At the age of 8-years-old, local actor/talent Benjamin Wood knew he wanted to be a performer, and professional wrestling was his first passion.
Wood was born Oct, 13th 1974 in Peekskill, NY. He began his performance career on the Jersey Shore in 2000, making his debut on the independent wrestling scene. For 3 years, he built a solid reputation and had many opportunities to excel in the word of wrestling. In 2003, he found a door opened with Ohio Valley Wrestling in Louisville. Like many wrestling hopefuls, he dreamed of working with the WWE and at the time, Ohio Valley Wrestling was a WWE developmental system.
After making the move to Louisville, Benjamin also ventured out across many states performing all over the USA. The WWE Called in 2009 and invited Ben to the Smackdown event in Lexington, KY. Ten hard years of struggle, setbacks, and achievements paid off that evening with an opportunity to make the roster if he passed a few more performance auditions.
In a heart crushing event, he tore his patella tendon 5 days later during a match in Louisville. Wood was told his career was over. At 36-years-old, it was a tragic event, but it helped to push Woods in a new creative direction. Acting became a new passion, and he has been in a number of local and regional independent film projects since. One of the films (Queens of the Dead) that he was a principal character in recently won "Audience Favorite" at Derby City Film Festival.Some other film titles include Overtime, Sword Bearer, and Nickel Children.
Wood is currently recouperating from knee surgery and hopes to continue to make an impact in 2011 with the dream of making himself a house hold name and media icon. Look for some of his work in the film festival circuits as well as keeping up with this star on the rise on his Facebook page.
