Early life

Savage was born in Highland Park, Illinois, the son of Joanne and Lewis Savage, who were an industrial real estate broker and a consultant. His brother is actor/director Fred Savage, and his sister is actress/musician Kala Savage. His grandparents were Jewish and from Poland, Ukraine, Germany, and Latvia, and Savage was raised in Reform Judaism.

Career

Savage made his film debut at the age of 9 in his brother Fred's hit Little Monsters (1989) and appeared in the feature films Big Girls Don't Cry... They Get Even (1992), as Sam, the brainy little brother, and as a 10-year-old in Clifford (1994), the latter starring Martin Short. Savage's stage debut was in The Laughter Epidemic at the Pasadena Playhouse. He also guest starred on his brother Fred's TV series The Wonder Years in the Valentine's Day episode.

His first major speaking role on network television was playing the recurring role of Matthew, son of the Judd Hirsch character, on the comedy series Dear John (1988). Then he was one of a family of orphans who con Robert Mitchum into being their guardian in A Family For Joe (NBC, 1990).

Savage is best known for his role as lead character Cory Matthews on the hit TV sitcom Boy Meets World from 1993 until 2000. Savage's brother Fred appeared alongside him in one episode of Boy Meets World, guest starring as a lecherous college professor pursuing Cory's girlfriend. In the following season, December 17, 1999, Fred directed his brother and the cast of Boy Meets World in the episode "Family Trees," as Shawn (Rider Strong) discovers that the woman who raised him is not his biological mother.

Ben has also worked in several TV-movies, including She Woke Up (1992) with Lindsay Wagner, and McDonald's Family Theatre Presents: Aliens for Breakfast (1995), as a young teen whose breakfast cereal figure comes alive.

Savage received critical recognition for his portrayal of "Coty Wyckoff", an angel-faced boy with the soul of a killer, in the ABC Event Series, Wild Palms (1993).

In May 1998, Savage again received critical acclaim, this time for playing "Roddy Stern" in Tony Award-winner Israel Horovitz's rarely seen play Unexpected Tenderness at the Marilyn Monroe Theater. He received an Ovation Award for his performance.

In 2002, Savage starred in the PG-13 film Swimming Upstream playing the best friend who was slightly immature but very supportive to his terminally ill friend.

Savage took a break from acting in both film and television for three years, but he later made a guest appearance in Still Standing as Seth Cosella, the boss of Bill Miller, played by Mark Addy. That same year he starred as Ford Davis in the independent feature Car Babes, which was shot on location in Los Gatos, California, and also guest starred as himself in an episode of the Disney Channel original series Phil of the Future.

In 2006, he starred in the critically acclaimed independent film Palo Alto, which first premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2007.

In 2007, he starred in the ABC pilot from Sachs/Judah Making it Legal alongside Scott Wolf and Robert Wagner.

In 2008, he starred as Mark Ratner in an episode of the NBC series Chuck, as well as murder suspect 'Kirby Morris' in an episode of Without a Trace.

In 2011, he appeared in an episode of the Fox series Bones. He also guest starred on the Disney Channel series Shake It Up playing Andy Burns.

In November 2012, Savage announced via his Twitter account that he had signed on to the Boy Meets World spin-off series, Girl Meets World. The series premiered on Disney Channel on June 27, 2014, and features Savage's character Cory and his Boy Meets World love interest Topanga (Danielle Fishel) married in their adult years with two children. The series follows Cory and Topanga's daughter Riley (Rowan Blanchard) as she enters middle school and tries to navigate through life. Besides being Riley's father, Cory is also her history teacher in this series; in addition to his on-screen role, Savage also directs some episodes of the series. On August 6, 2014 it was announced that the series was renewed for a second season. On November 25, 2015, the show was renewed for a third season.

Personal life

Savage interned for U.S. Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA at the time) in 2003 as a requirement for completing his studies at Stanford University, where he graduated in 2004 with a degree in Political Science and as a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1989	Little Monsters	Eric Stevenson
1992	Big Girls Don't Cry... They Get Even	Sam
1994	Clifford	Roger
2002	Swimming Upstream	Teddy Benevides
2006	Car Babes	Ford Davis
2007	Palo Alto	Patrick
2010	Closing Time	Jared	Short film
2011	Peace and Riot	Scott
2012	White Dwarf	Ben
2012	The Caterpillar's Kimono	Lincoln

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1988-1990	Dear John	Matthew Lacey	Recurring role, 5 episodes
1990	Wonder Years, TheThe Wonder Years	Curtis Hartsell	Episode: "The St. Valentine's Day Massacre"
1990	Family for Joe, AA Family for Joe	Chris Bankston	Main role, 9 episodes
1990	Hurricane Sam	Sam Kelvin	Television film
1992	She Woke Up	Andy	Television film
1993	Wild Palms	Coty Wyckoff	Miniseries
1993-2000	Boy Meets World	Cory Matthews	Lead role, 158 episodes
1994	Aliens for Breakfast		Television film
1996	Maybe This Time	Cory Matthews	Episode: "Acting Out"
1996	Party of Five	Stuart	Episodes: "Close to You", "Christmas"
1998	Adventures from the Book of Virtues	Jinkyswoitmaya (voice)	Episode: "Determination"
2005	Still Standing	Seth Cosella	Episode: "Still the Boss"
2005	Phil of the Future	Himself	Episode: "Time Release Capsule"
2007	Making It Legal	Todd	Television film
2008	Chuck	Mark Ratner	Episode: "Chuck Versus the Cougars"
2008	Without a Trace	Kirby Morris	Episode: "Cloudy with a Chance of Gettysburg"
2011	Shake It Up	Andy Burns	Episode: "Review It Up"
2011	Bones	Hugh Burnside	Episode: "The Male in the Mail"
2012	Lake Effects	Carl	Television film
2014-present	Girl Meets World	Cory Matthews	Main role
2015	Criminal Minds	Young Jason Gideon	Episode: "Nelson's Sparrow"

Awards and nominations

Film

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result
1990	Young Artist Awards	Best Young Actor Starring in a Motion Picture	Little Monsters	Nominated

Television

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result
1994	Young Artist Awards	Best Youth Actor Leading Role in a Television Series	Boy Meets World	Nominated
1997		Best Performance in a TV Comedy: Leading Young Actor		Nominated
1998				Nominated
	YoungStar Award	Best Performance by a Young Actor in a Comedy TV Series		Nominated
2000	Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards	Favorite Television Friends		Won

[ Source: Wikipedia ]