Ben Whishaw

reference content Ben Whishaw, man, that guy’s everywhere—and for good reason. Born in Bedfordshire to a mom working in cosmetics and a dad in IT, he’s got this wild mix of French, German, Russian, and English roots. Plus, he’s got a twin brother, which is just kind of cool. Early on, Ben’s obsession with theatre kicked off at Samuel Whitbread Community College, and he dove into acting at the Bancroft Players Youth Theatre. He killed it in a stage version of Primo Levi’s If This Is a Man, which rocked the Edinburgh Festival back in ‘95—critics couldn’t stop raving about him. Fast forward, Ben heads off to RADA, nails his training, and then—bam!—lands Hamlet in Trevor Nunn’s 2004 production. He’s one of the youngest ever to pull off the role, and people totally lost their minds, calling him the next Laurence Olivier. No pressure, right? Film-wise, he pops up in Layer Cake, and then there’s that oddball show Nathan Barley where he plays Pingu. Awards start stacking up, like “Most Promising Newcomer” for My Brother Tom, and a bunch of Best Actor noms for Hamlet. Throw in his uncanny turn as Keith Richards in Stoned, and then Perfume: The Story of a Murderer—seriously, that performance was chilling. He even played a version of Bob Dylan in I’m Not There and appeared in the TV series Criminal Justice. With projects like Bright Star and The Tempest also in the mix, Ben’s career is just one wild, impressive ride.