Ben Daniels

Ben Daniels
Daniels at the New York Comic Con
Born (1964-06-10) 10 June 1964 (age 59)
Alma materLondon Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
OccupationActor
Years active1987–present
PartnerIan Gelder (1993–present)

Ben Daniels (born 10 June 1964) is an English actor. Initially a stage actor, Daniels was nominated for an Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actor for Never the Sinner (1991), the Evening Standard Award for Best Actor for 900 Oneonta (1994), Best Actor in the M.E.N. Theatre Awards for Martin Yesterday (1998), and won the 2001 Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the Arthur Miller play All My Sons.

In 2008, Daniels made his Broadway début in a revival of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, for which he was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play. Daniels has also appeared on popular television series including Cutting It (2002–04), The Virgin Queen (2005), Law & Order: UK (2009–11), The Paradise (2013), House of Cards (2013–14), and The Exorcist (2016–17).

On 1 April 2018 he appeared in the NBC live televised concert rendition of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar as Pontius Pilate. Daniels played Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon in the third season of Netflix series The Crown. Daniels starred in the role of Walter Sampson in the Netflix superhero series, Jupiter's Legacy.

In 2023 he played the character of General Bel Riose in the Apple TV+ science fiction series Foundation.

Early life

Daniels was born on 10 June 1964 in Nuneaton, Warwickshire. His father was an engineer at Rolls-Royce and later a grocer, while his mother owned a children's clothes shop. He has recalled: "I was quite a shy child, but quite disruptive as well. I was very sneaky and underhanded."

Daniels was educated at Manor Park School, a state comprehensive school in Nuneaton, near Coventry, in Warwickshire (since closed). According to Daniels, drama lessons at O-levels gave him a voice, and when he attended sixth form studies at Stratford College between 1980 and 1982, doing A-levels in theatre studies and English literature, he attended Royal Shakespeare Company performances. A fellow student recalled that Daniels, whom he knew as Dave, "was very serious about his work, and struck me as incredibly intelligent... you got the sense his mind was working; the cogs were ticking over". Daniels subsequently trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) for three years.

Career

One of Daniels' earliest roles was as Justin Hayward, the lead singer of the Moody Blues, as a teenager in two of the band's music videos, "Your Wildest Dreams" (1986) and "I Know You're Out There Somewhere" (1988). In 1992, he made an appearance in the infamous plane crash episode "Cascade" of the television show Casualty, playing the co-pilot of the doomed plane. He has taken on parts in many British television dramas, such as Robin in The Lost Language of Cranes (1991), the Biblical character Jonathan in the 1997 Emmy-nominated TV film David, the philandering Finn Bevan in Cutting It (2002–2005), and Nicholas Brocklehurst in the BBC television miniseries The State Within (2006). The latter role was notable for an unexpected same-sex kiss between Daniels' character and another person. In 2008 he appeared in Lark Rise to Candleford, a BBC production based on three semi-autobiographical novels about the English countryside written by Flora Thompson.

Daniels has also played a number of real-life characters, such as German State Secretary Dr. Josef Bühler in Conspiracy, a 2001 dramatisation of the Wannsee Conference at which the Final Solution was endorsed. He also played the author and journalist Ian Fleming, creator of James Bond, in Ian Fleming: Bondmaker (2005), as well as Sir Francis Walsingham in The Virgin Queen (2005) and English writer Saki in Who Killed Mrs De Ropp? (2007). In addition, he has made guest appearances in a number of British TV drama series, including Soldier Soldier (1992), A Touch of Frost (1992), Outside Edge (1994), Spooks (2005), and Merlin (2011). In 2017, Daniels made a guest appearance in a Treehouse of Horror episode of The Simpsons as a priest.

