Ben Becker

Becker was born in Bremen, the son of actress Monika Hansen and actor Rolf Becker. He is the brother of actress Meret Becker and the stepson of Otto Sander. His grandmother was the comedian Claire Schlichting. Becker is Jewish through his maternal grandmother Claire Schlichting's father who was a Jewish merchant from Wuppertal.{{cite web|url=https://www.wz.de/nrw/duesseldorf/ben-beckers-oma-betrieb-ein-altstadt-lokal_aid-27215495|date=1 March 2017|publisher=Westdeutsche Zeitung|title=Familiengeschichte in Düsseldorf: Ben Beckers Oma betrieb ein Altstadt-Lokal }}

As a child, Becker participated in radio dramas and had several small roles in films. Between 1985 and 1987 he trained as an actor in the Berliner Schaubühne theatre. His first contract was with Ernst Deutsch Theater in Hamburg. Later he joined the Staatstheater Stuttgart (Stuttgart State Theatre), where he was mostly remembered for his role (1991–1992) as Ferdinand in Schiller's Intrigue and Love. Later, he worked with the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, and played the role of Tybalt in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet in the Deutschen Schauspielhaus in Hamburg.

His first memorable role in cinema was in 1991, in the film {{Ill|The Serbian Girl|sr|Српкиња (филм)}}, where he played the role of the arrogant German boyfriend of the pregnant Serbian heroine. His big break was in 1995 as Peter, who fell in love with a man, in Joseph Vilsmaier's Schlafes Bruder. In the film Comedian Harmonists he played the singer {{ill|Robert Biberti|de}}.

In 1995 he created his own production of Sid & Nancy with his sister Meret in the main role. Becker appeared in Rosa von Praunheim's film The Einstein of Sex (1999). In 1999 he played the main role in the Maxim-Gorki-Theater's production of Alfred Döblin's Berlin Alexanderplatz. In 2005 he played in the unique film, {{ill|Just an Ordinary Jew|de|Ein ganz gewöhnlicher Jude (Film)}}, which consisted of a monologue.

Becker is also involved in music and owns a pub, the Trompete, in Berlin/Tiergarten. He has one daughter, Lilith (born in 2000).

In 2008 Becker worked with the German band Schiller (thus following in the footsteps of his stepfather Otto Sander), where Ben did spoken lyrics for the album Sehnsucht. One song is called "Nacht", a video of which can be seen on YouTube.{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U43DIwqLwog |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/U43DIwqLwog |archive-date=21 December 2021 |url-status=live|title=Schiller & Ben Becker – Nacht|last=PattiSmith0|date=13 April 2008|publisher=|via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}} The lyrics{{cite web |url=http://musik.schillerserver.de/content.php?content%3Dschiller%26subcontent%3Ddetail%26lang%3Den%26subcategoryId%3D44 |title=SCHILLER | the official website |accessdate=23 October 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110616065601/http://musik.schillerserver.de/content.php?content=schiller&subcontent=detail&lang=en&subcategoryId=44 |archivedate=16 June 2011 }} are a shortened version of a poem in German called Die Seele{{cite web|url=http://www.karo.b-hoffmann.de/Dat/Seele.html|title=Gedicht "Die Seele"|first=Lord|last=Byron|website=www.karo.b-hoffmann.de}} that is attributed to Lord Byron. It appears to be a translation of the Byron poem, "When coldness wraps this suffering clay" from the collection Hebrew Melodies. The identity of the translator/author of Die Seele is unknown although the text may be from "Lord Byrons Werke In sechs Bänden" translated by Otto Gildemeister, 3rd Volume, Fifth Edition, Berlin 1903 (pages 134-135).{{cite web|url=http://www.satsangforum.de/kultur-im-sinne-der-pflege-geistig-seelischer-sowie-zwischenmenschlicher-kunst-8017.html|title=Frage.de – dein Frageportal|website=www.satsangforum.de}}

• 1997 Bavarian Film Award, Special Prize{{cite web|url=http://www.bayern.de/Anlage19170/PreistraegerdesBayerischenFilmpreises-Pierrot.pdf|date=25 March 2009|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090325011005/http://www.bayern.de/Anlage19170/PreistraegerdesBayerischenFilmpreises-Pierrot.pdf|archivedate=25 March 2009}}

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• {{IMDb name|id=0065353|name=Ben Becker}}

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Category:1964 births

Category:Living people

Category:Male actors from Bremen (city)

Category:German people of Jewish descent

Category:German male film actors