Paul Benjamin "Ben" Mendelsohn (born 3 April 1969) is an Australian actor.

Early life

Mendelsohn was born in Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

, Australia, the son of Carole Ann (Ferguson) and Frederick Mendelsohn. He attended Heidelberg

Heidelberg, Victoria

Heidelberg is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 11 km north-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Banyule....

 Primary School and Banyule High School. His father is a prominent medical researcher who heads the Howard Florey Institute

Howard Florey Institute

The Howard Florey Institute, previously known as the Howard Florey Institute of Experimental Physiologyand applied research into treatments to combat brain and mind disorders and the cardiovascular system...

 in Melbourne. Ben and his two brothers Tom and David as well as his mother (deceased), a registered nurse, lived in Europe and the US for long periods of time, and returned to Melbourne in high school. He took drama because he thought it was an easy class, and was the only one of his friends to follow up an audition for Crawford Productions

Crawford Productions

Crawford Productions is an Australian television production company founded by Hector Crawford; the present incarnation of the company, Crawfords Australia, is now a subsidiary of the WIN television corporation.-History:...

 which was being advertised.

In October 2009, Mendelsohn featured in the Australian series of Who Do You Think You Are?

Who Do You Think You Are? (Australian TV series)

Who Do You Think You Are? is an Australian television documentary series, based on the BBC series of the same name, airing on SBS One. SBS first aired six episodes of the BBC series in late 2007, followed by six Australian episodes beginning 13 January 2008, and then six more from the original BBC...

 Searching for a connection to composer Felix Mendelssohn

Felix Mendelssohn

Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Barthóldy , use the form 'Mendelssohn' and not 'Mendelssohn Bartholdy'. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians gives ' Felix Mendelssohn' as the entry, with 'Mendelssohn' used in the body text...

 which was eventually dismissed, he discovered links to 19th century Prussia

Prussia

Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...

. His ancestors were amongst the first Prussian Jews

Jews

The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...

 to be naturalised in Schneidemühl in the province of Posen

Province of Posen

The Province of Posen was a province of Prussia from 1848–1918 and as such part of the German Empire from 1871 to 1918. The area was about 29,000 km2....

, now Piła in modern Poland.

Career

In 1983 while still at high school, he appeared in the role of an enslaved Inca in the Heidelberg Theatre Companys production of "The Royal Hunt of the Sun".

After several early television roles, including The Henderson Kids

The Henderson Kids

The Henderson Kids was an Australian television series made by Crawford Productions for Network Ten between 1985 and 1987. It was created and storylined by Roger Moulton, who also wrote 5 episodes in the first series and 2 episodes in the second series....

, he attracted notice in his breakout film, The Year My Voice Broke

The Year My Voice Broke

The Year My Voice Broke is a 1987 coming of age story by director John Duigan, starring Noah Taylor, Loene Carmen, and Ben Mendelsohn. Set in 1962 in the rural Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, it was the first in a projected trilogy of films centred around the experiences of an awkward...

 (1987), winning him the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Supporting Actor. His next major role was in The Big Steal

The Big Steal (1990 film)

The Big Steal is a 1990 Australian caper film directed by Nadia Tass starring Ben Mendelsohn, Claudia Karvan and Steve Bisley. David Parker was the scriptwriter and cinematographer. The film won three Australian Film Institute awards.-Plot:...

 (1990), and Spotswood

Spotswood (film)

Spotswood is an Australian comedy film directed by Mark Joffe, made in 1990-1991, released in 1992 in some locations. It is also known as The Efficiency Expert in America....

 (1992) co-starring with Anthony Hopkins

Anthony Hopkins

Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins, KBE , best known as Anthony Hopkins, is a Welsh actor of film, stage and television...

