Ben O'Toole (born in

Cairns Cairns (, ) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. The population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years. The city is the 5th-most-p ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

) is an Australian actor. He is known for his role as Rex Coen in ''Bloody Hell'', his recurring roles in several Australian TV-Series such as ''Amazing Grace'', as well as for his supporting roles in movies such as ''

Hacksaw Ridge ''Hacksaw Ridge'' is a 2016 biographical war film directed by Mel Gibson and written by Andrew Knight and Robert Schenkkan, based on the 2004 documentary ''The Conscientious Objector'' directed by Terry Benedict. The film focuses on the World Wa ...

'' (2016) or ''

12 Strong ''12 Strong'' (also known as ''12 Strong: The Declassified True Story of the Horse Soldiers'') is a 2018 American action-war film directed by Nicolai Fuglsig and written by Ted Tally and Peter Craig. The film is based on Doug Stanton's non-fict ...

'' (2018).

Early life and career

O'Toole grew up in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

. He began performing in the

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

while he studied acting at the

Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts The Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) at Edith Cowan University (ECU) was established in 1980 to provide performing arts tuition. WAAPA (commonly pronounced "whopp-a") operates as a part of ECU, located at the ECU campus in ...

(WAAPA) near

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

. After graduating in 2011, his first movie appearance was in a web series titled ''Sintillate Studios''. He eventually relocated to

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

where he continued his work in theater and acted in several

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

s. His first appearance in an internationally released film was in ''

The Water Diviner ''The Water Diviner'' is a 2014 drama film starring and directed by Russell Crowe, in his directorial debut, and written by Andrew Anastasios and Andrew Knight. The film is loosely based on the book of the same name written by Andrew Anastasio ...

'' in 2014. That same year, he was cast in the role of Pete in the first three seasons of the TV series ''Love Child''. In 2016, he played the role of Corporal Tom, second in command to drill sergeant Howell played by

Vince Vaughn Vincent Anthony Vaughn (born March 28, 1970) is an American actor. Vaughn began acting in the late 1980s, appearing in minor television roles before attaining wider recognition with the 1996 comedy-drama film '' Swingers''. He has appeared in ...

in the award-winning biographical war film ''

'', directed by

Mel Gibson Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson (born January 3, 1956) is an American actor, film director, and producer. He is best known for his action hero roles, particularly his breakout role as Max Rockatansky in the first three films of the post-apocaly ...

. O'Toole moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

in early 2016. He acted in commercially successful Hollywood movies that provided more international exposure and recognition of his acting abilities. His first leading role was the

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

, ''Everybody loves Somebody'' (2017), which was well-received by critics. In 2018, he performed as main actor in the movie '' Nekrotronic'', which was nominated for Best Makeup at the

9th AACTA Awards The 9th Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards (generally known as the AACTA Awards) is an award's ceremony to celebrate the best of Australian films and television of 2019. The main ceremony was held at The Star (Sydney), The St ...

, but otherwise was rather poorly received both by audience and critics. Since the beginning of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, he has almost exclusively appeared in Australian productions. In addition to his performances in series television, he had landed the lead role in the

horror comedy Comedy horror, also known as horror comedy, is a literary, television, and film genre that combines elements of comedy and horror fiction. Comedy horror has been described as able to be categorized under three types: "black comedy, parody and spo ...

''Bloody Hell'', where he assumed the role of protagonist and also embodied the hallucinations of his alter ego.

Filmography

Film appearances

Television

Stage

References

External links

*
Profile on InstagramArtist profile at the acting agency
{{DEFAULTSORT:OToole, Ben Australian male film actors Australian male television actors Living people Year of birth missing (living people)