghostly.

Bonnie: Oh okay. Now tell me about the Lost audition. How did you hear about the part and what was it like auditioning?

Sterling: I actually didn't hear about it my agent and manager got me in on it and I auditioned. None of the auditions and none of the parts for anything, they never use the same name or the script because its so secretive. Like I auditioned for young Andrew. Actually it was kinda funny. The scene I auditioned with I was talking to a psychiatrist about seeing my mom. She was like 'Have you seen your mom lately?' and I was like 'no.' 'Are there any girls you like?' and I'm talking about... and I actually mention Annie in that scene and it was really weird because then there was an Annie and they were like 'Do you have any friends?' and I was like 'Yeah, Annie!' It was so much fun.

Bonnie: That's interesting so you had no idea you were going to be playing young Ben until you actually got that part?

Sterling: No idea.

Bonnie: Wow, so what's it like on set?

Sterling: It's so much fun on set because all the guys are just so much fun and the crew guys are just awesome and they are also nice.

Bonnie: So even though you are an actor and a star in your own right, do you still get star struck?

Sterling: Yes, all the time.

Bonnie: You did the original episode in 2007 then you got called back to do more episodes. What did you think when you got called back?

Sterling: Well I just had gotten out of a class. I don't know which class, cause I go to so many different classes, and my mom is like 'Guess who I just got a call from?' and I said 'I don't know. Was it one of your friends? I don't know,' and she was like 'Lost just called me and they want you back for an episode!' And it was like an episode at first, then it turns into another one, and another one, and pretty soon I'm like there for a few months.

Bonnie: All those are already shot and finished right?

Sterling: Yes all of them are already shot.

Bonnie: So what can you tell us about young Ben?

Sterling: Young Ben, he is shy, innocent and pretty much exactly the same as he was in season 3.

Bonnie: Well what can't you tell us?

Sterling: Um, nothing. [laughs]

Bonnie: Were you surprised at where the story took young Ben?

Sterling: Very. I was reading the script and I went, 'They can't do that!'

Bonnie: That's something for us to look forward to then. It sounds like it will be surprising and interesting and I just can't wait.

Sterling: Anybody who watches they won't be able to take it. It's just so cool what happens.

Bonnie: And you don't think anybody will be able to guess?

Sterling: Truthfully I don't think anybody could guess.

Bonnie: That's so exciting. You're thirteen, how old is young Ben?

Sterling: Young Ben now is fourteen/fifteen.

Bonnie: Anything else you can share with us about Ben?

Sterling: He likes to read and he is very to himself. And I will tell you one thing you do not see any more this season within my four episodes you do not see Annie. The girl who plays Annie is my good friend, named Madeline Carroll. I just hope to see her still back in the show.

Bonnie: You guys were already friends before the show?

Sterling: No actually we met at the show and we're just really good friends now. Like we go swim and it's so much fun. We go to the beach sometimes because she has three brothers who are all right around my age.

Bonnie: Oh fun.

Sterling: Yeah it's so much fun.

Bonnie: Tell me what it's like being on a show that is so popular and so secretive. Now you know these big things about Ben that you can't tell anybody, what's that like not being able to tell anybody?

Sterling: Oh it's so hard! It's so hard cause I want to say... I would love to tell you what happens right now but I just can't.

Bonnie: It's going to be nice when those episodes actually air and everybody knows what you know.

Sterling: Yes and that's going to be so much fun.

Bonnie: Thank you so much Sterling for sharing with us today.

Sterling: Okay Can I say one last thing? Boycott American Idol [laughs] cause it's starting to go against Lost right when my episode starts so everyone boycott American Idol! It's just the same old thing anyway."