Ben Whishaw
Born	Benjamin John Whishaw (1980-10-14) 14 October 1980 (age 31) Clifton, Bedfordshire, England
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1999–present

Benjamin John "Ben" Whishaw^[1] (born 14 October 1980) is an English actor who trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Whishaw is known for his breakthrough stage role as Hamlet, his roles in the television series Criminal Justice and The Hour and film roles including Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, I'm Not There and Brideshead Revisited. It has been announced that he will play the role of Q in the James Bond film Skyfall.

Early life[link]

Whishaw was born and brought up in Clifton, Bedfordshire, the son of Linda (née Hope), who works in cosmetics, and Jose Whishaw, who works in information technology.^[2] He has a twin brother, James, and was a member of the Bancroft Players Youth Theatre at Hitchin's Queen Mother Theatre. He attended Henlow Middle School and then Samuel Whitbread Community College in Clifton, Bedfordshire. During his time with the group, he first rose to prominence during collaborations with their offshoot theatre company, Big Spirit. He was involved in many productions – perhaps most notably, If This Is A Man (also performed as The Drowned & The Saved). This was a piece devised by the company based on the book of the same name by Primo Levi, a survivor of the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz. This harrowing and moving book was adapted into a physical theatre piece by the group and taken to the 1995 Edinburgh Festival where it garnered five-star reviews and great critical acclaim. Whishaw played the character of Levi in this and subsequent productions of the show.

Career[link]

As the lead in Trevor Nunn's 2004 young-cast production of Hamlet at the Old Vic, he received highly favourable reviews. The role was shared with Al Weaver in an unusual arrangement that saw Whishaw playing all nights except for Mondays and matinées. Whishaw was nominated for the Olivier Award for Best Actor and the Ian Charleson Award. Nunn is reported to have made this arrangement due to the youth of the two actors playing the lead, to relieve some of the pressure on each. It was Whishaw, however, who featured most prominently in the marketing materials and in the majority of reviews.

Whishaw's film and TV credits include Layer Cake and Chris Morris's 2005 sitcom Nathan Barley, in which he played a character called Pingu. He was named 'Most Promising Newcomer' at the 2001 British Independent Film Awards (for My Brother Tom) and, in 2005, nominated as best actor in four award ceremonies for his Hamlet. He also played Keith Richards in the Brian Jones biopic Stoned. In the spring of 2005, Whishaw received lots of press for his turn as a drug dealer, acting alongside Robert Boulter and Fraser Ayres in Philip Ridley's highly controversial stage play Mercury Fur.

In Perfume, Whishaw plays Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, a perfume maker whose craft turns deadly. The film was released in Germany in September 2006 and in the U.S. in December 2006. In the same year Whishaw worked on Pawel Pawlikowski's abandoned The Restraint of Beasts.^[3]

Whishaw appeared in I'm Not There in 2007 as one of the Bob Dylan reincarnations; in Criminal Justice, a Tiger Aspect series for the BBC, in 2008; a new adaptation of Brideshead Revisited; and ...some trace of her, an adaptation of The Idiot at the National Theatre.^[4]

At the end of 2009 he starred in Cock, a new play by Mike Bartlett at the Royal Court Theatre.^[5] In 2009 he also starred as the poet John Keats in the film Bright Star, which was written and directed by Jane Campion.

In February, 2010 Whishaw made a very successful off-broadway debut at MCC Theater in the US premiere of the awarding winning play The Pride by Alexi Kaye Campbell. The performance co-starred Hugh Dancy and Andrea Riseborough and was directed by Joe Mantello.

He played Ariel in Julie Taymor's recent film adaptation of The Tempest and is attached to work on the film Kill Your Darlings^[6] (in which he plays Lucien Carr)

Ben Whishaw's most recent project is The Hour a BBC Two drama series, written and created by award-winning screenwriter Abi Morgan.^[7]

Whishaw will appear in the 23rd James Bond film, Skyfall, in the role of Q ^[8]. He will be portraying a younger 'Q' than in previous films. Peter Burton and Desmond Llewelyn both received the role when they were in their forties, while Desmond Llewelyn and John Cleese played the role into their eighties and sixties, respectively. Coincidentally, the script for Whishaw's previous project, The Hour, has his character jokingly referring to a female colleague as Moneypenny on several occasions.

Personal life[link]

Whishaw guards his personal life, saying, "as an actor you have total rights to privacy and mystery, whatever your sexuality, whatever you do. I don't see why that has to be something you discuss openly because you do something in the public eye. I have no understanding of why we turn actors into celebrities."^[9]

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ben Whishaw

• Ben Whishaw at the Internet Movie Database
• Ben Whishaw at RADA
• Hamilton Hodell, agent
• Ben Whishaw Online