Carnivále

   Ben Hawkins
   Played By Nick Stahl

 

Ben Hawkins (24 episodes, 2003-2005) - A troubled young man picked up by the carnival in the Oklahoma Dust Bowl, circa 1934. Abandoned as an infant by his father, Henry "Hack" Scudder, Ben was raised on an isolated farm by his fanatically religious, mentally ill mother, Flora Hawkins. At an early age, he began manifesting supernatural healing powers. Frightened, his mother condemned him as devil-spawn, rejecting him emotionally and physically until her death in 1934 due to complications of dust pneumonia. He was subsequently picked up by Carnivále.

Since joining the odd troupe, Ben has been plagued by disturbing and mysterious dreams. Forces within the carnival-specifically Professor Lodz, a blind mentalist, working under orders of a mysterious overseer known only as "Management"-seem to be manipulating him into using his healing powers, despite their terrible cost. Clues and strange signs seem to indicate that Ben's past-and his future-are inexorably entwined with that of Carnivále.