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by Lance Erickson Ghulam, Lafayette, California

Source: The Avonlea Traditions Chronicle, Issue No. 29, Autumn 1999.

If Zachary Bennett seems a bit frazzled these days, it may be because he's in the process of leaving his parents' home and moving into his own apartment in Toronto. Or perhaps it's due to his gruelling rehearsal schedule for an upcoming feature film in which he carries the main focus. But despite this transitional period in Zach's life, he emphasizes with delight, "Life is darn good to me!"

Zach Bennett's life and career have widened considerably since 1996, when he ended his seven year portrayal as Felix King on Road to Avonlea. Zach's particularly excited about his latest acting challenge-the lead in the drama Desire. In the film, nineteen-year-old Zachary plays a 26-year-old concert pianist who works in an airport lounge for a living.

"It's kind of a love story, I suppose," Zach says. "My character enlists his young daughter in the second grade and ends up falling for her teacher. Then a little girl is abducted from the school yard and the whole thing ends with a shocking twist. One of the final scenes is extremely heavy! I'm sure it will shock a few people in Canada. We're not in Avonlea anymore!" Zach laughs.

Given the nature of the character he plays, Zachary sees the part as both an actor's dream and nightmare all at once. He considers this role is a huge break for him and an opportunity that would not ordinarily come his way, given his "farm boy" image. Desire's writer/director, Colleen Murphy, is the wife of Allan King who directed Zachary in many Avonlea episodes and in the mini-series By Way of the Stars.

"Colleen asked me to lunch to discuss the project and I made it clear that I was extremely interested in playing such a crazy person because it was so different from anything I've done before."

Zach has an impressive film and television background. As a child performer, he appeared in such films as The Good Mother alongside Diane Keaton, Ghost Mom, and Disney's Back to Hannibal: The Return of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. Prior to landing his role on Avonlea, Zach had already worked with producer Kevin Sullivan in the TV movie Looking For Miracles. At age ten, Zach was nominated for an American Daytime Emmy Award for his performance in this movie, set in 1936, about two brothers who grow close during a summer away at camp.

Zach has fond memories of his years on Road to Avonlea and says he can "talk about the show until dawn because it was a huge part of my childhood. It's now being shown in reruns here in Canada and my ten-year-old sister, Sophie, is hooked. She doesn't care at all that I'm in it. I'll walk into a room and see her watching me on TV when I was her age, which is so funny."

As Felix King, Zach portrayed the rascal of the King family for the greater part of the show's seven seasons. The first three years found Felix a typical schoolboy, fighting with his sister Felicity (Gema Zamprogna), playing pranks and providing funny snippets of dialogue. Zach feels this mischievous nature initially threatened his character's development.

"I remember being very frustrated about Felix always getting into the cookies!" Zach recalls. "Because we didn't have a token fat character to play around with, Felix became this constant eater. It turned into 'Well, he's not fat, but boy, does he like his sweets!' Then I got my growth spurt when I was fifteen and I matured physically and that's when things got a little confusing. Suddenly, I was dapper young Felix who was still doing boyish things. The writers didn't want to let go of that little crazy little boy image. The character of Davey (Kyle Labine) subsequently helped take over that area and allowed Felix to grow up a little."

As the series progressed, viewers saw Felix transformed from a mischievous, playful child to a tall, deep-voiced young man. There was little subtlety or delicacy to Zachary's portrayal of Felix. Zach had wanted Felix to have a girlfriend for several years and he was grateful for Felix's relationship with Izzy Pettibone (Heather Brown), but was disappointed when the romance was left unclarified before the series ended.

"The writers were building something there and then they dropped it. They completed Felicity's development very well. They showed her go from a tight little know-it-all, to her confused 'wanting every boy in town' stage, to finally the woman she turned out to be. But with Felix, it's as though the writers threw out ideas they'd already used. In the series finale, Felix was going off to the war and I thought it would have been great to have a 'wait for me' storyline. It would have been so Lucy Maud Montgomery, don't you think? I received many letters that read, 'What happened with you and Izzy? You were so happy together!' I wish I had an answer."

In 1998, Zachary reprised his role as Felix King in the Avonlea Christmas television movie, Happy Christmas, Miss King. Since his character was missing in action in World War I for most of the film, he admittedly had few lines to memorize. According to Zach, the movie was originally supposed to centre around Felix's storyline.

"But then things started to trail a bit into Hetty's storyline. It's all about Jackie, you know," he jokingly refers to co-star Jackie Burroughs, who played Hetty King. "I had a great time filming that because I didn't have that much to do. I could actually relax a bit and just play the wounded soldier who came home."

Zachary was twice nominated for a Gemini Award for "Best Actor in a Continuing Leading Dramatic Role" for Road to Avonlea. His other film and television credits include roles in The Muppets Christmas Special, The Twilight Zone, Nothing Too Good for a Cowboy and Blind Faith. Recently, Zach portrayed Joseph Bonanno's son in the cable TV mini-series Family: The Life and Times of Joseph Bonanno.

While he loves acting, Zach is fascinated by the workings behind the camera as well. When he was sixteen years old, Zach wrote his first play, entitled My Cousin. Although he never actually completed it, he gave a copy to Patricia Hamilton (Road to Avonlea's Rachel Lynde) to canvass her opinion. Hamilton advised, "It has great promise. Give it a few more years, then go back and see what you can do with it."

Zachary states, "Patricia is a wonderful stage actress and I wanted her opinion. I looked at my work and realized she was right. My Cousin is a brilliant starter, but it needs work. Someday I'll finish it but being a working actor, I don't always have a lot of time to sit down and dedicate myself to writing."

Zachary facetiously claims that world domination is his ultimate goal in life. That statement may not be far from the truth. His career goals, both in front and behind the camera, are lofty and ambitious. "I go to many university film nights just to see and observe ideas. In university, students don't have money, they only have talent. That's where you can see talented minds really working. I have a lot of ideas and when I'm not working I write a great deal.

"If I have my way, I will write and direct one day. I have a big urge to finance independent films within Canada and obtain wide releases for them. I'm a socially nationalistic human being. Canada is my country and I'm proud of it!"

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