Ben Silverstone
Encyclopedia
Benjamin Maurice Silverstone (born London
, 9 April 1979) is an English
barrister
and former actor
. He has one sister and one brother. He studied English at Cambridge University and law (LLM
) at the LSE.
's stage play What's Wrong With Angry?
, and is a love story between two British
schoolboys. Silverstone made the front cover of Gay Times
in May 1999 to mark the release of the film.
The movie achieved cult-status with many fans, and even gave rise to two fan-organised gatherings in the filming locations around Basingstoke
. The events in themselves attracted the attention of the television media, as fans of the film travelled several thousand miles to the event.
Prior to Get Real, Silverstone was no stranger to film, as he had appeared in Adrian Lyne
's adaptation of Lolita
in 1997 and Mike Figgis
' The Browning Version
in 1994.
Immediately after the release of Get Real, Silverstone went to Trinity College, Cambridge
. While there, he acted in student productions of King Lear
, The Whiteheaded Boy, The Duchess of Malfi
, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui
, Near Miss, and The Winter's Tale
. Silverstone left Cambridge in 2001 with a First
class degree
.
Since 2001 Silverstone has appeared in numerous stage productions such as The Tempest and My Boy Jack
and was nominated for both a The Times Theatre Award and an Evening Standard Theatre Award for his portrayal of Basil Anthony in the West End
production of Man and Boy
His most recent film project is Jump! (2007), in which he starred as a young Jewish photographer charged with the murder of his father, based on the real life story of Philippe Halsman
, opposite Patrick Swayze and Martine McCutcheon.
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, 9 April 1979) is an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
barrister
Barrister
A barrister is a member of one of the two classes of lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions with split legal professions. Barristers specialise in courtroom advocacy, drafting legal pleadings and giving expert legal opinions...
and former 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...
. He has one sister and one brother. He studied English at Cambridge University and law (LLM
Master of Laws
The Master of Laws is an advanced academic degree, pursued by those holding a professional law degree, and is commonly abbreviated LL.M. from its Latin name, Legum Magister. The University of Oxford names its taught masters of laws B.C.L...
) at the LSE.
Career
Silverstone's most notable role is that of Steven Carter in the 1998 Paramount Classic's feature film, Get Real. The film was based on Patrick WildePatrick Wilde
Patrick Wilde is an English playwright and screenwriter for both television and film.-Early work:Most of Wilde's early work was centred around the classics. He played Hamlet, Mark Antony for ATC and Amnon in Tirso de Molina’s Rape of Tamar at the Lyric in London...
's stage play What's Wrong With Angry?
What's Wrong With Angry?
What's Wrong With Angry? is a stage play written in 1992 by Patrick Wilde about a gay love story between two British schoolboys. The play was the basis for the 1998 Paramount Classics feature film Get Real.-History:...
, and is a love story between two British
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...
schoolboys. Silverstone made the front cover of Gay Times
Gay Times
Gay Times is one of the United Kingdom's leading gay magazine for gay and bisexual men.-Publication and content:...
in May 1999 to mark the release of the film.
The movie achieved cult-status with many fans, and even gave rise to two fan-organised gatherings in the filming locations around Basingstoke
Basingstoke
Basingstoke is a town in northeast Hampshire, in south central England. It lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon. It is southwest of London, northeast of Southampton, southwest of Reading and northeast of the county town, Winchester. In 2008 it had an estimated population of...
. The events in themselves attracted the attention of the television media, as fans of the film travelled several thousand miles to the event.
Prior to Get Real, Silverstone was no stranger to film, as he had appeared in Adrian Lyne
Adrian Lyne
Adrian Lyne is an English filmmaker and producer. He is best known for directing films that focus on sexually charged characters and often uses natural light, a fog machine and other effects to create eroticized atmospheres...
