Ben Whishaw

He haes played on stage Hamlet; on telly Nathan Barley, Criminal Justice, The Hour an London Spy; an film roles includin Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006), I'm Not There (2007), Bright Star (2009), Brideshead Revisited (2008), Cloud Atlas (2012), The Lobster (2015), Suffragette (2015), The Danish Girl (2015). an the role o Q in the James Bond films Skyfall (2012) an Spectre (2015),. He played the vyce o Paddington Bear in Paddington (2014) an Paddington 2 (2017).

Ben Whishaw
Born	Benjamin John Whishaw (1980-10-14) 14 October 1980 (age 43) Clifton, Bedfordshire, Ingland
Alma mater	Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
Thrift	Actor
Years active	1999–present
Hame toun	Langford, Bedfordshire
Pairtner(s)	Mark Bradshaw (2012–present)

Whishaw wis born in Clifton, Bedfordshire, an wis upfreshen thare an in Langford, the son o Linda (née Hope), that wirks in cosmetics, an Jose Whishaw, that wirks in information technology. His faither is o French, German an Roushie hithercome, an his mither is o English backgrund. He haes a fraternal twin, James. "Whishaw" isna the faimily's oreeginal faimily name; the faimily wis oreeginally named Stellmacher, a German tred name for a cartwright.

He firstly rase tae weel-forrence as a member o the Bancroft Players Youth Theatre, Big Spirit, at Hitchin's Queen Mother Theatre. He attended Henlow Middle School an syne Samuel Whitbread Community College in Shefford. He graduated frae the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 2003.

Whishaw wis involved in mony productions wi Big Spirit, includin If This is a Man (an aw performed as The Drowned & The Saved), a piece devised bi the company based on the beuk o the same name bi Primo Levi, a survivor o Auschwitz concentration camp. It wis adapted intae a pheesical theatre piece bi the group an taen tae the 1995 Edinburgh Festival, whaur it garnered five-starny reviews an muckle creetical ruise.

 

As the lead in Trevor Nunn's 2004 production o Hamlet at the Old Vic, Whishaw received unco reviews an wis nominated for the Olivier Award for Best Actor an the Ian Charleson Award. The role wis daled wi Al Weaver in an daimen paction that saw Whishaw playin aw nichts binna for Monandays an matinées. Nunn is clypit tae hiv makkit this paction auchtin tae the youthie o the twa actors playin the lead, tae exeem some o the stress on ilk ane. It wis Whishaw, houaniver, that featurt maist weel-forritly in the marketin materials an in the feck o reviews.^{[citation needit]}

His film an telly creedits include Layer Cake an Chris Morris's 2005 sitcom Nathan Barley, in whit he played a chairacter cawed Pingu. He wis named "Most Promising Newcomer" at the 2001 British Independent Film Awards fo My Brother Tom, an in 2005 he wis nominated as best actor in fower awaird ceremonies for his portrayal o Hamlet. He an aw played Keith Richards in the Brian Jones biopic Stoned. In the ware o 2005, Whishaw received lots o mird for his role as a drog troker in Philip Ridley's threapful stage play Mercury Fur.^{[citation needit]}

In Perfume, Whishaw played Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, a perfume makker whase craft turns deidly. The film wis released in Germany in September 2006 an in US theatres in December 2006. In the ilk year, Whishaw wrocht on Paweł Pawlikowski's forhoued The Restraint of Beasts. Whishaw appeared as ane o the Bob Dylan reincarnations in I'm Not There in 2007, in the BBC's Criminal Justice in 2008, in a new adaptation o Brideshead Revisited, an in a stage adaptation o The Idiot at the National Theatre cawed ...some trace of her.

At the end o 2009 he starred in Cock, a new play bi Mike Bartlett at the Royal Court Theatre. An aw in 2009 he starred as the poet John Keats in the film Bright Star. In Februar 2010, Whishaw makkit a sonsie aff-Broadway stairt at MCC Theater in the Americaen premiere o the awairding-winnin play The Pride bi Alexi Kaye Campbell. He played Ariel in Julie Taymor's 2010 film adaptation o The Tempest, an wis featurt in The Hour, a BBC Two drama series.

In 2012 Whishaw appeared as Richard II in the telly film Richard II, a pairt o the BBC Two series The Hollow Crown, for whit he received the British Academy Television Award for Leadin Actor.

An aw in 2012, he appeared as pairt o the ensemble cast o the science-fiction drama film Cloud Atlas.

Whishaw appeared in the 23t James Bond film, Skyfall, in the role o Q. He portrayed a smawer Q than in umwhile films; Peter Burton an Desmond Llewelyn baith received the role whan thay war in thair fowerties, while Llewelyn an John Cleese played the role intae thair aichties an saxties, respectively. In addeetion, he wis teamed a third time wi Daniel Craig efter thay starred in the films The Trench an Layer Cake.

In ware 2013, Whishaw starred on stage alangside Judi Dench in the warld premiere o Peter and Alice, a new play bi John Logan inspired bi the lifes o Alice Liddell an Peter Llewelyn Davies. Frae October 2013 tae Februar 2014 he an aw appeared on stage in the spunk up o Jez Butterworth's Olivier-award-winnin play Mojo, an aw starring Rupert Grint, Brendan Coyle, Daniel Mays an Colin Morgan. He wis nominated for a WhatsOnStage Award for Best Actor for baith roles. In the simmer o 2015 he appeared as Dionysos in Euripides' tragedy Bakkhai at the Almeida Theatre in Lunnon.

In 2014, Whishaw starred in the sequestrate film Lilting an forby vycin Paddington Bear in the film Paddington.

In 2015, Whishaw co-starred in The Lobster, a romantic science fiction drama frae Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos; appeared in Suffragette, a story o the early feminist muivement writtin bi Abi Morgan an forby starring Carey Mulligan, Helena Bonham Carter, Meryl Streep an his The Hour co-starn, Romola Garai; reprised his role o Q in Spectre, the 24t James Bond film; an played author Herman Melville in Ron Howard's In the Heart of the Sea.

In 2017, Wishaw reprised his role as Paddington Bear in Paddington 2.

For several years Whishaw refuised tae answer quaistions aboot his personal life, sain: "For me, it's important tae keep a level o anonymity. As an actor, your job is tae perswad fowk that yer somebody ither. Sae gif yer constantly tellin fowk aboot yersel, I think yer shuitin yersel in the cuit." In 2011, he tauld Out jurnal: "As an actor you hiv hale richts tae preevacy an meestery, whitiver yer sexuality, whitiver you dae. I dae' see whit for that haes tae be something you commune fair acause you dae something in the public ee. I hiv no unnerstaundin o whit for we turn actors intae celebreeties."

Whishaw entered intae a ceevil pairtnery wi Australien upmakker Mark Bradshaw in August 2012. In 2014, he publicly communed his comin oot as a homosexual man, sain that it wis a tacht experience for him but "awbody wis surpreesingly luesome".

Film

Televeesion

Stage

Radio

• Ben Whishaw on IMDb