Game-On Matthew

Background:

"Sometimes I think: 'If my friends could see me now!' But of course, you can get used to anything - and usually without batting an eyelid." Ben Chaplin (on adjusting to life in L.A.).

English actor Ben Chaplin was first known in his native country for his turn as the terminally agoraphobic and slightly insane Matthew Malone (1995) in the BBC2 sitcom "Game-On." And since his American debut film "The Truth About Cats & Dogs" (1996), in which his photographer character was torn between Uma Thurman and Janeane Garofalo's characters, he has become a hot property in Hollywood.

He has starred in such films as "The Thin Red Line" (1998; along with George Clooney), "Birthday Girl" (2001; opposite Nicole Kidman), "Murder by Numbers" (2002; alongside Sandra Bullock), "Stage Beauty" (2004; with Claire Danes and Billy Crudup), "Two Weeks" (2006; alongside Sally Field), and "The Water Horse" (2007; with Emily Watson, Alex Etel, and David Morrissey).

A true thespian, Chaplin also displayed his talent on stage. He has performed in West End productions of Tennessee Williams' "The Glass Menagerie" (1995), which earned him an Olivier Award Nomination for Best Supporting Performer, and Neil LaBute's play ''This Is How It Goes'' (2005). He also received Broadway's 2004 Tony Award as Best Actor (Featured Role – Play) for his performance in William Nicholson's play "The Retreat From Moscow."

As for his private life, the 5' 11" soulful, darkly handsome player with sweet eyes, charming smile and plummy British accent has just split up from long-term girlfriend, up-and-coming American actress Embeth Davidtz, who reportedly left Harvey Keitel for him while filming "Feast of July" (1995).

Benedict John

Childhood and Family:

Born in London, England, UK, on July 31, 1970, Benedict John Greenwood grew up in Windsor, Berkshire, England. The youngest of four children of Cynthia, a drama teacher, and Peter Greenwood, an engineer, Ben attended PMRF (Princess Margaret Royal Free) School.

An admittedly lazy student who harbored no desire to go to university, Ben enrolled at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London, England. He left the institution by his second year and found work at theater companies, where he sharpened his craft.

The Truth About Cats & Dogs

Career:

After appearing in a play at age 16, Ben Chaplin decided to become an actor and honed his craft at London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama and theater troupe. In the early 1990s, when he entered his twenties, Chaplin began appearing on television, beginning with a guest spot in an episode of the longest running emergency medical drama series in the world, BBC One's "Casualty." He followed it up with a next year's recurring role in the British television drama series "Soldier Soldier."

Soon afterwards, the new comer secured his first starring role in the comedic made-for-television movie "Bye Bye Baby" (1992; Channel Four). In the TV movie, penned by brilliantly talented screen writer Jack Rosenthal, he portrayed Leo, a naive young Jewish lad reluctantly serving out his time in the navy whose principle companion is a classic black & white photo of Marilyn Monroe pinned to the wall by his bunk.

Chaplin subsequently appeared in his second TV movie, "A Fatal Inversion" (1992), an adaptation of Ruth Rendell's thriller novel starring Douglas Hodge and Jeremy Northam. He was also spotted as a guest in an episode of the BBC I acclaimed cop drama "Between the Lines" and popular British comedy/drama television series "Minder." Additionally, he had an uncredited role in the TV series based on the novel by Mary Norton, "The Borrowers."

In 1993, Chaplin landed his film debut as a footman in the Merchant Ivory Productions' "The Remains of the Day," which was based on the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro and stars Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson. He then appeared in the BBC TV miniseries "The Return of the Borrowers" (1993) and "Resort to Murder" (1995), in the latter of which he co-starred as the estranged son of David Daker and Eileen Nicholas' characters. Meanwhile, he also could be seen in the British TV movie "A Few Short Journeys of the Heart" (1994) and in an episode of the British hysterical comedy series starring Joanna Lumley, "Class Act."

Chaplin scored a breakthrough screen role in 1995, as Con Wainwright, the youngest of the Wainwright brothers who marries Embeth Davidtz's enchanting character, in the Merchant Ivory Productions' "Feast of July," which was based on the novel by H.E. Bates. That same year, he led the cast of the BBC2 sitcom "Game-On," playing the terminally agoraphobic and slightly insane Matthew Malone, the character that Movieline (November 2000) would describe as a "sexy, cocky, misogynistic, homophobic, agoraphobic stud."

When asked if he ever watches re- runs of his big break sitcom, Chaplin admitted, "I can't bear to look at some of the things I've done, but I'm very proud of 'Game-On.' My character, Matthew, was beautifully written and he was so much fun to play. I'll always look back on that fondly, that show makes me laugh. Yeah, those are very happy memories. It was perfect for me - I was the right age so it was the right time for that role. So I love watching that one - in a slightly indulgent way!"