Daniels may be most recognisable to American audiences for appearing in the 1996 film Beautiful Thing. Daniels portrayed Tony, boyfriend of Sandra, the protagonist Jamie's mother. In an independent film directed by Lavinia Currier titled Passion in the Desert (1997), Daniels played a French soldier named Augustin Robert. The film was nominated for a Golden Seashell award. Other feature films that Daniels has starred in are The Bridge (1992), I Want You (1998), Madeline (1998), and Doom (2005). He was offered roles in the 2000 releases The Patriot and Vertical Limit, but turned them down and stated that "the money was good, but it wasn't for me". Daniels had a brief appearance as General Antoc Merrick in the Star Wars film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

Daniels has said that he loves acting on stage because "it's tough and keeps you on your toes as an actor". He appeared in All's Well That Ends Well and As You Like It (1999–2000), and played Mercutio in a 1994 TV adaptation of Romeo and Juliet. Other theatre credits include Waiting for Godot (1994) and 900 Oneonta (1994), which earned him a nomination for Best Actor at the Evening Standard Awards. He also acted in Martin Yesterday (1998), for which he was nominated as Best Actor in the Manchester Evening News Theatre Awards, Naked (1998), Tales From Hollywood (2001), Three Sisters (2003), Iphigenia at Aulis (2004), The God of Hell (2005), and The Wild Duck (2005–2006). In 2006, Daniels appeared in Thérèse Raquin as Laurent, for which a reviewer labelled his performance "riveting". On 1 April 2018, Daniels appeared as Pontius Pilate in the NBC live musical, Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert!.

Daniels won the Best Supporting Actor award at the Whatsonstage.com Theatregoers' Choice Theatre Awards and the 25th Laurence Olivier Awards in 2001 for his performance in the Arthur Miller play All My Sons. He was first nominated for the latter award earlier in his career, in 1991, for his performance as murderer Richard Loeb in the play Never the Sinner at the Playhouse Theatre. In 2008, Daniels fulfilled a lifetime ambition when he made his Broadway début, headlining as the Vicomte de Valmont in a revival of Les Liaisons Dangereuses. The show opened on 1 May 2008. Daniels was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play for his role. He will portray Santiago on the series Interview with the Vampire.

Daniels played a reoccurring role in the Netflix series House of Cards (2013-2014) as prominent photographer Adam Galloway.

He also played the role of lawyer Rory Murray in the second season of "Passenger List", a fictional podcast produced by Radiotopia.

Personal life

Daniels has been in a relationship with actor Ian Gelder since 1993. They met during the production of Joe Orton's Entertaining Mr Sloane. The couple reside in South London Daniels was already sure of his orientation in his teens (He once remarked: "Out? I've never been in.") although he did not discuss the matter with his parents because they did not have a very close emotional relationship. He was "cautious about mentioning it when I left drama school, because AIDS was terrifying everyone and there was a huge homophobic backlash". He decided to reveal his homosexuality at the age of 24, while appearing in an all-star benefit performance of Martin Sherman's Bent.

Daniels said in an interview in 2001: "Homophobia is still shockingly prevalent in film and TV. I know I've lost work because of being gay, and it is always an issue. Even on a serious BBC Two drama, there will be some suit in some office going, "Hmmm, isn't he a poof?" I don't consider myself politically gay, but whenever I catch a whiff of that now, I'm on it like a ton of bricks." In 2007, Daniels was ranked number 79 in the annual Pink List of 100 influential gay and lesbian people in Britain published by The Independent on Sunday, down from number 47 in 2006.

In his spare time, he is an amateur painter and a practitioner of Ashtanga yoga. From a young age to his early forties, Daniels suffered from sleep paralysis.

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1987 Wish You Were Here Policeman
The Fourth Protocol Uncredited bit part
1991 The Lost Language of Cranes Robin
1992 The Bridge Rogers
1993 Rwendo Marti Short film
1995 Beautiful Thing Tony
1997 Passion in the Desert Augustin Robert
1998 I Want You DJ Bob
Madeline Leopold
1999 Fanny and Elvis Andrew
2000 Britannic Townsend
2001 Married / Unmarried Danny
Conspiracy Dr. Josef Bühler
2002 Fogbound Leo
2005 Doom Eric "Goat" Fantom
2013 Jack the Giant Slayer Fumm
2014 Locke Gareth
Luna Grant Filmed in 2007
2016 The Exception Colonel Sigurd von Ilsemann Adaptation of Alan Judd's 2003 novel, The Kaiser's Last Kiss
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story General Antoc Merrick
2019 Captive State Daniel
2021 Benediction W. H. R. Rivers
2024 Argylle Bartender Cameo

