With charm to spare and dark, unassumingly handsome looks, British
actor Ben Chaplin arrived on the Hollywood scene in smart and sexy
fashion with the comedy
Lügen haben lange Beine (1996).
While his habit for avoiding mainstream artificiality in favor of
small, intense, independent vehicles is quite intact, in retrospect it
looks as if he has purposely avoided glossy Hollywood stardom in search
of quality work.
Chaplin was born Benedict John Greenwood in Windsor,
England, where he was raised, the youngest of four children of Cynthia (Chaplin), a drama teacher, and Peter Greenwood, a civil engineer. He first developed an interest
in acting while appearing in a school play. He attended London's
Guildhall School of Music and Drama, but did not conform well to the
school's program layout and left after his first year to scout out the
local theatre scene. A one-time statistician for the London Transport
Authority during his fledgling years as a young actor, he made his TV
debut in 1990. His first role of note occurred with a co-starring role
in the TV-movie
Bye Bye Baby (1992). This
led to an introduction to film-making with a small part as a footman in
the Merchant Ivory period drama
Was vom Tage übrig blieb (1993)
starring Anthony Hopkins and
Emma Thompson. After a
breakthrough playing a social misfit in the film
Eine Sommernachtsliebe (1995) and a
show-stopping, offbeat role in the BBC TV series
Game-On (1995), Hollywood quickly
took notice and he was offered the role of the photographer who gets
caught between two women in
Lügen haben lange Beine (1996)
co-starring Uma Thurman and
Janeane Garofalo.
Just as in acting school, he was unwilling to conform to the Hollywood
system and immediately sought out work on the London stage. Following
theatre roles in "The Neighbour" (1993) and "Peaches" (1994), he earned
winning reviews and an Olivier Award nomination for his compelling
portrayal of Tom Wingfield opposite theatre legend
Zoë Wanamaker in "The Glass Menagerie" on
the London stage.
Quite in demand by this time for films he appeared alongside
Jennifer Jason Leigh and
Albert Finney in
Die Erbin vom Washington Square (1997),
Agnieszka Holland version of the Henry
James novel that had previously appeared on screen as
Die Erbin (1949) starring
Montgomery Clift and winning
Olivia de Havilland the Academy
Award for Best Actress of 1949. This period piece failed to achieve its
predecessor's financial success or critical praise, but Ben did receive
kudos for his touching performance in the role of Private Bell in
Terrence Malick much-admired remake of
Der schmale Grat (1998).
Since then Ben has concentrated on risk-taking and quality rather than
on mainstream filming. In the exorcist-themed
Lost Souls - Verlorene Seelen (2000) he played an
atheistic crime writer deemed to become Satan himself; played a modest
bank clerk who tangles with a Russian mail-order bride
(Nicole Kidman) in
Birthday Girl - Braut auf Bestellung (2001); portrayed
Sandra Bullock's rookie partner in the
crimer
Mord nach Plan (2002); and
melded beautifully into a number of period pieces such as
The Touch (2002),
Stage Beauty (2004),
The New World (2005) and
Ich & Orson Welles (2008).
The dark-eyed, thick-browed, soulful-eyed actor also showed off his
transatlantic appeal on stage after making his 2003 Broadway debut in
"The Retreat from Moscow" and earning a Tony nomination in the process.
Recent filming has included a prime role in yet another portrait of
Das Bildnis des Dorian Gray (2009).
