Ben James-Ellis
Encyclopedia
Benjamin James Ellis is an English
stage actor
who starred in the role of Link Larkin in the West End
production of the musical Hairspray
from its opening in October 2007 until July 2009. He was previously a contestant on the BBC reality
talent show
Any Dream Will Do
.
. He used to perform at the Scarborough YMCA Theatre.
-themed television series produced by the BBC
in the United Kingdom
and broadcast on BBC One
. The show searched for a new, unknown lead to play Joseph in a West End
revival of the Andrew Lloyd Webber
musical
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
. He was in the bottom two in the first live show on 14 April alongside Chris Crosby, with Crosby having received the lowest number of viewers votes. In the sing-off, they sang "Bridge over Troubled Water
". Andrew Lloyd Webber chose to save Ellis and eliminate Crosby. He was again in the sing-off in Week three on 28 April alongside Seamus Cullen with Cullen having received the lowest number of viewers votes. In the sing-off, they sang "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother
". Lloyd Webber chose to save Ellis and eliminate Cullen.
He was in the bottom two for a third time in week seven on 26 May alongside Craig Chalmers with Ellis having received the lowest number of viewers votes. In the sing-off, they sang "I Made It Through The Rain
". Lloyd Webber for a third time chose to save Ellis, this time eliminating Chalmers. The following week he was again in the bottom two, this time alongside Lewis Bradley
with Ellis having received the lowest number of viewers votes. In the sing-off, they sang "I Dreamed a Dream" from the musical
Les Misérables
. This time though Lloyd Webber chose to save Bradley and Ellis was finally eliminated from the show at the semi-final stage, finishing the series in fourth place.
On 15 June 2007, he appeared as the "Coat of Cash Wearing Celebrity" on The Friday Night Project
on Channel 4
. He also appeared on The Paul O'Grady Show
in 2007. On 3 December he performed at the Royal Variety Performance
, held at Liverpool Empire Theatre
, Liverpool
, in front of HM Queen Elizabeth II
and HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
. The show was screened on ITV
, on 9 December.
On 19 February 2008 he was a Ready Steady Cook
contestant on BBC Two
alongside his Hairspray co-star Leanne Jones. He won the show and donated the £100 prize to St Catherine's Hospice in his home town of Scarborough.
Ben is presenting the backstage portions of Hairspray: The School Musical
for Sky 1, starting August 31, 2008.
The West End Cast of Hairspray
performed on the BBC's Children In Need on 14 November 2008.
Ben did some presenting work on Noels HQ for Sky 1.
He originated the role of Link Larkin in the West End production of Hairspray. Previews began on 11 October 2007, with an opening night of 30 October. Alongside his Hairspray co-star Leanne Jones
, James-Ellis performed at the 2008 Whatsonstage.com Year on Year Concert & Awards Show on 24 February 2008.
He played his final performance in Hairspray on 25 July 2009.
Ben starred as Peter Pan in Panto at Hull new theatre from Thursday 10 December 2009 – Sunday 10 January 2010.
Ben starred as the Cockney soldier in Brendan Behan's The Hostage at Southwark Playhouse from February 3 to 20 2010. The play garnered many strong reviews.
Ben joined the West End cast of Dreamboats and Petticoats
as Norman in July 2010.
After finishing his stint in Dreamboats Ben went into panto at the Hawth Theatre Crawley with Craig Revel Horwood
in December 2010,
they worked together again in 2011 when Craig directed Ben in The brother loves travelling salvation show, a new musical of Neil Diamond
hits. Brian Conley
and Darren Day
also starred.
Ben is currently in the touring cast of Dreamboats and Petticoats
as Norman, the Quiff is back.
actress Alexia Khadime
for the CD Act One - Songs From The Musicals Of Alexander S. Bermange
, an album of 20 brand new recordings by 26 West End
stars, released in October 2008 on Dress Circle Records. He also recorded the song "Uptown Girl" along with Daniel Boys and Keith Jack, on the John Barrowman's album "Music Music Music".
Ben featured with other members of the Hairspray cast on Michael Ball's "Past and Present" Album, singing "You Can't Stop The Beat" from the hit show.
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
stage actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
who starred in the role of Link Larkin in the West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
production of the musical Hairspray
Hairspray (musical)
Hairspray is a musical with music by Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Scott Wittman and Shaiman and a book by Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan, based on the 1988 John Waters film Hairspray. The songs include 1960s-style dance music and "downtown" rhythm and blues...
from its opening in October 2007 until July 2009. He was previously a contestant on the BBC reality
Reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...
talent show
Talent show
A talent show is an event where participants perform their talent or talents of acting, singing, dancing, acrobatics, drumming, martial arts, playing an instrument, and other activities to showcase a unique form of talent, sometimes for a reward, trophy or prize...