; this was followed in 1996 by Cosi (film)

Cosi (film)

Cosi is a 1996 Australian comedy-drama-musical film directed by Mark Joffe. Louis Nowra wrote both the screenplay and the play it is based on.-Plot summary:...

 and Idiot Box. In 2000 he was in two contrasting films, the Australian Mullet

Mullet (film)

Mullet is an Australian film released in 2001, written and directed by David Caesar, and starring Ben Mendelsohn, Susie Porter and Andrew Gilbert.-Plot summary:...

 and the Hollywood Vertical Limit

Vertical Limit

Vertical Limit is a 2000 thriller action film directed by New Zealander Martin Campbell starring, among others, Chris O'Donnell, Bill Paxton, Robin Tunney and Scott Glenn...

.

In 2005, he was preparing to play Mark Antony

Mark Antony

Marcus Antonius , known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman politician and general. As a military commander and administrator, he was an important supporter and loyal friend of his mother's cousin Julius Caesar...

 in the Sydney Theatre Company

Sydney Theatre Company

The Sydney Theatre Company is one of Australia's best-known theatre companies operating from The Wharf Theatre near The Rocks area of Sydney, as well as the Sydney Theatre and the Sydney Opera House Drama Theatre....

-produced Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar (play)

The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, also known simply as Julius Caesar, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1599. It portrays the 44 BC conspiracy against...

, and he is in the Terrence Malick

Terrence Malick

Terrence Frederick Malick is a U.S. film director, screenwriter, and producer. In a career spanning almost four decades, Malick has directed five feature films....

-directed film The New World.

In 2007, Mendelsohn starred in the third season of the TV series Love My Way

Love My Way

Love My Way was a Logie Award winning and critically acclaimed Australian television drama series. It won the AFI award for Best Television Drama Series for each of its three seasons ....

 and in 2008, he appeared in Baz Luhrmann's Australia

Australia (2008 film)

Australia is a 2008 epic historical romance film directed by Baz Luhrmann and starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman. It is the second-highest grossing Australian film of all time, behind Crocodile Dundee. The screenplay was written by Luhrmann and screenwriter Stuart Beattie, with Ronald Harwood...

 and filmed the 10-part Melbourne series Tangle

Tangle (TV series)

Tangle is an Australian drama series for the Showcase subscription television channel. It focuses on the lives of two generations of two families and their tangled lives. Tangle is filmed in Melbourne and first screened on 1 October 2009...

, which premiered on Showcase in 2009. In 2009, he appeared in the American science fiction film Knowing

Knowing (film)

Knowing is a 2009 American-British science fiction film directed by Alex Proyas and starring Nicolas Cage. The project was originally attached to a number of directors under Columbia Pictures, but it was placed in turnaround and eventually picked up by Escape Artists. Production was financially...

 directed by Alex Proyas

Alex Proyas

Alexander "Alex" Proyas is a Australian film director, screenwriter, and producer. He is best known for directing such films as The Crow, Dark City, I, Robot and Knowing. He is known for employing a stylish photographic techniques in his films, with dark overtones usually in a post-apocalyptic...

. The same year, Mendelsohn starred as Ned in Beautiful Kate

Beautiful Kate

Beautiful Kate is a 2009 Australian film directed by Rachel Ward and starring Rachel Griffiths, Bryan Brown, Sophie Lowe and Ben Mendelsohn. Rachel Ward adapted the script from a 1982 novel of the same name by Newton Thornburg; this was the first novel by Thornburg used for a movie since Cutter's Way...

, directed by Rachel Ward

Rachel Ward

Rachel Claire Ward, AM is a British actress, columnist, film director, and screenwriter who has primarily pursued her career in Australia.-Early life:...

, opposite Bryan Brown

Bryan Brown

Bryan Neathway Brown, AM is an Australian actor.-Early life:Brown was born in Sydney, the son of John Brown and Molly Brown, a house cleaner who worked as a pianist in the early days of the Langshaw School of Ballet. He grew up in the south-western Sydney suburb of Bankstown and began working at...

 and Rachel Griffiths

Rachel Griffiths

Rachel Anne Griffiths is an Australian film and television actress who came to prominence in the 1994 film Muriel's Wedding and her Academy Award nominated performance in the 1997 film Hilary and Jackie....

