L.J. Benet Trades Taskrabbit for Broadway in Leading Role in ‘The Lost Boys’

The former child actor is making his Broadway debut as the leading role in “The Lost Boys,” a stage adaptation of the cult classic film.​The former child actor is making his Broadway debut as the leading role in “The Lost Boys,” a stage adaptation of the cult classic film. 

L.J. Benet almost missed out on his Broadway debut. The former child actor was in the stages of returning to the scene after stepping away for a few years, and had taken up work with Taskrabbit. 

“I almost turned down [the audition] because I had a carpentry job that I was supposed to do,” Benet says over a Zoom call. “I told my agent, ‘Hey, I can’t do this. I have a really big job,’ and she’s like, ‘Are you stupid?’” 

A year of audition tapes later, the 29-year-old got the call to come out to New York. 

“They were like, ‘Welcome to ‘Lost Boys,’” he says. “I was like, ‘What are you talking about? I was just doing Taskrabbit last week.’”

Benet leads the Broadway adaptation of the cult 1987 movie “The Lost Boys” as Michael, who moves to California with his mother and brother only to discover the town seems to be run by a gang of vampires. 

Benet started acting when he was in second grade, in a production of “Alice and Wonderland.” “I got a ton of fan mail from all the kindergartners that wrote to their favorite person in the cast. And I guess I was one of the favorites,” he says. “And I was like, ‘This is great for my ego. We’re doing this forever.’” 

He worked as a child actor in projects like “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” and “Dog With a Blog” before stepping away at age 19. Two years ago, he decided to give acting another try.

“I was really figuring myself out, of what I wanted. I had such an identity crisis, who I was and who I was without performing, singing, acting — who was L.J., the human being,” he says. “And I got to discover that. But after that period, I was doing everything. I was selling solar. I was doing Uber Eats. I coached gymnastics for a summer.”

Ultimately though, he felt lost and was trying to find what he was good at. When, two years ago, someone suggested he give acting another try, he decided to listen. 

“I was like, ‘Oh, I still got it,’” he says.

As soon as he auditioned for “The Lost Boys” he ran to watch the film, which he describes as ”Brat Pack, but badass.”

He connected to Michael, his character, immediately. 

“It’s heartbreaking, but I think I just really understand his need to feel seen. I think that’s what I relate to the most about him. Growing up, a child actor and a performer, you learn to people please at a very young age, and you don’t really get a lot of your own thoughts across the board. It’s a lot of other people telling you what to do,” Benet says. “And so you listen, you say yes because you’re a kid, but then you get older and you don’t know how to make decisions for yourself or make choices for yourself. And you want to make sure your choices appease everyone around you. And so I get that with Michael. I get this idea of ‘I never got to be a kid because of everything that was happening at home.’ I get that he just wants to be seen. He just wants to be loved.”