Any Dream Will Do
Any Dream Will Do (TV series)
Any Dream Will Do, often known as 'Joseph', was a 2007 talent show-themed television series produced by the BBC in the United Kingdom. It searched for a new, unknown lead to play Joseph in a West End revival of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.The show...
.
Background
James-Ellis was a student at the Italia Conti Academy of Performing ArtsItalia Conti Academy
The Italia Conti Academy is a theatre arts training school based in London. It was founded in 1911 by actress Italia Conti...
. He used to perform at the Scarborough YMCA Theatre.
Television career
James-Ellis was one of the finalists on Any Dream Will Do a 2007 talent showTalent show
A talent show is an event where participants perform their talent or talents of acting, singing, dancing, acrobatics, drumming, martial arts, playing an instrument, and other activities to showcase a unique form of talent, sometimes for a reward, trophy or prize...
-themed television series produced by the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and broadcast on BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
. The show searched for a new, unknown lead to play Joseph in a West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
revival of the Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre.Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of...
musical
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical with lyrics by Tim Rice. The story is based on the "coat of many colors" story of Joseph from the Hebrew Bible's Book of Genesis. This was the first Lloyd Webber and Rice musical to be performed publicly...
. He was in the bottom two in the first live show on 14 April alongside Chris Crosby, with Crosby having received the lowest number of viewers votes. In the sing-off, they sang "Bridge over Troubled Water
Bridge over Troubled Water (song)
"Bridge Over Troubled Water" is the title song of Simon & Garfunkel's album of the same name. The single was released on January 26, 1970, though it also appears on the live album Live 1969, released in 2008. It reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on February 28, 1970, and stayed at...
". Andrew Lloyd Webber chose to save Ellis and eliminate Crosby. He was again in the sing-off in Week three on 28 April alongside Seamus Cullen with Cullen having received the lowest number of viewers votes. In the sing-off, they sang "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother
He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother
"He Ain't Heavy... He's My Brother" is a popular music ballad written by Bobby Scott and Bob Russell. Originally recorded by Kelly Gordon in 1969, the song became a worldwide hit for The Hollies later that year and again for Neil Diamond in 1970....
". Lloyd Webber chose to save Ellis and eliminate Cullen.
He was in the bottom two for a third time in week seven on 26 May alongside Craig Chalmers with Ellis having received the lowest number of viewers votes. In the sing-off, they sang "I Made It Through The Rain
Barry (album)
Barry is the self-titled album released by singer and songwriter Barry Manilow in 1980. The album reached Platinum status. The tracks were recorded at Evergreen Recording Studios in Burbank, California. Manilow co-wrote with Maurice White of Earth, Wind & Fire the album track "Only in Chicago"...
". Lloyd Webber for a third time chose to save Ellis, this time eliminating Chalmers. The following week he was again in the bottom two, this time alongside Lewis Bradley
Lewis Bradley
Lewis Bradley is a British musical theatre actor, who came third place in the BBC reality talent show Any Dream Will Do. He was later chosen by Andrew Lloyd Webber to understudy the winning role of Joseph....
with Ellis having received the lowest number of viewers votes. In the sing-off, they sang "I Dreamed a Dream" from the musical
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
Les Misérables
Les Misérables (musical)
Les Misérables , colloquially known as Les Mis or Les Miz , is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg, based on the novel of the same name by Victor Hugo....
. This time though Lloyd Webber chose to save Bradley and Ellis was finally eliminated from the show at the semi-final stage, finishing the series in fourth place.
On 15 June 2007, he appeared as the "Coat of Cash Wearing Celebrity" on The Friday Night Project
The Sunday Night Project
The Sunday Night Project was a British comedy-variety show by Princess Productions that first aired on Channel 4 in February 2005 under the title The Friday Night Project...
on Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
. He also appeared on The Paul O'Grady Show
The Paul O'Grady Show
The Paul O'Grady Show was a BAFTA award-winning British comedy chat show hosted by Birkenhead-born comedian Paul O'Grady. The format was originally devised by Granada Television and was broadcast on ITV before moving to Channel 4...
in 2007. On 3 December he performed at the Royal Variety Performance
Royal Variety Performance
The Royal Variety Performance is a gala evening held annually in the United Kingdom, which is attended by senior members of the British Royal Family, usually the reigning monarch. In more recent years Queen Elizabeth II and The Prince of Wales have alternately attended the performance...
, held at Liverpool Empire Theatre
Liverpool Empire Theatre
Liverpool Empire Theatre is located on the corner of Lime Street and London Road in Liverpool, Merseyside, England. The theatre is the second to be built on the site, and was opened in 1925. It has the largest two-tier auditorium in Britain and can seat 2,350 people...
, Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, in front of HM Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
and HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh is the husband of Elizabeth II. He is the United Kingdom's longest-serving consort and the oldest serving spouse of a reigning British monarch....
. The show was screened on ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
, on 9 December.