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1987 One By One Student Episode: “The Elephant and the Kangaroo”
1988 The Modern World: Ten Great Writers Hans Castorp Episode: "Thomas Mann"
Wall of Tyranny Streimer
Scene Adrian Episode: "The Crossing"
1989 The Paradise Club DC Webster Episodes: "Family Favours" and "Unfrocked in Babylon"
Capital City Colin de Seincourt Episode: "Max in Trouble"
1990 Drop the Dead Donkey Jack Davenport Episode: "Old Father Time"
The Fabulous Singlettes Brian
1992 Casualty First Officer Graham Marda Episode: "Cascade"
Soldier Soldier Capt. Andy Wright Episode: "The Last Post"
A Touch of Frost Roger Massie Episode: "Conclusions"
1993 The Inspector Alleyn Mysteries Norman Cubitt Episode: "Death at the Bar"
1994 Romeo and Juliet Mercutio
Outside Edge Alex Harrington 5 episodes
W.S.H. Kleinman
1996 Truth or Dare Ben
1997 David Jonathan
1998 Silent Witness Owen Johnson Episode: "Brothers in Arms"
1999 Aristocrats Lord Kildare
2000 Britannic Townsend
2002–2004 Cutting It Finn Bevan Series 1–3
2003 Real Men DI Matthew Fenton
2004 Agatha Christie's Marple Alfred Crackenthorpe Episode: "4.50 to Paddington"
2005 Ian Fleming: Bondmaker Ian Fleming
Spooks Oleg Korsakov Episode: "The Russian"
The Virgin Queen Francis Walsingham
2006 The State Within Nicholas Brocklehurst
2007 Who Killed Mrs De Ropp? Saki
2008 Lark Rise to Candleford Rushton 1 episode
The Passion Caiaphas
2009–2011 Law & Order: UK James Steel Series 1 to 4
2009 The Last Days of Lehman Brothers John Thain
2011 Women in Love Will Brangwen
Moving On John Murphy Episode: "The Poetry of Silence"
Merlin Tristan "Sword in the Stone", Parts 1 and 2. Acted alongside Miranda Raison who played his love interest, Isolde.
2013–2014 House of Cards Adam Galloway 7 episodes
2013 The Wipers Times Lt. Colonel Howfield
The Paradise Tom Weston 8 episodes
2014 Kids Who Kill Narrator TV documentary
Jamaica Inn Francis Davey
2015 Virtuoso Emperor Joseph II TV Pilot
Casanova François-Joachim de Bernis TV Pilot
Flesh and Bone Paul Grayson 8 episodes
2016 The Hollow Crown Duke of Buckingham Episodes: "Henry VI, Part Two" & "Richard III"
2016–2017 The Exorcist Father Marcus Keane Nominated – Fangoria Chainsaw Award for Best TV Supporting Actor (2017)
Won – Cine Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Drama Series (2017)
2017 The Simpsons Irish Priest Voice role (as Ben P. Soop Daniels); Segment: "Exor-sis" from "Treehouse of Horror XXVIII"
2019 The Crown Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon Main role (Season 3)
8 episodes
Won – Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series, 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards
2021 Jupiter's Legacy Walter Sampson Main cast
2023 Foundation Bel Riose Season 2
TBA The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2; upcoming role; in production
Interview with the Vampire Santiago Season 2; upcoming role

Theatre

Year(s)
of appearance
Performance Role Awards and nominations
1985 The Brontës of Haworth
by Alan Ayckbourn

