Ben Barnes (actor)

Infobox actor
name = Ben Barnes


caption = Barnes at the UK premiere of ""
birthname = Benjamin Barnes
birthdate = Birth date and age |1981|8|20
birthplace = London, England
othername = Ben Barnes
yearsactive = 2006 - present
occupation = actor

Benjamin "Ben" Barnes [ [http://www.teenhollywood.com/d.asp?r=175338&c=1038&p=5 TeenHollywood.com - Ben Barnes: Chatting with "Caspian" ] ] (born August 20, 1981) is an English actor. He has appeared in the television series "Doctors" and "Split Decision", and in the films "Stardust", "Bigga Than Ben", and "".

Early life

Barnes was born in London, England to Tricia, a psychotherapist, and Thomas Barnes, a professor of psychiatry. [http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/film/article1359917.ece] [Stated on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno", May 13, 2008] He has a younger brother, Jack, and is an alumnus of Kings College School, Wimbledon, where he was a contemporary of film actor Khalid Abdalla and comedian Tom Basden. He studied Drama and English literature at Kingston University.

Career

Barnes began his acting career in theatre in 2004.fact|date=August 2008

It was revealed in the June/July 2008 issue of "CosmoGIRL!" magazine that he was a singer in the boyband Hyrise, who were in the running to represent the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004. Barnes began working in television in 2006. He made his film debut in the 2007 film "Stardust", portraying Young Dunstan Thorn. He later starred in Suzie Halewood's "Bigga Than Ben", which will be released in August 2008.

In February 2007, it was announced Barnes would play the role of Caspian in the film adaption of "", directed by Andrew Adamson. [cite news|title=In brief: Barnes skips History for Caspian|date=2007-02-06|work=The Guardian|accessdate=2007-08-01|url=http://film.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,2006925,00.html] Adamson said "Caspian" is a coming of age and, to some degree, a loss of innocence story, with Caspian starting out quite naïve, then craving revenge and finally letting go of the vengeance."cite news | author = Tom Johnson | title = The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian Character Guide | publisher = Moviefone | date = 2008-04-11 | url = http://movies.aol.com/movie/the-chronicles-of-narnia-prince-caspian/24862/character-guide | accessdate=2008-04-11] While many readers interpret Caspian as a child, a passage in the novel mentions his age to be near that of Peter's, so an older actor was sought to match William Moseley. Barnes had read the novel as a child, and was cast in two-and-a-half weeks after meeting with the filmmakers. He spent two months in New Zealand horse riding and stunt training to prepare for shooting. [cite news | author = Edward Douglas | title = Ben Barnes is Prince Caspian | publisher = Comingsoon.net | date = 2007-10-19 | url = http://www.comingsoon.net/news/interviewsnews.php?id=38419 | accessdate=2007-11-24] Barnes modelled his Spanish accent on Mandy Patinkin's performance as Inigo Montoya in "The Princess Bride". [cite news | author = Dan Jolin | title = Ben Barnes is Prince Caspian | publisher = Empire | date = April 2008 | pages = 96] Adamson did not expect to cast a British actor as Caspian, and said Barnes fitted well into the surrogate family of Adamson and the four actors playing the Pevensies.cite web | title = Orchestrating Magic in Narnia All Over Again | publisher = Disney Insider | url = http://disney.go.com/inside/mainattraction/080401/index.html | accessdate=2008-04-03] When cast, Barnes was appearing in the National Theatre's West End production of "The History Boys": producer Mark Johnson joked Barnes "probably isn't the National [Theatre] 's favorite actor right now", although Barnes has stated in interviews that he gave the theatre good notice.

Barnes worked his way around the world in June to promote "Prince Caspian". He is also set to reprise his role (this time as King Caspian) in the third film in the Narnia series, "". Filming is expected to begin in January 2009 [cite news | title = UPCOMING FEATURE FILMS -- CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER, THE | publisher = My Entertainment World | date = July 9 2008 |url = http://www.myentertainmentworld.com/mew/film_production_newlisting.html] with locations in Rosarito, Mexico, Prague & Australia, with a release date still listed of May 7, 2010.

In Spring 2008 he finished filming the role of John Whittaker for Noël Coward's romantic comedy, " Easy Virtue" opposite Jessica Biel. Written and directed by Australian Stephan Elliott the film is due to premier at the Toronto Film Festival on September 8th, 2008. [cite news | author = Cameron Bailey | title = A film that is as clever and hilarious as it is well crafted | publisher Toronto Film Festival |url = http://tiff08.ca/filmsandschedules/films/easyvirtue] . It's also scheduled for the Rio Film Festival and London Film Festival prior to its November 7th release world wide.

As of October 2008, Barnes has just finished filming the title role in the latest version of Oscar Wilde's "The Picture of Dorian Gray" for Ealing Studios directed by Oliver Parker. [cite news | author = Stuart Kemp | title = Ben Barnes to shine as Dorian Gray | publisher = The Hollywood Reporter | date = May 18 2008 |url = http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i7c5c16b2d6b9258e31f4f8eada83452e]

Filmography

ee also

*National Youth Music Theatre

References

External links

*imdb name|1602660|Ben Barnes
* [http://www.factory-publishing.com/ben-barnes.html Ben Barnes Photo Shoot and Interview] at factory-publishing.com
* [http://beta.kiwibox.com/article/36753/1 Ben Barnes Article on Kiwibox.com]