In the teen drama Finding Carter (2014-2015), 16-year old Carter (Kathryn Prescott) discovers that the woman she thinks of as her mother actually kidnapped her when she was three. She is reunited with her birth family, and must juggle the standard high school "boyfriends! fashion! mean girls!" drama with soap opera angst: kidnapping, insanity, sexual assault, cancer, drug abuse, murder, "shocking revelations," and "dark secrets."
There are two lesbian characters, Madison and Bird, who face extensive homophobia, go through extensive angst, and date Max before figuring "it" out.
I've already done a profile of Alex Saxon, so this is about Caleb Ruminer, which is hard to type without it sounding dirty. It means "someone who ruminates," fixates on negative thoughts.
Caleb was born in Cabot, Arkansas, about 25 miles north of Little Rock. Ulp.
He found his passion for acting while singing in church, appearing in church plays, and so on. Ulp.
After graduating from high school, he attended the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, AMDA, in Los Angeles, for two years. Then dropped out because they were too liberal?
His first acting gig was an 2013 episode of Castle, as the brother of a teenager who would grow up to be on death row.
Then came the unyielding angst of Finding Carter
In a 2014 interview in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (wait -- there are Democrats in Arkansas?), Caleb talks about a struggle with being a Christian and playing a bad dude. But, he figures, the bad dude is never praised for committing sins, so it's ok. He found a church in Los Angeles where they talk about how you can be Christian and an actor.
Ulp. Doubtless there's some (a lot) of homophobia in Caleb's background.
But some penises, too (after the break)
After Carter, Caleb starred in Lethal Seduction (2015), which is what it sounds like: teenager Caleb is seduced by his cougar neighbor, who influences him to do a lot of deviant stuff. His mother is also in love with him, so the two psychos have an increasingly violent tug-of-war with Caleb in the middle. Plus he has a teen girlfriend and a best buddy (Sam Lerner, right)
Sam Lerner is best known as Geoff Schwartz on The Goldbergs (2014-23). Here he chills with some very gifted homies.
Next Caleb had guest spots on:
Episode 1.5 of The World According to Billy Potwin (2018), about a far-right anti-vax 13-year old in a family of liberals. Like Family Ties?
Episode 1.1 of Strange Ones (2018): "Two enigmatic travelers make their way across a remote landscape," facing paranormal peril. First up: an abused high school girl conjures a demon. Wait, a movie entitled The Strange Ones and a tv series called Strange Ones both premiered in 2018. I may be mixing them up.
Episode 2.3 of Dirty John: Betty Broderick (2020), a true-crime show about the woman who murdered her ex-husband (Christian Slater) and his new wife in 1989. "Betty takes a desperate step to save her marriage."
Episode 1.1 of The Irrational (2023): A professor (Jesse L. Martin, left) uses his knowledge of human nature to solve murders. His roommate and best friend is a queer woman.
Caleb's character is a former Marine suffering from PTSD and alcohol abuse. Figures.
Dude, try a comedy. They aren't that bad.
More after the break. Caution: Explicit
