| Ben Barnes | |
|---|---|
 Barnes at the UK premiere of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, June 2008 |
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| Born | Benjamin Thomas Barnes 20 August 1981 London, England, UK |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 2006–present |
Benjamin "Ben" Thomas Barnes[1] (born 20 August 1981) is an English actor. He has appeared in the television series Doctors, and in the films Stardust, Bigga Than Ben, Prince Caspian, Dorian Gray and Easy Virtue. He lives in London with his brother Jack.
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Ben Barnes was born in London, England to Tricia Barnes, a relationship therapist, and Thomas Barnes, a professor of psychiatry.[2][3] He has a younger brother, Jack, and is an alumnus of both Homefield Preparatory School and King's College School, where he was a contemporary of film actor Khalid Abdalla and comedian Tom Basden. He studied Drama and English literature at Kingston University.
Ben Barnes was a singer in the boyband Hyrise, which was in the running to represent the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004.[4] Barnes began working in television in 2006. He later starred in Suzie Halewood's Bigga Than Ben, which was released in October 2008 in the United Kingdom.
In February 2007, it was announced Barnes would play the role of Caspian in the film adaption of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, directed by Andrew Adamson.[5] 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."[6] 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.[7] Barnes modelled his Spanish accent on Mandy Patinkin's performance as Inigo Montoya in The Princess Bride.[8] Adamson did not expect to cast a British actor as Caspian, and said Barnes fit well into the surrogate family of Adamson and the four actors playing the Pevensies.[9] 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 reprised his role (this time as King Caspian) in the third film in the Narnia series, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. In December 2008, Disney announced that it had dropped The Voyage of the Dawn Treader because of budgetary concerns and it was picked up by 20th Century Fox (teaming with Walden Media).[10]
A rose called Prince Caspian was launched by Barnes in June 2008 at BBC Gardener’s World Live in association with The Royal Horticultural Society at NEC Birmingham. The Rosa Prince Caspian was introduced by the rose nursery C&K Jones of Tarvin, Cheshire, and bred by internationally renowned rose breeder Tom Carruth of California. From the sale of each rose plant, a donation (20% of each sale) will go directly to Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity (Registered Charity no. 235825) as part of Disney’s partnership with the charity, to help raise an invaluable £10 million towards the hospital's much-needed redevelopment appeal.
In the spring of 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 premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 8, 2008.[11] The film has screened at the Rio, Rome, Abu Dhabi, London and Adelaide Film Festivals. It also screened at the Tribeca Film Festival prior to its U.S. release on May 22, 2009.
Barnes next starred in the title role in a film adaptation of Oscar Wilde's Dorian Gray, directed by Oliver Parker for Ealing Studios.[12] The film was released on September 9, 2009, in the United Kingdom, and had its world premiere that month at the Toronto International Film Festival. For the remainder of 2009, Dorian Gray was released in Spain, Australia, Italy, Finland and Portugal. Dorian Gray has a 2010 release in countries that include Russia, Greece and Germany. The film does not yet have a distributor in the United States.
In May 2009, he was nominated for MTV Movie Awards' Best Breakthrough Male for his performance in Prince Caspian, which went to Robert Pattinson from Twilight.
In June 2009, Barnes filmed the pyschological thriller Locked In, directed by Suri Krishnamma, on location in Boston. In the movie (which was originally titled Valediction), Barnes plays an American father named Josh whose daughter seems to be in a coma after being in a car accident.[13]
Barnes stars as King Caspian in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the third installment in the Narnia movie series. Directed by Michael Apted, the movie was filmed from July to November 2009, in Brisbane, Australia. Walden Media and 20th Century Fox have scheduled the film's release date for December 10, 2010.[14]
In January 2010, Barnes began filming Killing Bono, a comedy based on the Neil McCormick memoir Killing Bono: I Was Bono's Doppelgänger, in which McCormick recounts his youth in Ireland as an aspiring rock star who is overshadowed by his friend Bono, the lead singer of U2. Barnes plays McCormick in Killing Bono, which is directed by Nick Hamm.[15]
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Stardust | Young Dunstan | |
| 2008 | Bigga Than Ben | Cobakka | |
| The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian | Prince Caspian | ||
| Easy Virtue | John Whittaker | ||
| 2009 | Dorian Gray | Dorian Gray | |
| 2010 | Locked In | Josh | Post-production |
| The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader | King Caspian | Post-production | |
| Killing Bono | Neil McCormick | Filming |
   | In brief: Barnes skips History for Caspian - In brief: Barnes skips History for Caspian | Film | guardian.co.uk |
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