.

In 2010, he appeared in Animal Kingdom

Animal Kingdom (film)

Animal Kingdom is a 2010 Australian crime drama written and directed by David Michôd, and starring Ben Mendelsohn, Joel Edgerton, Guy Pearce, Luke Ford, Sullivan Stapleton, Jacki Weaver and James Frecheville...

, starring in the film as Andrew 'Pope' Cody, a criminal on the run from the law living in the notorious Melbourne Underworld

Melbourne gangland killings

The Melbourne gangland killings were the murders in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia of 36 criminal figures or partners between 16 January 1998 and 13 August 2010. The murders were in a series of retributional murders involving various underworld groups. The deaths caused a sustained power vacuum...

. This role won him many awards including IF Award's Best Actor and the AFI

Australian Film Institute

The Australian Film Institute was founded in 1958 as a non-profit organisation devoted to developing an active film culture in Australia and fostering engagement between the general public and the Australian film industry...

's award for Best Actor in a Leading Role

Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role

The AACTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role is an award in the annual AACTA Awards, presented by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts...

.

Movies

Year	Film	Role
1986	The Still Point	Peter
1987	The Year My Voice Broke The Year My Voice Broke The Year My Voice Broke is a 1987 coming of age story by director John Duigan, starring Noah Taylor, Loene Carmen, and Ben Mendelsohn. Set in 1962 in the rural Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, it was the first in a projected trilogy of films centred around the experiences of an awkward...	Trevor Leishman
1989	Lover Boy	Gazza
1990	The Big Steal	Danny Clarke
1990	Nirvana Street Murder Nirvana Street Murder Nirvana Street Murder is a 1990 Australian comedy film, written and directed by Aleksi Vellis, starring Mark Little, Ben Mendelsohn and Mary Coustas.-External links:*...	Luke
1990	Return Home Return Home Return Home is a 1990 Australian drama film directed by Ray Argall. Argall won the AFI Award for Best Director in 1990 and Frankie J. Holden was nominated for Best Actor in a Lead Role.-Cast:*Dennis Coard as Noel*Frankie J...	Gary
1990	Quigley Down Under Quigley Down Under Quigley Down Under is a 1990 western film set in Australia's outback. Starring Tom Selleck, Alan Rickman and Laura San Giacomo, it was directed by Simon Wincer.-Plot:...	O'Flynn
1992	Spotswood Spotswood (film) Spotswood is an Australian comedy film directed by Mark Joffe, made in 1990-1991, released in 1992 in some locations. It is also known as The Efficiency Expert in America....	Carey
1993	Say a Little Prayer	Nursery Manager
1993	Map of the Human Heart Map of the Human Heart Map of the Human Heart is the title of a 1993 film by New Zealand director Vincent Ward. It was screened out of competition at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival....	Farmboy
1993	Sirens Sirens (film) Sirens is a 1993 film, written and directed by John Duigan, and set in Australia between the two World Wars.Sirens, along with Four Weddings and a Funeral and Bitter Moon—all released in the U.S...	Lewis