On 19 February 2008 he was a Ready Steady Cook
Ready Steady Cook
Ready Steady Cook was a BBC daytime TV cooking programme it first debuted on 24 October 1994 and the last edition was broadcast on the 2 February 2010. The programme was hosted by Fern Britton from 1994 until 2000 when celebrity chef Ainsley Harriott became the new host...
contestant on BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
alongside his Hairspray co-star Leanne Jones. He won the show and donated the £100 prize to St Catherine's Hospice in his home town of Scarborough.
Ben is presenting the backstage portions of Hairspray: The School Musical
Hairspray: The School Musical
Hairspray: The School Musical is a 2008 reality TV series, broadcast on Sky1 in the UK, charting the development of a comprehensive school's production of the Broadway and West End musical Hairspray.-Format:...
for Sky 1, starting August 31, 2008.
The West End Cast of Hairspray
Hairspray (musical)
Hairspray is a musical with music by Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Scott Wittman and Shaiman and a book by Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan, based on the 1988 John Waters film Hairspray. The songs include 1960s-style dance music and "downtown" rhythm and blues...
performed on the BBC's Children In Need on 14 November 2008.
Ben did some presenting work on Noels HQ for Sky 1.
Stage career
On 28 June 2007, he began performing in the touring production of The Music of Dirty Dancing.He originated the role of Link Larkin in the West End production of Hairspray. Previews began on 11 October 2007, with an opening night of 30 October. Alongside his Hairspray co-star Leanne Jones
Leanne Jones
Leanne Jones is a British actress. She was born in Stoke on Trent and grew up in St Ives, Cambridgeshire, where she attended St Ivo School, before studying at the Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in Wood Green, in north London, graduating in 2006...
, James-Ellis performed at the 2008 Whatsonstage.com Year on Year Concert & Awards Show on 24 February 2008.
He played his final performance in Hairspray on 25 July 2009.
Ben starred as Peter Pan in Panto at Hull new theatre from Thursday 10 December 2009 – Sunday 10 January 2010.
Ben starred as the Cockney soldier in Brendan Behan's The Hostage at Southwark Playhouse from February 3 to 20 2010. The play garnered many strong reviews.
Ben joined the West End cast of Dreamboats and Petticoats
Dreamboats and Petticoats
Dreamboats and Petticoats is a jukebox musical based on popular songs from the fifties and early sixties. The musical, featuring those songs of the rock 'n' roll era, is set around the years 1957 to 1963 and was written by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran....
as Norman in July 2010.
After finishing his stint in Dreamboats Ben went into panto at the Hawth Theatre Crawley with Craig Revel Horwood
Craig Revel Horwood
Craig Revel Horwood is an Australian-British dancer, choreographer, and theatre director in the United Kingdom.-Biography:...
in December 2010,
they worked together again in 2011 when Craig directed Ben in The brother loves travelling salvation show, a new musical of Neil Diamond
Neil Diamond
Neil Leslie Diamond is an American singer-songwriter with a career spanning over five decades from the 1960s until the present....
hits. Brian Conley
Brian Conley
Brian Conley is an English comedian, television presenter, singer and actor. At the peak of his television career, he was the highest-paid male television personality in the UK. Outside of television, he is best known for his frequent portrayals of Buttons in pantomime versions of...
and Darren Day
Darren Day
Darren Day , is an English actor, singer and television presenter, well known for his West End theatre starring roles.-Early life:His paternal grandfather was a support and warm-up act for George Formby...
also starred.
Ben is currently in the touring cast of Dreamboats and Petticoats
Dreamboats and Petticoats
Dreamboats and Petticoats is a jukebox musical based on popular songs from the fifties and early sixties. The musical, featuring those songs of the rock 'n' roll era, is set around the years 1957 to 1963 and was written by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran....
as Norman, the Quiff is back.
Recordings
In 2008 James-Ellis recorded a song with the WickedWicked (musical)
Wicked is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Winnie Holzman. It is based on the Gregory Maguire novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West , a parallel novel of the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz and L. Frank Baum's classic story The Wonderful Wizard...
actress Alexia Khadime
Alexia Khadime
Alexia Khadime is an English actress and mezzo-soprano, known for her roles in British musical theatre and television. Alexia's break came in 2004 when she was cast as Nala in the British rendition of the musical The Lion King at Lyceum Theatre, London...
for the CD Act One - Songs From The Musicals Of Alexander S. Bermange
Alexander S. Bermange
Alexander S. Bermange is an English musical theatre composer and lyricist. He has often served as musical director and pianist for his own productions. He is also a regular broadcaster on UK radio.-Career:...
, an album of 20 brand new recordings by 26 West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
stars, released in October 2008 on Dress Circle Records. He also recorded the song "Uptown Girl" along with Daniel Boys and Keith Jack, on the John Barrowman's album "Music Music Music".
Ben featured with other members of the Hairspray cast on Michael Ball's "Past and Present" Album, singing "You Can't Stop The Beat" from the hit show.