Ben Daniels

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Ben Daniels
British actor Ben Daniels
Born	June 10, 1964 Nuneaton, Warwickshire, England, UK
Notable roles	Tony in Beautiful Thing (1996); Finn Bevan in Cutting It (2002–2005)

Ben Daniels (born June 10, 1964) is an English actor who has won a Laurence Olivier Theatre Award.^[1]

1 Biography
2 Personal life
3 Trivia
4 Quotes
5 Notes
6 External links

[edit] Biography

Born in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, England, the six-feet tall,^[2] blonde-haired and blue-eyed Daniels trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art for three years. Since then, has appeared in many UK television shows and dramas, such as The Lost Language of Cranes (1991), Soldier Soldier (1991–1997), A Touch of Frost (1992–present), Outside Edge (1994), Cutting It (2002–2005) (as the philanderer Finn Bevan), and The Virgin Queen (2005). He played the role of Mercutio in the 1994 TV production of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, and the part of Jonathan in the 1997 Emmy-nominated TV film, David. In Ian Fleming: Bondmaker (2005), Daniel performed as the famous English author and journalist Ian Fleming. Most recently, he appeared in the BBC television mini-series The State Within (2006).

Daniels may be best known to American audiences for his portrayal of Tony in the 1996 gay film Beautiful Thing, written by Jonathan Harvey and based on his play of the same name. In an independent film directed by Lavinia Currier titled Passion in the Desert (1997), which was based on a short story by novelist Honoré de Balzac, Daniels, in perhaps one of the few films where he has the lead role, portrayed a French soldier named Augustin Robert. His character becomes lost in the desert during Napoleon's invasion of Egypt and develops a strange bond with a leopard he meets.^[3] Passion in the Desert, which was nominated for a Golden Seashell award, also featured renowned French actor Michel Piccoli and was filmed in Jordan and in Utah, USA.

Ben Daniels as Nicholas Brocklehurst in the BBC television mini-series The State Within (2006).

Daniels has also starred in other feature films such as Michael Winterbottom’s I Want You (1998); Madeline (1998), in which he was cast as the somewhat sinister British tutor Leopold; Conspiracy (2001), where he took on the serious role of State Secretary Dr. Joseph Buhler in a dramatization of the Wannsee Conference at which the Final Solution was endorsed;^[4] and Doom (2005), loosely based on the computer game of the same name.

Ben Daniels as "Goat" in Doom

Very active in the theatre scene, Daniels has co-starred alongside Juliette Binoche in the stage play Naked in London. His theatre work credits include plays such as Sam Shepard's The God of Hell, Iphigenia at Aulis, Pride and Prejudice, Tales From Hollywood, Three Sisters, Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, and The Wild Duck. He won the Best Supporting Actor award at the 25th Laurence Olivier Theatre Awards^[1]^[5] in 2001 for his performance in the Arthur Miller play All My Sons at the Cottesloe and Lyttelton theatres, which are both located within the Royal National Theatre in London. He was first nominated for this award earlier in his career, in 1991, for his performance as Richard Loeb, a real-life murderer of a 14-year-old boy, in another stage play titled Never the Sinner at the London Playhouse Theatre, but lost to David Bradley.^[6] Other awards Daniels has been nominated for include the Evening Standard Award, an honor presented for outstanding achievements in the London Theatre (in 1994);^[1] and an award for Best Actor at the M.E.N. Theatre Awards for Martin Yesterday (1998).

[edit] Personal life

Daniels currently resides in South London, England.

[edit] Trivia

Ben Daniels can be seen in two music videos by The Moody Blues, Your Wildest Dreams (1986)^[7] and I Know You're Out There Somewhere (1988),^[8] which were produced very early in his acting career. In both, he acts the part of the band's lead singer, Justin Hayward, as a teenager.
He was offered movie roles with Oscar-winning actor/director Mel Gibson in the film The Patriot (2000) as well as in Vertical Limit (2000). Daniels refused both offers.^[9]
He guest-starred in the British television drama Spooks (2002–present) in the episode titled "Traitor in a Friend".^[10]
In preparation for his role in Doom (2005) as a deeply-religious marine named 'Goat', Daniels woke up at 6 a.m. each morning to undergo boot camp training.
Daniels was ranked number 47 in the Annual Pink List of influential gay and lesbian people in Britain in 2006.^[11]

[edit] Quotes

"When I read the script, I knew that the people who had written it are gamers. No one but a gamer would have written a 'First Person Shooter' sequence in a game-to-movie conversion."^[12] – His thoughts on the film Doom.

"I wanted to have hair like Terry from Funboy 3, but I was given a granny bobble cut with pink dye instead." – Regarding the "worst haircut" he ever had.^[13]

"I didn't pick up hateful vibes, they took it in a light, humorous way. I even had women giving me their phone numbers, one even chased me round a supermarket!" – On his view of the attention stemming from his female fans.^[9]

"I landed two Hollywood movie roles, one alongside Mel Gibson in The Patriot and the other with Chris O'Donnell in Vertical Limit. The money was good, but it wasn't for me."^[9]

"I love kids. I really enjoyed having them around on set. It was good fun. It was tough though to have something who isn't acting with you in a scene, who has no concept of what you're trying to do, wriggling right next to your face in the middle of an intense emotional scene! It was difficult keeping things going when you thought constantly – is it going to cry? Babies were quite well-behaved with the exception of the farting and burping babies. This was the funniest thing to happen on set, particularly in the middle of a scene! I love kids, they make me laugh!" – On working with the youngest actors while filming the television series Cutting It. ^[14]

"I really felt like public property this time round which I don't really like at all. There was a phone with a camera peeping through vegetables while I was out shopping a few weeks ago." – Daniels on his fame.^[14]

"The second time we met," Daniels recalls, "Mowgli nipped me. He wasn’t being aggressive, but there were teeth marks on my arm after he was pulled off. An essential part of my education was discovering more about leopards’ moods." – Daniels during the production of the 1997 movie Passion in the Desert and his involvement with the animal cast member.^[15]

"I saw his eyes go as he read my expression. I looked frightened, which meant I looked like prey. Then he leaped for me, but the trainer pulled him off. If he’d gotten me from the back of the neck and snapped it, that would have been it. People think I’m insane but I think it’s all the more exciting because it’s so dangerous." – Commenting after what could have been a serious injury during the filming of Passion in the Desert with the leopard.^[15]