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
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.
We are so mired in the complexity of our reactions to other people that when you come across someone who is asocial, there is a simplicity that is refreshing.
The most amazing thing is when you find yourself watching someone in the cafe or something doing something weird. It's amazing what people do, isn't it, when you just look at them, when you take the time to look.
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.
What I notice about people who are gifted in filmmaking is that they're great thinkers. They engage with big ideas and they engage with people.
I find it weird that people want to know about you.
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 can be shy, but I’m not really. I try to be better at overcoming these things people have said.
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.
My # intuition comes up with better stuff than my head, I think.
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.
I think being very thin has had a lot to do with how I've been cast.