Meanwhile, Chaplin received applause for his performance as Tom Wingfield in West End production of Tennessee Williams' "The Glass Menagerie" (1995), which was helmed by Sam Mendes. And when he was about to resume his role as Matthew Malone in "Game-On" (1995), he had to pull out after being offered a starring role in an American feature in Michael Lehmann-directed "The Truth About Cats & Dogs" (1996), as Brian, the photographer who torn between Uma Thurman and Janeane Garofalo's characters.

On working with Thurman in the romantic comedy film, Chaplin commented, "Uma is extraordinary. She's like an Amazonian goddess. Uma is a tall woman who commands a room when she comes into it, physically as much as anything else."

Following his American debut, Chaplin landed more projects, co-starring as the strikingly handsome Morris Townsend who becomes the love interest of Jennifer Jason Leigh's character, in Agnieszka Holland's film adaptation of an 1880 Henry James novella, "Washington Square" (1997), and playing the lead role of Private Bell, whose marriage back home becomes dissolute while he fights in the war, in Terrence Malick's Oscar-nominated remake of James Jones' autobiographical 1962 novel, "The Thin Red Line" (1998).

"At first it was mind-boggling. When you arrive in LA as an Englishman you might as well be on the moon. People just don't understand you if you speak too fast and most people there think you're Australian. Ordering was incredibly complicated. I was speechless." Ben Chaplin.

Entering the new millennium, Chaplin was cast as the smug, best-selling crime writer Peter Kelson who is marked for Satanic possession, in Meg Ryan-produced horror film directed by Janusz Kaminski, "Lost Souls," opposite Winona Ryder. In the next years, he found more jobs in films, including a starring role opposite Nicole Kidman in the British Film Four-backed film directed by Jez Butterworth, "Birthday Girl" (screen at the Venice Film Festival in 2001; released theatrically in 2002), playing John Buckingham, a lonely, uncomfortable and shy St Albans bank clerk who orders a mail-order bride Nadia (played by Kidman) from Russia on the Internet.

About the film, Chaplin revealed, "I play a lonely British bank clerk - a rather unglamorous guy named John Buckingham - who's trying to get out of his English suburban trap of a life by shaking things up. He's so naive that he thinks a mail-order Russian bride - played by Nicole - found over the internet will put an end to his loneliness and yearning for love. This is a dark comedy with some romance and suspense, so there are twists and turns in the plot that make it quite intriguing."

Afterwards, Chaplin co-stared with Sandra Bullock in Barbet Schroeder's action/psychological thriller/neo-noir film "Murder By Numbers" (2002). In the film that was quite loosely based on the Leopold and Loeb case, the Columbine High School massacre, and the Dartmouth Murders, Chaplin portrayed Bullock's new, brilliant homicide detective partner assigned to solve a murder case. That same year, he had a leading role opposite Michelle Yeoh, playing her master thief ex-boyfriend Eric who helps her through the into an ancient desert where legends say the treasure is buried in order to uncover and protect the treasure that her ancestors had sworn to keep safe, in the action-adventure/martial arts film directed by ''Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon'' cinematographer Peter Pau, "The Touch."

Chaplin returned to Broadway in 2003 to headline William Nicholson's play "The Retreat From Moscow," for which he was nominated for Broadway's 2004 Tony Award as Best Actor (Featured Role – Play), and to London stage in July 2005, acting in Neil LaBute's new play "This Is How It Goes" at West End.

Meanwhile, he continued his film works, starring opposite Claire Danes and Billy Crudup in Richard Eyre's film version of Jeffrey Hatcher's romantic drama play, "Stage Beauty" (2004), playing George Villiars, Duke of Buckingham, and supporting Colin Farrell, Christopher Plummer, and Christian Bale in writer/director Terrence Malick's Oscar-nominated drama film about explorer John Smith and the clash between Native Americans and English settlers in the 17th century, "The New World" (2005). He also teamed with Penelope Cruz, Ralph Fiennes, Kristin Scott Thomas, Rhys Ifans, and Ian Holm in writer/director Martha Fiennes' ensemble film which debuted at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival in France, "Chromophobia."

Chaplin's most recent film works are "Two Weeks" (2006), a bittersweet drama comedy directed by Steve Stockman and starring Sally Field in which he was cast as one of four adult siblings who returns home to say goodbye to their dying mother, and "The Water Horse" (2007), a fantasy film directed by Jay Russell based on the Dick King-Smith's children's novel in which he co-stars with Emily Watson, Alex Etel, and David Morrissey.

"... I'd like to keep working on both sides of the Atlantic. But settling down is not something I can really compute as I've lived out of a bag since I was 17. Being an actor is well paid but it's a bit like being a circus traveler. There's no base except for where your friends and family are. Wherever I settle, I know I can't spend a lot of time there so I have to grab the bits of time that I have at home, when I can, and just enjoy them. But it's a transient existence." Ben Chaplin (on where he will finally settle down).

Awards:
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