Ben Mendelsohn
☼ Born on 3 December 1969, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Biography
Despite his prominence in Hollywood as a character actor known for playing villains and criminals, Ben Mendelsohn has been a leading man in Australia since starting acting as a teenager.
Paul Benjamin Mendelsohn was born in Melbourne, Australia, to Carole Ann (Ferguson), a nurse, and Frederick Arthur Oscar Mendelsohn, a medical researcher. Getting his start in television, including The Henderson Kids (1985) and the long running soap opera Neighbours (1985), Mendelsohn broke out with his performance as an ill-fated juvenile delinquent in the acclaimed coming of age film The Year My Voice Broke (1987). Mendelsohn won the best supporting actor award from the Australian Film Institute, his first of eight nominations.
Mendelsohn went onto to become one of the most popular teen/young adult stars in Australia cinema, often rivaling other emerging talents of his generation, including Russell Crowe, Noah Taylor, and Guy Pearce, leading the Australian tabloid to nickname them "the Mouse Pack" in reference to the Rat Pack in America and Brit Pack in the UK, emerging at the same time. Among his peers, Mendelsohn seemed to corner the market on troubled, angry young men, thanks to his roles in Idiot Box (1996), Metal Skin (1994), and Nirvana Street Murder (1990). But Mendelsohn also proved he was capable of being a romantic lead, starring in the comedies The Big Steal (1990), Cosi (1996), and Amy (1997).
In the 1990s, Mendelsohn appeared in just one "Hollywood" film, the action film Ver
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tical Limit (2000), as one of two daredevil climbers on a rescue mission, often providing the film's comic relief. The film failed to find an audience and Mendelsohn returned to Australia, where he primarily worked in theater and television, despite earning best actor nominations from the Australian Film Institute and Australian Film Critics Circle for the drama Mullet, as a prodigal son returning to his small town. He also took steps to work in more international films such as The New World (2005), Knowing (2009) and Australia (2008). Mendelsohn has acknowledged that there was a period of almost two years that he had so little work, he considered leaving the acting profession entirely.
In 2009, Mendelsohn experienced a bit of a comeback with the role in the independent Australian films Beautiful Kate (2009), as troubled man forced to reunite with his dying father and come to terms with the death of his twin sister, with whom he had a complicated relationship. He was nominated for Australian Film Institute and Australian Film Critics Circle Best Actor in 2009. A year later, he appeared as Pope in Animal Kingdom (2010), the most terrifying and violent member of a crime family. In 2010, he won Best Actor from the Australian Film Institute, Independent Film Award, and Australian Film Critics Circle.
Since 2010, Mendelsohn has become a major player in Hollywood as a character actor in both blockbuster films (The Dark Knight Rises (2012)) and critically acclaimed films such as Killing Them Softly (2012) and The Place Beyond the Pines (2012). In 2013 he appeared in the UK Starred Up (2013), which earned him a Best Supporting Actor Award from the British Independent Film Awards. He received high praise for his performance as gambling addict in 2015's Mississippi Grind (2015) (earning an independent spirit award nomination for best actor). The same year he began a two season run on Netflix's Bloodline (2015) as Danny Rayburn, the black sheep in a well respected family in the Florida Keys (he was considered a guest actor in the third and final season). In 2016 his career took another leap forward, appearing as the main villain in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), and winning the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. He missed the ceremony, as he was filming Steven Spielberg's Ready Player One (2018).
In the role of actor
Captain Marvel (10/03/2019)
One of the most powerful heroes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe makes her debut in Captain Marvel. Vers (Brie Larson) is a Kree warrior and a member of Starforce, lead by her mentor Yon-Rogg (Jude Law). The Starforce is sent on a mission to save one of their own from the Skrulls, a species of […]
Ready Player One (01/04/2018)
A group of friends try to save a virtual world from an evil corporation in Ready Player One. In the year 2045, most of the world’s cities have degraded into slums and the population find escape in a virtual world known as the OASIS, created by James Halliday (Mark Rylance) and Ogden Morrow (Simon Pegg). On his […]
Darkest Hour (08/12/2017)
Winston Churchill is forced to make tough decisions during the early days World War II in Darkest Hour. In May 1940, the Nazis have occupied most of Western Europe and British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain (Ronald Pickupis) forced to resign and the Liberal and Conservative parties form a grand coalition to tackle the Nazi threat. Despite […]
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (17/12/2016)
A group of rebels sets out to acquire the plans for the Death Star in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) is a rebellious young woman, who is recruited by the Rebel Alliance to intercept a message from her father Galen (Mads Mikkelsen), which was delivered by defected Imperial pilot Bodhi […]
The Place Beyond the Pines (18/04/2013)
Director Derek Cianfrance follows up the 2010 romance Blue Valentine with this film about two men on opposite sides of the law. Luke (Ryan Gosling) is a motorcycle stunt driver, who is reunited with his old flame Romina (Eva Mendes). Just as he was about to leave town with the carnival he works for, he […]
Killing Them Softly (02/12/2012)
It is obvious from the opening credits that Killing Them Softly is more art film than crime film. Sure, the film focuses on a hitman named Jackie (Brad Pitt), who is called in to kill those responsible in a robbery. However, the film moves at quite a slow pace, which features much more talking than […]
Robin Hood (16/05/2010)
Ridley Scott’s new film version of Robin Hood received fairly poor reviews from most critics. However, I feel that it might have fared better if it didn’t have the stigma of being attached to the classic story. Let it be said that this is not the traditional Robin Hood story that has been told in […]