Michael Benz

{{Infobox person

|name = Michael Benz

|image =

|education = Georgetown University
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art

|caption =

| birth_place = England

| birth_date = {{birth based on age as of date|30|2012|10|04}}

| occupation = Actor

| nationality =

}}

Michael Benz (born {{birth based on age as of date|30|2012|10|04|noage=yes}}){{cite news |last=Isherwood |first=Charles |date=2012-10-04 |title=Yes, a Blended Family Can Be a Pain, but That Danish Prince Tries His Best |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/04/theater/reviews/michael-benz-in-hamlet-at-the-schimmel-center.html |work=The New York Times |quote=At 30, Mr. Benz is one of the youngest actors I've seen in the role... |access-date=2022-12-02}} is an English-American actor.{{cite news |last=Marks |first=Peter |date=2012-08-23 |title=At Folger, 'Hamlet' will be a homecoming for Georgetown grad Michael Benz |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater_dance/at-folger-hamlet-will-be-a-homecoming-for-georgetown-grad-michael-benz/2012/08/23/a67c514c-e32d-11e1-89f7-76e23a982d06_story.html |work=The Washington Post |access-date=2022-04-02 |quote=When Anglo American actor Michael Benz was 12...}}

Early life and education

Benz was born in England to American parents Thomas and Margaret Benz.{{cite web|url=http://www.georgetown.edu/news/michael-benz-hamlet-shakespeare.html |title=Georgetown Alumnus Reaches Shakespearian Heights—Georgetown University |publisher=Georgetown University |date=2012-10-25 |accessdate=2014-01-04}} He attended The American School in London before graduating from Georgetown University in 2004 and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London in 2007.{{cite web|url=https://www.rada.ac.uk/profiles/michael-benz/ |title=Michael Benz—RADA |publisher=Royal Academy of Dramatic Art |accessdate=2022-04-01}}

Career

Benz was cast as Mike in the popular British sci-fi TV sitcom Mike and Angelo. Benz participated in six series of the program and appears in 60 episodes. Benz has also provided voice work for the British-American animated adventure comedy film We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story. Benz also appeared as the title character in the BBC 6-part miniseries Little Lord Fauntleroy, based on the English children's novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett, and adapted by Julian Fellowes.

Upon graduation from RADA, Benz made his professional stage debut in the Shakespeare's Globe production of The Winter's Tale playing Paulina and the Young Shepherd.{{cite web|url=http://www.shakespearesglobe.com/education/discovery-space/previous-productions/the-winter-s-tale-1 |title=The Winter's Tale / Shakespeare's Globe |publisher=Shakespearesglobe.com |date= |accessdate=2014-01-04}} Also for Shakespeare's Globe, Benz appeared in Love's Labour's Lost, As You Like It, and the world premiere production of A New World: A Life of Thomas Paine.{{cite web|url=http://www.shakespearesglobe.com/ |title=Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, Bankside, Southwark, London / Shakespeare's Globe |publisher=Shakespearesglobe.com |date= |accessdate=2014-01-04}} In the summer of 2012, Benz played the title role in the Globe's production of Hamlet, directed by artistic director Dominic Dromgoole and Bill Buckhurst.{{cite web |url=http://www.shakespearesglobe.com/education/discovery-space/previous-productions/hamlet-2 |title=Hamlet / Shakespeare's Globe |publisher=Shakespearesglobe.com |accessdate=2014-01-04 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130926173518/http://www.shakespearesglobe.com/education/discovery-space/previous-productions/hamlet-2 |archivedate=26 September 2013 |df=dmy-all }} During the fall of 2012, the production toured the United States and Benz was nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor at the Helen Hayes Awards in Washington, DC.{{cite web|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater_dance/2013/01/28/1a81ac3e-6954-11e2-ada3-d86a4806d5ee_story.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130419212438/http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-01-28/entertainment/36596921_1_folger-theatre-dinner-theatre-christopher-youstra |url-status=live |archive-date=2013-04-19 |title=The Washington Post |publisher=Articles.washingtonpost.com |date= |access-date=2014-01-04}}