1994	Metal Skin Metal Skin Metal Skin is a 1994 Australian film written and directed by Geoffrey Wright, starring Aden Young Tara Morice, Nadine Garner and Ben Mendelsohn. The film follows the lives of four adolescents in and around the blue-collar suburb of Altona, Melbourne....	Dazey
1996	Idiot Box	Kev
1996	Cosi Cosi (film) Cosi is a 1996 Australian comedy-drama-musical film directed by Mark Joffe. Louis Nowra wrote both the screenplay and the play it is based on.-Plot summary:...	Lewis
1997	True Love and Chaos	Jerry
1997	Amy	Robert Buchanan
2000	Vertical Limit Vertical Limit Vertical Limit is a 2000 thriller action film directed by New Zealander Martin Campbell starring, among others, Chris O'Donnell, Bill Paxton, Robin Tunney and Scott Glenn...	Malcolm Bench
2000	Sample People	John
2001	Mullet	Eddie 'Mullet' Maloney
2002	Black and White	Rupert Murdoch
2005	The New World	Ben
2005	Second Chance	Dr. Larry Stewart
2008	$9.99 $9.99 $9.99 is a 2008 Australian/Israeli stop motion film written and directed by Tatia Rosenthal, with the screenplay by Etgar Keret. This film marks the third collaboration between Rosenthal and Keret...	Lenny Peck
2008	Australia Australia (2008 film) Australia is a 2008 epic historical romance film directed by Baz Luhrmann and starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman. It is the second-highest grossing Australian film of all time, behind Crocodile Dundee. The screenplay was written by Luhrmann and screenwriter Stuart Beattie, with Ronald Harwood...	Captain Dutton
2009	Prime Mover Prime Mover (film) Prime Mover is a 2009 Australian/British comedy-crime love story which stars Michael Dorman, Emily Barclay, Ben Mendelsohn, Gyton Grantley, William McInnes, Anthony Hayes and Andrew S. Gilbert...	Johnnie
2009	Beautiful Kate Beautiful Kate Beautiful Kate is a 2009 Australian film directed by Rachel Ward and starring Rachel Griffiths, Bryan Brown, Sophie Lowe and Ben Mendelsohn. Rachel Ward adapted the script from a 1982 novel of the same name by Newton Thornburg; this was the first novel by Thornburg used for a movie since Cutter's Way...	Ned Kendall
2009	Knowing Knowing (film) Knowing is a 2009 American-British science fiction film directed by Alex Proyas and starring Nicolas Cage. The project was originally attached to a number of directors under Columbia Pictures, but it was placed in turnaround and eventually picked up by Escape Artists. Production was financially...	Phil Beckman
2010	Needle	Detective Meares
2010	Animal Kingdom Animal Kingdom (film) Animal Kingdom is a 2010 Australian crime drama written and directed by David Michôd, and starring Ben Mendelsohn, Joel Edgerton, Guy Pearce, Luke Ford, Sullivan Stapleton, Jacki Weaver and James Frecheville...	Andrew 'Pope' Cody
2011	Killer Elite	Martin
2011	Trespass Trespass (2011 film) Trespass is a 2011 American psychological thriller directed by Joel Schumacher. The film stars Nicolas Cage and Nicole Kidman as a married couple taken hostage by extortionists. Shooting on the project began in Shreveport, Louisiana on August 30, 2010. The film premiered at the 2011 Toronto...	Elias