's adaptation of Lolita
Lolita
Lolita is a novel by Vladimir Nabokov, first written in English and published in 1955 in Paris and 1958 in New York, and later translated by the author into Russian...
in 1997 and Mike Figgis
Mike Figgis
Michael "Mike" Figgis is an English film director, writer, and composer.-Personal life:Figgis was born in Carlisle, England and grew up in Africa. Figgis for several years had a relationship with the actress Saffron Burrows and cast her in several films...
' The Browning Version
The Browning Version (1994 film)
The Browning Version is a 1994 film directed by Mike Figgis and starring Albert Finney. The film is based on the 1948 play by Terence Rattigan, which was previously adapted for film under the same name in 1951.-Plot:...
in 1994.
Immediately after the release of Get Real, Silverstone went to Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...
. While there, he acted in student productions of King Lear
King Lear
King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The title character descends into madness after foolishly disposing of his estate between two of his three daughters based on their flattery, bringing tragic consequences for all. The play is based on the legend of Leir of Britain, a mythological...
, The Whiteheaded Boy, The Duchess of Malfi
The Duchess of Malfi
The Duchess of Malfi is a macabre, tragic play written by the English dramatist John Webster in 1612–13. It was first performed privately at the Blackfriars Theatre, then before a more general audience at The Globe, in 1613-14...
, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui
The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui
The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui is a play by the German dramatist Bertolt Brecht, originally written in 1941...
, Near Miss, and The Winter's Tale
The Winter's Tale
The Winter's Tale is a play by William Shakespeare, originally published in the First Folio of 1623. Although it was grouped among the comedies, some modern editors have relabelled the play as one of Shakespeare's late romances. Some critics, among them W. W...
. Silverstone left Cambridge in 2001 with a First
British undergraduate degree classification
The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading scheme for undergraduate degrees in the United Kingdom...
class degree
Academic degree
An academic degree is a position and title within a college or university that is usually awarded in recognition of the recipient having either satisfactorily completed a prescribed course of study or having conducted a scholarly endeavour deemed worthy of his or her admission to the degree...
.
Since 2001 Silverstone has appeared in numerous stage productions such as The Tempest and My Boy Jack
My Boy Jack (play)
My Boy Jack is a 1997 play by English actor David Haig. It tells the story of Rudyard Kipling and his grief for his son, John, who died in World War I.The title comes from Kipling's 1915 poem, My Boy Jack.-History:...
and was nominated for both a The Times Theatre Award and an Evening Standard Theatre Award for his portrayal of Basil Anthony 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 Man and Boy
Man and Boy
Man and Boy is a play by Terence Rattigan.It was first performed at The Queen's Theatre, London, and Brooks Atkinson Theatre, New York, in 1963. It was poorly received, but revived in 2005 at the Duchess Theatre, London, with David Suchet as the lead part, Gregor Antonescu, to great acclaim...
His most recent film project is Jump! (2007), in which he starred as a young Jewish photographer charged with the murder of his father, based on the real life story of Philippe Halsman
Philippe Halsman
Philippe Halsman was an American portrait photographer.-Life and work:Born to a Jewish family of Morduch Halsman, a dentist, and Ita Grintuch, a grammar school principal, in Riga, Halsman studied electrical engineering in Dresden....
, opposite Patrick Swayze and Martine McCutcheon.
Theatre
- The Age of Consent (Timmy), Edinburgh FringeEdinburgh FringeThe Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the world’s largest arts festival. Established in 1947 as an alternative to the Edinburgh International Festival, it takes place annually in Scotland's capital, in the month of August...
(2001) - The Age of Consent (Timmy), Bush TheatreBush TheatreThe Bush Theatre is based in Shepherd's Bush, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. It was established in 1972 above The Bush public house by Brian McDermott, and has since become one of the most celebrated new writing theatres in the world. An intimate venue renowned for its close-up...
, LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
(2002) - The Lady's Not For Burning (Richard), Chichester Festival TheatreChichester Festival TheatreChichester Festival Theatre, located in Chichester, England, was designed by Philip Powell and Hidalgo Moya, and opened by its founder Leslie Evershed-Martin in 1962. Subsequently the smaller and more intimate Minerva Theatre was built nearby in 1989....
