1. Ben Whishaw has received various accolades, including three British Academy Television Awards, two Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe.
33 Facts About Ben Whishaw
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In 2012, Whishaw played the title role in a BBC Two adaptation of Richard II, for which he won the British Academy Television Award for Best Actor.
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Ben Whishaw has voiced Paddington Bear in several projects since Paddington.
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Ben Whishaw had a leading role in London Spy, and for his portrayal of Norman Scott in the miniseries A Very English Scandal he won a BAFTA, a Golden Globe Award and a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor.
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Ben Whishaw has since starred in the BBC medical drama series This Is Going to Hurt, the short film Good Boy, and the Netflix spy thriller series Black Doves.
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Ben Whishaw was born on 14 October 1980, in Clifton, Bedfordshire, and was brought up there and in neighbouring Langford.
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Ben Whishaw is the son of Linda, who works in cosmetics, and Jose Whishaw, who works in sports with young people.
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Ben Whishaw's mother is of English ancestry, and his father is of French, German and Russian descent.
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Ben Whishaw's paternal grandfather was born Jean Vladimir Stellmacher in Istanbul in 1922, to a Russian mother and German father, who was stationed there.
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Ben Whishaw married Olga, a woman he had met in France, and together they made new lives in the UK.
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Ben Whishaw kept the adopted name his grandfather chose.
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Ben Whishaw was a member of the Bancroft Players Youth Theatre, at Hitchin's Queen Mother Theatre.
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Ben Whishaw attended Henlow Middle School, followed by Samuel Whitbread Community College in Clifton.
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Ben Whishaw graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 2003.
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Ben Whishaw was involved in many productions with Big Spirit Youth Theatre, including If This Is a Man, a piece devised by the company based on the book of the same name by Primo Levi, an Italian chemist, writer and survivor as a young man of Auschwitz concentration camp.
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Ben Whishaw was named "Most Promising Newcomer" at the 2001 British Independent Film Awards for My Brother Tom.
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Ben Whishaw played Keith Richards in the Brian Jones biopic Stoned.
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Ben Whishaw appeared as one of the Bob Dylan reincarnations in the film I'm Not There in 2007, in the BBC's series Criminal Justice in 2008, in a new film adaptation of Brideshead Revisited, and in a stage adaptation of The Idiot at the National Theatre called.
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In February 2010, Ben Whishaw made a successful off-Broadway debut at MCC Theater in the American premiere of the awarding-winning play The Pride by Alexi Kaye Campbell.
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Ben Whishaw played Ariel in Julie Taymor's 2010 film adaptation of The Tempest, and was featured in The Hour, a BBC Two drama series.
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In 2012 Ben Whishaw appeared as Richard II in the television film Richard II, a part of the BBC Two series The Hollow Crown.
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Ben Whishaw received the British Academy Television Award for Leading Actor.
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In spring 2013, Ben Whishaw starred on stage alongside Judi Dench in the world premiere of Peter and Alice, a new play by John Logan, inspired by the lives of Alice Liddell and Peter Llewelyn Davies.
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From October 2013 to February 2014, Ben Whishaw appeared on stage in the revival of Jez Butterworth's play Mojo, starring Rupert Grint, Brendan Coyle, Daniel Mays and Colin Morgan.
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Ben Whishaw was nominated for a WhatsOnStage Award for Best Actor for both roles.
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In 2014, Ben Whishaw starred in the independent film Lilting, as well as voicing Paddington Bear in the film Paddington.
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In 2015, Ben Whishaw co-starred in The Lobster, a romantic science fiction drama from Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos; appeared in Suffragette, a story of the early feminist movement written by Abi Morgan and starring Carey Mulligan, Helena Bonham Carter, Meryl Streep and his The Hour co-star, Romola Garai; reprised his role of Q in Spectre, the 24th Bond film; and played author Herman Melville in Ron Howard's In the Heart of the Sea.
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In 2017, Ben Whishaw reprised his role as Paddington Bear in Paddington 2.
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In 2020, Ben Whishaw had a lead role in the fourth season of the critically acclaimed FX black comedy crime drama Fargo, portraying Patrick "Rabbi" Milligan, alongside Chris Rock, Jason Schwartzman, Jessie Buckley and Jack Huston.
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Ben Whishaw reprised his role of Q in No Time to Die, the 25th James Bond film.
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Ben Whishaw appeared in Sarah Polley's Women Talking, the film adaptation of Miriam Toews' novel of the same name, for which he was nominated for several acting awards for his performance.
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Ben Whishaw portrayed Russian writer and ultranationalist Eduard Limonov in the biopic Limonov: The Ballad, directed by Kirill Serebrennikov; filming commenced in Moscow in 2021 but was halted by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
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In 2025, Ben Whishaw was nominated for the Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his performance in Bluets.