TV

Year	Film	Role
1987	Special Squad Special Squad Special Squad was an Australian television series made by Crawford Productions for the Ten Network in 1984.The series focused on an elite division of the Victoria Police, which handled crimes either too sensitive or specialist for regular squads. The Special Squad was headed by Det. Insp. Don...
1985	A Country Practice A Country Practice A Country Practice is an Australian television drama series. One of the longest-running of its kind, produced by James Davern of JNP Productions, it ran on the Seven Network for 1,058 episodes from 18 November 1981 to 22 November 1993. It was produced in ATN-7's production facility at Epping,...	Luke Dawson
1985	The Henderson Kids The Henderson Kids The Henderson Kids was an Australian television series made by Crawford Productions for Network Ten between 1985 and 1987. It was created and storylined by Roger Moulton, who also wrote 5 episodes in the first series and 2 episodes in the second series....	Ted Morgan
1986	Prime Time	Batholomew 'Bart' Jones
1986	Fame and Misfortune
1986–1987	Neighbours Neighbours Neighbours is an Australian television soap opera first broadcast on the Seven Network on 18 March 1985. It was created by TV executive Reg Watson, who proposed the idea of making a show that focused on realistic stories and portrayed adults and teenagers who talk openly and solve their problems...	Warren Murphy
1988	All the Way All the Way (TV series) All the Way was an Australian television series made by Crawford Productions for the Nine Network in 1988.The series was set in the 1960s; first episode took place on the date of the John F. Kennedy assassination...	Lindsay Seymour
1987–1989	The Flying Doctors The Flying Doctors The Flying Doctors is an Australian drama series produced by Crawford Productions that revolved around the everyday lifesaving efforts of the real Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia....	Brad Harris / Brian
1989	This Man ... This Woman	Matthew Clarke
1989–1994	G. P. G. P. G.P. was an Australian television series produced by Roadshow, Coote & Carroll for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation between 1989 and 1996.The series was set around a general medical practice in an inner-city suburb...	Max Fisher / Phillip Barton
1994	Roughnecks Roughnecks (TV series) Roughnecks was a BBC television series that ran over two series between 1994 and 1995 on BBC One. The show centred on the working and personal lives of those who worked on oil rigs in the North Sea....	Joe 90
1995	Snowy River: The McGregor Saga The Man From Snowy River (TV series) The Man from Snowy River is an Australian television series based on Banjo Paterson's poem "The Man from Snowy River". Released in Australia as Banjo Paterson's The Man from Snowy River, the series was subsequently released in the United States as Snowy River: The McGregor Saga.The television...	Dale Banks
1995	Police Rescue Police Rescue Police Rescue was an Australian television series which originally aired on ABC TV between 1989 and 1996. It was produced by ABC and Southern Star Xanadu in association with the BBC....	Dean Forman
1995	Halifax f.p. Halifax f.p. Halifax f.p. is an Australian television drama series produced by Nine Network from 1994 to 2001. The series stars Rebecca Gibney as Doctor Jane Halifax, a forensic psychiatrist investigating cases involving the mental state of suspects or victims...	Peter Donaldson
1996	Close Ups	Biz
1997	Good Guys Bad Guys Good Guys Bad Guys Good Guys, Bad Guys was an Australian crime TV series that screened on the Nine Network between 1997 and 1998, with a telemovie and twenty-six episodes produced. A comedy/drama set in Melbourne....	Brian O'Malley
1999	Queen Kat, Carmel & St Jude	Vince McCaffery
1999	Secret Men's Business	Doug Petersen
2001	Child Star: The Shirley Temple Story	Alexander Hall
2002	Farscape Farscape Farscape is an Australian-American science fiction television series filmed in Australia and produced originally for the Nine Network. The series was conceived by Rockne S. O'Bannon and produced by Jim Henson Productions and Hallmark Entertainment...	Sko
2004	Petal to the Metal: The Making of 'Metal Skin'
2005	The Secret Life of Us The Secret Life of Us The Secret Life of Us was a television drama series set in the beachside suburb of St Kilda, Melbourne, Australia. The series was produced by Southern Star Entertainment and screened in Australia from 2001 to 2005 on Network Ten and on Channel 4 in the UK...	Rob
2006–2007	Love My Way Love My Way Love My Way was a Logie Award winning and critically acclaimed Australian television drama series. It won the AFI award for Best Television Drama Series for each of its three seasons ....	Lewis Feingold
2009	Tangle Tangle (TV series) Tangle is an Australian drama series for the Showcase subscription television channel. It focuses on the lives of two generations of two families and their tangled lives. Tangle is filmed in Melbourne and first screened on 1 October 2009...	Vince Kovac

Further reading

• Romei, Stephen. (2005). "The Face: Stephen Romei meets Ben Mendelsohn (actor)". Review liftout, p. 3, The Weekend Australian
  The Australian
  The Australian is a broadsheet newspaper published in Australia from Monday to Saturday each week since 14 July 1964. The editor in chief is Chris Mitchell, the editor is Clive Mathieson and the 'editor-at-large' is Paul Kelly....
  
  , 25–26 June 2005

External links