Ben Levi Ross Is Living Out His Parents’ Acting Dreams

Ben Levi Ross is, in a way, breaking a generational curse. “My parents are failed actors,” he tells Bustle over Zoom, sitting in front of his decorative fireplace. “They met standing in line to audition for a Woody Allen movie.”

Although neither of them landed roles in the film, Stardust Memories, their 28-year-old son is now living out their acting dreams. In 2019, Ross made his Broadway debut as Jared in Dear Evan Hansen, returning three years later in the titular role. Now, he’s starring in the acclaimed Broadway revival of Ragtime as Mother’s Younger Brother, a role he was drawn to for the same reason he wanted to play Evan Hansen.

“When I look back at the things I’ve done so far, I realized that the through line is characters that go through really transformative arcs,” he says. “I wanted to make this person almost unrecognizable by the end of the show, because that’s really what happens to him. He accesses this real rage that has been living in him his whole life but can now be channeled into something tangible and real and hopefully positive.”

As Mother’s Younger Brother, Ross turns from a smitten, dopey-eyed frat boy of sorts into a social-justice activist, enraged by how Harlem’s Black community is being treated and hoping to join their protests — even if he’s not quite sure how to say it. Although the show takes place in 1920s New York, it’s eerily timely in today’s political climate, as Ross was recently reminded.

“There was a bizarre moment where a few of us went to an ICE Out protest downtown,” he says. “We were standing next to each other at a rally in the snow, and I was like, ‘The parallels are getting a little heavy-handed. This is crazy.’ We’re standing here screaming, ‘Strike, strike, strike,’ and then I’m going in an hour to do a show where I scream... ‘Strike, strike, strike.’”

Before Ragtime, Ross played Nick Carraway in the Boston tryout of Gatsby: An American Myth, Florence Welch’s musical adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald novel, which he hopes will move to Broadway. When Ross isn’t on stage, he stars as Carrie Preston’s onscreen son on the CBS comedy-drama Elsbeth. Eventually, he hopes to cross over into film.

“I really enjoy filming Elsbeth and being behind the camera,” he says. “It’s an entirely different performance. I will never stop doing theater, but I’m ready to expand my horizons.”

On his dressing-room staples:

I am scent-obsessed. I keep a bunch of perfumes that I will choose on the day, little spritz on the wrist. I have a wall of Polaroids that I’ve started for all of my friends and family who have come to the show. I usually take a picture [with them] and put it up on the wall. I have a lot of vocal things — sprays, a steamer, multiple tinctures that you put in hot water to drink. My room looks like a witch’s, kind of. There’s a lot of potions.

On his intermission reset:

If I’m feeling vocally fatigued or just energetically tired, I close the door and sit with the steamer for 10 minutes to reset. If I need community, I will go to Brandon Uranowitz or Nichelle Lewis’ dressing room and reconnect. Sometimes it’s just to make sure that your soul is not being totally weighed down by the heaviness of the show.

On his postshow routine:

I’m not usually hungry before a show, but I’m ravenous after. This is probably wrong from a nutritionist’s standpoint, because you’re not supposed to eat so close to bed, but I don’t care. I will eat a lot of carbs. And when I come home, I want everything to look like it’s lit by two candles. I need it to be so dark. I am also on a constant rewatch of Gilmore Girls — I just leave it on and mill about my apartment, which is very regulating for my nervous system.

On his day off:

There have been many Mondays when I don’t have a day off and I’m getting up at 6 a.m. to film Elsbeth, which is hard, but obviously I’m so grateful. If I don’t have that, I have one day to get my life together. It’s giving grocery shopping. It’s giving go to the gym. It’s giving “Let me clean up my space right now.” Then I will try and organize something fun — dinner with a friend or family, a movie, or a concert. I’m a social person. I try to have somewhat of a life, but it’s hard.

On working with Florence Welch:

Florence’s score [for Gatsby] was one of the best I’ve ever sung. It’s actually quite timeless — it feels almost Rogers and Hammerstein-esque while adding the sort of macabre, beautiful, dark feeling you get from Florence’s music. Her teaching us the music is basically just call and response. She’s like, “No, it’s a little more like [operatic note],” and then we’ll be like, “Oh, totally.”