Benz made his West End theatre debut in 2011 playing Horatio in Trevor Nunn's production of Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket.{{cite web|url=http://www.trh.co.uk/about-us/press-releases/trevor-nunn-season/ |title=» Trevor Nunn Season 2011 – 2012 |publisher=Trh.co.uk |date= |accessdate=2014-01-04}} Benz worked with Nunn again later that year, playing Ferdinand opposite Ralph Fiennes' Prospero, in The Tempest also at Theatre Royal, Haymarket.{{cite web|author=Michael Billington |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2011/sep/07/the-tempest-review |title=The Tempest – review | Stage |publisher=The Guardian |date= |accessdate=2014-01-04}}

Other stage appearances by Benz include Lee Baum in Arthur Miller's The American Clock{{cite web|url=http://www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk/productions/2012/production-the-american-clock.php |title=The American Clock - Productions 2012 |publisher=Finborough Theatre |date= |accessdate=2014-01-04}} and Christopher in the premiere of Oohrah! by Bekah Brunstetter,{{cite web|url=http://www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk/transition-archive/2009/oohrah.php |title=Finborough Theatre |publisher=Finborough Theatre |date=2009-04-06 |accessdate=2014-01-04}} both at the Finborough Theatre; Simon Bliss in Noël Coward's Hay Fever at the West Yorkshire Playhouse;{{cite web|author=Clare Brennan |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2010/jun/27/hay-fever-west-yorkshire-playhouse |title=Hay Fever | Theatre review | Stage | The Observer |publisher=Theguardian.com |date= |accessdate=2014-01-04}} and Balthasar in Romeo & Juliet for the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC).{{cite web|url=http://bufvc.ac.uk/shakespeare/index.php/title/av71795 |title=Romeo and Juliet · British Universities Film & Video Council |publisher=Bufvc.ac.uk |date= |accessdate=2014-01-04}}

Benz was a guest player in the season four Christmas Special of Downton Abbey that was broadcast on 25 December 2013 in the UK (season 4, episode 9 in the US). Benz played Ethan, the American valet to guest star Paul Giamatti's character Harold Levinson.{{citation needed|date=May 2020}} In 2019, Benz played a Wall Street executive in the thriller Joker, in which his character is harassing Arthur on the Subway.

Filmography

=Film=

class="wikitable"
Year ! Title ! Role ! Notes
1993 \| We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story \| \| Voice role
2009 \| Sam and Jenny Go to a Play \| Old Sage \| Short
rowspan="2"\|2010 \| 'As You Like It' at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre \| Silvius \|
The Newest Pledge \| Futuristic Party Go-er \|
2012 \| City Slacker \| Well Presented Man \|
2015 \| The Importance of Being Earnest LIVE \| John Worthing \|
2016 \| Snowden \| CIA Student \|
2017 \| The Wife \| White \|
2019 \| Joker \| Wall Street Three \|
2020 \| Greyhound \| Lieutenant Carling \|

class="wikitable"

Year

! Title

! Role

! Notes

1993

| We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story

| Voice role

2009

| Sam and Jenny Go to a Play

| Old Sage

| Short

rowspan="2"|2010

| 'As You Like It' at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre

| Silvius

The Newest Pledge

| Futuristic Party Go-er

2012

| City Slacker

| Well Presented Man

2015

| The Importance of Being Earnest LIVE

| John Worthing

2016

| Snowden

| CIA Student

2017

| The Wife

| White

2019

| Joker

| Wall Street Three

2020

| Greyhound

| Lieutenant Carling

=Television=

class="wikitable"
Year ! Title ! Role ! Notes
1993-1998 \| Mike and Angelo \| Mike Mason \| Series regular
1994 \| The Tomorrow People \| Vinny \| Episode: "The Monsoon Man"
1995 \| Little Lord Fauntleroy \| Cedric Errol \| Mini-series
2013 \| Downton Abbey \| Ethan Slade \| Episode: "The London Season"
2017 \| Time After Time \| Smythe \| Episode: "Pilot"
2021 \| For All Mankind \| Gary Piscotty \| 7 episodes

class="wikitable"

Year

! Title

! Role

! Notes

1993-1998

| Mike and Angelo

| Mike Mason

| Series regular

1994

| The Tomorrow People

| Vinny