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Kenny Baumann started acting at the age of 11 and moved to Hollywood at the age of 14, where he landed a lead a Fox pilot. He recently finished filming the independent feature Springbreak ’83 with Jamie Kennedy and Joe Pantoliano. Kenny landed a lead on ABC Family’s The Secret Life Of The American Teenager, playing Ben Boykewich, the know-it-all hopeless romantic, who falls for the lead, Amy. Ben has not yet learned that Amy is pregnant, but that may be coming up soon on the hit summer seires.

Kenny recently spoke to MediaBlvd Magazine about the role of Ben, and what we can expect for the rest of this season of the show.

Question: Can you tell us a little bit about how you got into acting?

Kenny Baumann: Originally, it all started at one of those small-town actor/model searches. I was ten and I was living in Abilene, Texas, and I happened to “qualify” at the small-town level and of course, pay $600 to go to that large convention in Dallas where I actually picked up a talent agent in New York. So I spent three months in New York auditioning for commercials and doing print work. From New York I came back home to Texas and did quite a bit of print work and commercials in Dallas. Then I said enough of this modeling stuff; acting is what I love and I want to pursue that. So we came to L.A. and gave pilot season a shot a few times. I started booking things and working and that’s how it all worked out.

Question: When did Ken become Kenny?

Kenny: I’ve been Kenny all my life, but I use Ken sometimes for other venues such as my writing and some other things. I try to keep some sort of separation between the two entities just for my own sake.

Question: Could you touch on what about this character appealed to you and how you this role?

Kenny: I was drawn to this role because Read the rest of this entry »

July 15th, 2008Interviews Latest Read More >No Comments

Kenny Baumann Interview

If you’ve seen the T-Mobile television commercial with the creepy dad glaring at his daughter’s date and thought the young man looked familiar, he just might be.

Or if you saw the same fellow in the premiere episode of “The Secret Life of the American Teenager” and thought, “Don’t I know that guy?” you could be correct.

Kenny Baumann, the actor in question, grew up in Abilene and attended schools in the Wylie Independent School District. At age 18, Baumann has done what thousands of hopefuls dream about every day — he’s landed a regular part on a television series.

Baumann co-stars on the new cable TV series “The Secret Life of the American Teenager,” which debuted Tuesday on ABC Family (cable Channel 28 in Abilene).

The show revolves around a group of high school students dealing with the hormone-driven, angst-inducing challenge of growing up, including the unexpected pregnancy of character Amy Juergens (Shailene Woodley). Baumann plays Ben Boykewich, the “self-proclaimed wiseguy” who pines for her. But, rest assured, he’s not the one responsible for her plight.

“He’s a very sweet guy,” Baumann said in a telephone interview from his California home. “In the first episode, he’s really focused on (having sex) and getting in the cool crowd in high school. But then he changes his path and falls really hard for her.”

Baumann’s own path to television stardom began when he was 10 and attended a model search in Abilene. He ended up with an agent in Dallas and modeled in a number of print ads for Dillard’s and JC Penney among other companies. He also acted in plays produced by Abilene Community Theatre and the defunct Abilene Actors Guild.

When he was 14, his mother, Vicki Baumann, started taking him to Los Angeles to audition for commercials and acting roles. They came out for six weeks the first time, then two months, and then six months. Then they moved to California full-time, leaving Kenny’s father, Robert, and sister in Abilene. Kenny’s sister Demi has now followed Kenny into acting.

“It’s been hard to have the family apart,” Vicki Baumann said. “But we support our children and their passions. I just feel like we’re doing what we need to do for Kenny.”

The cross-country relocation worked. Kenny landed roles in a couple of television pilots the first episode of a new series that is shown to networks with the hopes of landing a slot on the prime time schedule. Notably, he landed a role on a proposed show starring sitcom veterans Alan Ruck (”Spin City,” “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”) and Kristen Johnson (”Third Rock from the Sun”), though none of Kenny’s previous pilots made it onto a network schedule.

“It’s very frustrating to put in three to four weeks (making a pilot) and not have it picked up,” he said.

But that isn’t the case with “Secret Life.” It has a guaranteed 10-episode run, which constitutes a first season on cable’s ABC Family.

“It was a relief to know I had 10 episodes to build a character and flesh him out and really get to know him,” Baumann said. “It’s a very honest, heartbreaking show. It’s hard to find that on television. It’s really frank. The material really rings true.”

The show also features a couple of actors familiar with the young adult genre. Former teen queen Molly Ringwald (”Sixteen Candles,” “Pretty in Pink”) and “Melrose Place” actress Josie Bissett also star in the show. Each has made the move to the adult roles, playing mothers of the teenage characters.

Besides working with Ringwald and Bisset, Baumann recently guest-starred on “Eli Stone.” There, he met and worked alongside Jonny Lee Miller, who plays the eponymous character and is also known as the first husband of Angelina Jolie. Baumann said the “Eli Stone” experience was so much fun, he felt depressed when it was over.

But there’s no sitting around moping for this young man.

He spends a lot of his spare time writing. He’s searching for a publisher for a book he’s written. He also helped found BRAIN (wearebrain.org), an artists’ collective, to support and encourage fellow artists, among other goals.

Baumann also counts photography among his talents. Before being cast on “Secret Life,” he took head shots of other actors. Once he got the show, he decided to put that aspect of photography aside and focus on the “fine arts” side of the medium.

He uses the word “passions” when he speaks about acting, writing and photography. Baumann likes to keep busy and plans to launch a line of T-shirts soon.

In the meantime, he can be seen on ABC Family for at least nine more episodes. But he thinks the show will be around for longer than that. Not only does “Secret Life” portray a realistic group of teenagers, the cast works well together, he said, and that tends to come across on-screen.

Baumann said he feels lucky to be a part of this cast. They often hang out together on the weekends, a situation he said they all find unusual.

“We all get along so well, we’re really baffled,” he said with a chuckle. “We don’t think that happens very often. I could do this forever. This is really a dream job.”

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July 14th, 2008Latest Read More >2 Comments