Scarborough, North Yorkshire

James Feather
Family Circles (1970)
by Alan Ayckbourn

Scarborough, North Yorkshire

James
1986 The Winter's Tale (1623) by William Shakespeare

Birmingham Repertory Theatre

Florizel
Something Wicked This Way Comes based on the 1962 novel by Ray Bradbury

Everyman Theatre, Liverpool

William Holloway
The Hypochondriac

Leicester

Cleante
Electra (probably after 413 BC)
by Euripides

Leicester

Pylades
1987 Way Out of Order

Haymarket, Leicester

Sean
All's Well That Ends Well (1601–1608)
by William Shakespeare

Leicester

Bertram
1988 The Rain Gathering

Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh

The Tutor (1774)
by Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz

Old Vic, London

Bollwerk
1989 Bent (1979) by Martin Sherman

One-night benefit for Stonewall at Adelphi Theatre, London

Wolf
1991 Never the Sinner
by John Logan

Playhouse Theatre, London

Richard Loeb
Pride and Prejudice
based on Jane Austen's 1813 book

Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester

George Wickham
1993 Entertaining Mr Sloane (1964)
by Joe Orton

Greenwich Theatre, London

Sloane
Cracks

The King's Head Theatre, London

Gideon
1994 Waiting for Godot (1948–1949)
by Samuel Beckett

Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, London

Lucky
1994, 1999 900 Oneonta
by David Beaird

Old Vic and Ambassadors Theatre, London; Odyssey Theatre Ensemble, Los Angeles

Tiger
1998 Martin Yesterday

Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester
Matt
  • Best Actor, M.E.N. Theatre Awards (nominated) (1998)
Naked

Almeida Theatre and Playhouse Theatre, London

Franco
1999–2000 As You Like It (1599 or 1600)
by William Shakespeare

Crucible Theatre, Sheffield; and Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, London

Orlando
2001 All My Sons (1947)
by Arthur Miller

Cottesloe and Lyttelton Theatres, Royal National Theatre, London

Chris Keller
  • Best Supporting Actor, 25th Laurence Olivier Awards (2001)
  • Best Supporting Actor, Whatsonstage.com Theatregoers' Choice Theatre Awards (2001)
Tales from Hollywood (1984)
by Christopher Hampton

Donmar Warehouse, London

Ödön von Horváth
2003 Three Sisters (1900)
by Anton Chekhov

Lyttelton Theatre, Royal National Theatre, London

Lt. Col. Aleksandr Ignatyevich Vershinin
2004 Iphigenia at Aulis (410 BC)
by Euripides, translated by Don Taylor (1990)

Lyttelton Theatre, Royal National Theatre, London

Agamemnon
2005 The God of Hell (2004?)
by Sam Shepard

Donmar Warehouse, London

Welch
2005–2006 The Wild Duck (1884)
by Henrik Ibsen

Donmar Warehouse, London

Gregers Werle
2006 Thérèse Raquin (1873)
by Émile Zola, adapted by Nicholas Wright

Lyttelton Theatre, Royal National Theatre, London

Laurent
2008 Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Dangerous Liaisons) (first produced 1985)
by Christopher Hampton

American Airlines Theatre, New York City

Vicomte de Valmont
2011 Luise Miller
(1782–1784)
by Friedrich Schiller

Donmar Warehouse

The Chancellor
2011–2012 Haunted Child by Joe Penhall

Royal Court Theatre, London

Douglas
2012 Don't Dress For Dinner (1987) by Marc Camoletti

American Airlines Theatre, New York City

Robert
2018 Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert! (1970) by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice

Marcy Avenue Armory, Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Pontius Pilate NBC Live Musical
2021 The Normal Heart by Larry Kramer (1985)

Olivier Theatre, Royal National Theatre, London

Ned Weeks
2023 Medea by Euripides (431 BC)

@SohoPlaceTheatre, London

Jason/Creon/Aegeus

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Work Result
1991 Laurence Olivier Award Best Actor in a Supporting Role Never the Sinner Nominated
1994 Evening Standard Theatre Award Best Actor 900 Oneonta Nominated
1998 MEN Theatre Award Best Actor Martin Yesterday Nominated
2000 TMA Award Best Supporting Actor As You Like It Nominated
2001 Laurence Olivier Award Best Actor in a Supporting Role All My Sons Won
WhatsOnStage Award Best Supporting Actor in a Play Won
2008 Tony Award Best Actor in a Play Les Liaisons Dangereuses Nominated
Drama League Award Distinguished Performance Nominated
Outer Critics Circle Award Best Actor in a Play Nominated
Theatre World Award Honoree
2017 Fangoria Chainsaw Award Best TV Supporting Actor The Exorcist Nominated
2019 Grammy Award Best Musical Theater Album Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert Nominated
2020 Screen Actors Guild Award Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series The Crown Won
2022 Laurence Olivier Award Best Actor The Normal Heart Nominated
Critics' Circle Theatre Award Best Actor Won
WhatsOnStage Award Best Performer in a Male Identifying Role in a Play Nominated

This page was last updated at 2024-03-26 10:55 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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