(2002) - The TempestThe TempestThe Tempest is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1610–11, and thought by many critics to be the last play that Shakespeare wrote alone. It is set on a remote island, where Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan, plots to restore his daughter Miranda to her rightful place,...
(Ariel), UK Tour (2002) - ElectraElectraIn Greek mythology, Electra was an Argive princess and daughter of King Agamemnon and Queen Clytemnestra. She and her brother Orestes plotted revenge against their mother Clytemnestra and stepfather Aegisthus for the murder of their father Agamemnon...
(Orestes), The Gate Theatre, London (2003) - My Boy JackMy Boy Jack (play)My Boy Jack is a 1997 play by English actor David Haig. It tells the story of Rudyard Kipling and his grief for his son, John, who died in World War I.The title comes from Kipling's 1915 poem, My Boy Jack.-History:...
(Jack Kipling), UK Tour (2004) - Man and BoyMan and BoyMan and Boy is a play by Terence Rattigan.It was first performed at The Queen's Theatre, London, and Brooks Atkinson Theatre, New York, in 1963. It was poorly received, but revived in 2005 at the Duchess Theatre, London, with David Suchet as the lead part, Gregor Antonescu, to great acclaim...
(Basil Anthony), UK Tour (2004) - Man and BoyMan and BoyMan and Boy is a play by Terence Rattigan.It was first performed at The Queen's Theatre, London, and Brooks Atkinson Theatre, New York, in 1963. It was poorly received, but revived in 2005 at the Duchess Theatre, London, with David Suchet as the lead part, Gregor Antonescu, to great acclaim...
(Basil Anthony), Duchess Theatre, London (2005)
Film
- The Browning VersionThe Browning Version (1994 film)The Browning Version is a 1994 film directed by Mike Figgis and starring Albert Finney. The film is based on the 1948 play by Terence Rattigan, which was previously adapted for film under the same name in 1951.-Plot:...
(Taplow), dir. Mike FiggisMike FiggisMichael "Mike" Figgis is an English film director, writer, and composer.-Personal life:Figgis was born in Carlisle, England and grew up in Africa. Figgis for several years had a relationship with the actress Saffron Burrows and cast her in several films...
(1994) - LolitaLolitaLolita is a novel by Vladimir Nabokov, first written in English and published in 1955 in Paris and 1958 in New York, and later translated by the author into Russian...
(Young Humbert), dir. Adrian LyneAdrian LyneAdrian Lyne is an English filmmaker and producer. He is best known for directing films that focus on sexually charged characters and often uses natural light, a fog machine and other effects to create eroticized atmospheres...
(1997) - Get Real (Steven Carter), dir. Simon Shore (1998)
- Jump!Jump! (film)Jump! is a 2007 British-Austrian drama film written and directed by Joshua Sinclair. It starred Ben Silverstone, Patrick Swayze and Martine McCutcheon. It was loosely based on the real-life Halsman murder case. The film was premiered on the 2009 Jewish Film Festival in June 2009...
(Philippe HalsmanPhilippe HalsmanPhilippe Halsman was an American portrait photographer.-Life and work:Born to a Jewish family of Morduch Halsman, a dentist, and Ita Grintuch, a grammar school principal, in Riga, Halsman studied electrical engineering in Dresden....
), dir. Joshua Sinclair (2007)
Television
- Shackleton (Young Applicant), Channel 4Channel 4Channel 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...
(2001) - Timewatch: Through Hell for Hitler (Henry Metalmann), BBC2 (2003)
- DoctorsDoctors (BBC Soap Opera)Doctors is a British daytime television soap opera, set in the fictional Midland town of Letherbridge, defined as being close to the City of Birmingham. It was created by Chris Murray; Mal Young drove its development, and Carson Black was the original producer. The first episode was broadcast on...
(Joe Nyland), BBC1 (2003)