With so many birthdays this month, it was hard to pick whom to spotlight. Luckily, Luke Aaron Benward, born May 12, 1995, was a no brainer! We’ve loved the Franklin, Tennessee native since he burst onto the scene in 2002 at the tender age of 7 with the role of David Moore in the film We Were Soldiers.
Luckily, we didn’t have to wait too long to see Luke again. He won a Young Artist Award for his role as Billy Forrester in the movie How to Eat Fried Worms. His acting improved markedly in those few years and would only continue to do so in his next role as Charlie Tuttle in the Disney Channel Original Movie Minutemen.
He followed up these roles in rapid succession turns in features Dog Gone, Mostly Ghostly and Dear John, along with some television appearances before broadening his repertoire to include music. The transition was bridged by a performance in a Martina McBride music video, after which he released his first album Let Your Love Out in 2009. Let Your Love out got him signed to the same label as The Jonas Brothers were previously signed to.
A true multi-hyphenate, he sought to conquer the television world and landed a plum role on Ravenswood, which is where we’ve been catching him most recently as our serious crush, Dillon. He also had a recurring role on another show we love, The Goldbergs. He made a return to form in a Disney Channel Original Movie called Cloud 9, which he also sang in.
Luke has a ton of stuff in the works, and we’re sure to hear new music from him in 2015. On the film front, he’s currently in pre-production on a movie called 16 South. Stay tuned for updates on that front, but in the meanwhile let’s wish Luke a huge Happy Birthday!!!