Ben Whishaw
Ben Whishaw
Benjamin John "Ben" Whishawis an English actor. He is known for his stage role as Hamlet; his roles in the television series Nathan Barley, Criminal Justice, The Hour and London Spy; and film roles including Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, I'm Not There, Bright Star, Brideshead Revisited, Cloud Atlas, The Lobster, Suffragetteand The Danish Girl. He has also played the role of Q in the James Bond films starting with Skyfall, and was the voice of Paddington Bear in...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionMovie Actor
Date of Birth14 October 1980
CityClifton, England
My # intuition comes up with better stuff than my head, I think.
I think being very thin has had a lot to do with how I've been cast.
I think I have a degree of confidence, but I also have terrible insecurity, like anybody does.
I think that sometimes in theater, I don't prepare much beyond going to the rehearsals.
I don't think I am especially interested in celebrities, but I love talking about what is going on with people and why they do what they do.
I don't think anyone can walk through the world in a state of vulnerability all the time, can they?
I don’t think that actors are necessarily any more uncomfortable in their skin than anyone else. I suppose I feel more comfortable in my skin now, but you’re always playing a character, aren’t you? You tell different versions of yourself to different people and vice versa. Here, or in the photo shoot or wherever, it’s a representation of you. It’s not you-you. That’s how you get through it.
I think the sensation of being moved by a piece of art is something that is really good for a person's soul.
I'd like to have a go at directing.
I'm not tortured and neurasthenic - I'm really not.
Keats himself spoke about how Shakespeare was capable of erasing himself completely from the characters he had created. As an actor, that is what I'm trying to do.
I love the characters I've had the opportunity to play.
Even today, England is a very repressed, repressive country, and there's pressure to be kind of a certain way, so people do things that ultimately make them sad.
When I finished my A-levels, I assumed I'd be able to get work as an actor. But I couldn't. I didn't get an audition. Nothing. So I thought I'd better train and then the parts would come.