Ben Barnes

Benjamin Thomas Barnes (born 20 August 1981) is an English film, stage and television actor.

Barnes was born on 20 August 1981 in southwest London to Patricia Becker, a relationship psychotherapist, and Thomas Barnes, a psychiatrist and professor.

He has a younger brother, Jack.

Barnes cites his mother's Jewish South African childhood, his father's scientific education, and his attendance at what he felt was a "vaguely Christian" school where he "liked the hymns" as formative influences.

Barnes was educated at two independent schools for boys: Homefield Preparatory School in Sutton and King's College School in Wimbledon.

In King's, he sang in choirs and played percussions (drums and piano) in jazz orchestras and concert bands.

In 1997 he began his career in musical theatre by joining the National Youth Music Theatre where, at age sixteen, he gave his first performance as a drummer in the West End musical adaptation of Bugsy Malone.

Prior to university, he spent two years singing, television presenting, and working with entertainment svengali Simon Fuller to open a jazz club and release an album, both of which did not materialise.

Barnes then studied English literature and drama at Kingston University, appearing and directing in productions such as Don Juan (as the lead), The Golden Age, Exposure and The Zoo Story.

He won the English Prize for writing essays on themes from Harry Potter and The Hobbit.

While working at the theatre on intense acts such as The Ragged Child, The Dreaming, Loving Ophelia, Sex, Chips & Rock n' Roll, he briefly joined the boyband Hyrise, who performed in Eurovision: Making Your Mind Up, to find the UK's entry for the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest, with 'Leading Me On'.

Graduating in 2004 with a BA (Hons) in Drama with English Literature, he was the university's first drama student to achieve First Class Honours.

Barnes began working on television in 2006, including a guest appearance on the UK series Doctors.

That same year, he joined the ensemble cast of a West End production of The History Boys, in which he starred and received acclaim as the sexually provocative Dakin.

He also played young Dunstan Thorn in Stardust (2007), the title role in Dorian Gray (2009), Neil McCormick in Killing Bono (2011), Alejandro in The Big Wedding (2013), Tom Ward in Seventh Son (2014), Samuel Adams in Sons of Liberty (2015) and Benjamin Greene in Gold Digger (2019).

Barnes released his first single, "11:11", with a music video in September 2021 ahead of the release of his debut extended play (EP), Songs For You, including a music video for "Rise Up" in October.

The EP features the songs "11:11", "Rise Up", "Pirate Song", "Not the End", and "Ordinary Day".

Barnes made his feature film debut as young Dunstan Thorn in Stardust (2007), directed by Matthew Vaughn and based on Neil Gaiman's novel of the same name.

He is best known for his roles as Prince Caspian in The Chronicles of Narnia film series (2008–2010), Logan Delos in Westworld (2016–2020), Billy Russo/Jigsaw in the Marvel series The Punisher (2017–2019), and The Darkling in the Netflix series Shadow and Bone (2021–2023).

In 2008, he was inducted in the university's Wall of Fame, the youngest to be featured among more than twenty accomplished alumni.

He starred as a Russian hoodlum named Cobakka in Suzie Halewood's Bigga Than Ben (2008).

In June 2008, Barnes gained recognition for his role as Prince Caspian in The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, directed by Andrew Adamson.

Adamson described the film as "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."

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 was cast two and a half weeks after meeting with the filmmakers, and fitted well into the surrogate family of Adamson and the four actors playing the Pevensies.

He spent two months in New Zealand riding and stunt training in preparation.

His Mediterranean accent in the film was inspired in part by Mandy Patinkin's performance as Inigo Montoya in The Princess Bride.

Barnes also voiced his character in the video game The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.

His portrayal earned him nominations from the 2008 National Movie Awards for Best Male Performance, the 2008 Teen Choice Awards for Choice Movie Breakout Male, and the 2009 MTV Movie Awards for Best Breakthrough Male.

In November 2008, Barnes starred in the role of John Whittaker opposite Jessica Biel and Colin Firth in Stephan Elliott's romantic comedy Easy Virtue, based on Noël Coward's play of the same name.

The score contained Coward and jazz-age songs, three of which were sung by Barnes.

He then starred as the title character in Dorian Gray, a film adaptation of Oscar Wilde's novel, directed by Oliver Parker and released in September 2009.

In the psychological thriller Locked In, directed by Suri Krishnamma and released in September 2010, he played Josh, an American father whose daughter seems to be in a coma due to a car accident.

Barnes reprised his role as King Caspian in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the third instalment in the film series.

Directed by Michael Apted and filmed in Australia, it premiered in November 2010 at a Royal Film Performance in London and had a theatrical release in December.

The play, directed by Trevor Nunn and adapted by Rachel Wagstaff, opened on 28 September 2010 and ran through 15 January 2011.

He received a nomination at the 2011 National Movie Awards for Performance of the Year.

Barnes returned to the West End stage in London with a starring role as World War I soldier Stephen Wraysford in Birdsong, a drama based on Sebastian Faulks's novel of the same title.

In April 2011, he played Neil McCormick in Killing Bono, a comedy based on McCormick's memoir 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.

The Hollywood Reporter says Barnes and his co-star Robert Sheehan "convincingly portray young talents who were in the right place at the right time but made the wrong moves".