Shaun Benson (born January 16, 1976) is a Canadian actor and director.

Early life

Benson was born in

Guelph Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as "The Royal City", Guelph is roughly east of Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Highway 6, Highway 7 and Wel ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

. He is the son of

Eugene Benson Eugene Benson (born 1928) is a Canadian professor of English and a prolific writer, novelist, playwright and librettist. Early life Born in Northern Ireland, Benson obtained a bachelor's degree from the National University of Ireland, a master's ...

, an English professor and a prolific novelist, playwright and librettist."Just Cause for Benson: The actor can stay in Vancouver - series gets an extension". ''

The Province ''The Province'' is a daily newspaper published in tabloid format in British Columbia by Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network, alongside the ''Vancouver Sun'' broadsheet newspaper. Together, they are British Columbia's only ...

'', March 7, 2003. He later graduated from the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by resident ...

with a bachelor of science in chemistry and biochemistry, before studying acting at the

George Brown College George Brown College is a public, fully accredited college of applied arts and technology with three campuses in downtown Toronto (Ontario, Canada). Like many other colleges in Ontario, GBC was chartered in 1966 by the government of Ontario and ...

Theater School in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

. While at university he began training Karate. He currently holds a 5th Degree Black Belt and his Renshi Teaching Certificate in Legacy Shorin Ryu under Hanshi Gary Legacy and Kyoshi Randy Dauphin and a Purple Belt in Brazillian Jiu Jitsu from Toronto BJJ under Jorge Britto with his time in Los Angeles spent training with

Jean-Jacques Machado Jean Jacques Machado (born February 12, 1968) is a Brazilian Jiu jitsu practitioner. He is one of the five Machado brothers ( Carlos, Roger, Rigan and John). Machado is nephew of BJJ co-founder and Grandmaster Carlos Gracie, and learned ...

Career

As an actor

His early roles as an actor included theatrical productions of

John Palmer John Palmer may refer to: People Politicians * John Palmer (fl. 1377–1394), English politician *Sir John Palmer, 5th Baronet (1735–1817), British politician *John Palmer (1785–1840), U.S. congressman from New York *John Palmer (1842–1905) ...

's ''Singapore'',

Fabrizio Filippo Fabrizio "Fab" Filippo (born November 30, 1973) is a Canadian actor. Personal life Filippo was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. His parents are first generation Italian immigrants (his mother is from Campora San Giovanni in Calabria). He brie ...

's ''Waiting for Lewis'',

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's ''

Love's Labour's Lost ''Love's Labour's Lost'' is one of William Shakespeare's early comedies, believed to have been written in the mid-1590s for a performance at the Inns of Court before Elizabeth I of England, Queen Elizabeth I. It follows the King of Navarre and ...

'' and Robin Fulford's ''Steel Kiss''. In 2000, he appeared in a

Molson Canadian Molson Canadian is a brand of 5% abv lager beer (4% in Ireland) brewed by Molson Brewing, the Canadian division of Molson Coors Brewing Company. The beer was introduced in 1959. Awards Molson Canadian has won several beer industry awards, inclu ...

commercial as a Canadian office worker who unleashes a torrent of hockey-style violence on an American coworker taunting him with Canadian

stereotype In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for example ...

s. In 2001, he was cast in a lead role in the television drama series '' The Associates''. In 2002, following the cancellation of ''The Associates'' he was cast in the legal drama series '' Just Cause'', which ran for one season. Benson played the

recurring role A recurring character is a fictional character, usually in a prime time TV series, who frequently appears from time to time during the series' run. Recurring characters often play major roles in more than one episode, sometimes being the main foc ...

of Dr.

Steven Lars Webber Steven Webber is a fictional character from the American ABC soap opera, ''General Hospital''. Steve was born in 1977, the character has appeared briefly in three different storylines, played each time by a different actor. As an infant in the ...

on the

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

General Hospital ''General Hospital'' (often abbreviated as ''GH'') is an American daytime television soap opera. It is listed in ''Guinness World Records'' as the list of longest-running television shows by category, longest-running American soap opera in pro ...

'' from 2004 to 2005, which attracted him considerable attention compared to his previous roles. Since his time on ''General Hospital'', Benson has guest starred in numerous television series, including '' Cold Case'', '' The Unit'', and '' Being Erica''. In 2008, he appeared in the Proud Family film

Oscar Proud Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology) ...

. In 2012, Benson starred in the

IMAX IMAX is a proprietary system of high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (approximately either 1.43:1 or 1.90:1) and steep stadium seating. Graeme F ...

3D documentary film ''

Flight of the Butterflies ''Flight of the Butterflies'' is a 2012 Canadian documentary film directed and co-written by Mike Slee for 3D IMAX, starring Megan Follows, Gordon Pinsent, and Shaun Benson. The film covers Dr. Fred Urquhart's nearly 40-year-long scientific inve ...

'' and in French comedy '' Populaire''. In the 2015 made-for-TV movie ''

Kept Woman A mistress is a woman who is in a relatively long-term sexual and romantic relationship with a man who is married to a different woman. Description A mistress is in a long-term relationship with her attached mister, and is often referred to ...

'', Shaun played an eccentric professor, Simon, who kidnaps his neighbor Jessica, played by

Courtney Ford Courtney Braden Ford is an American actress. She is best known for her roles on television, such as playing Christine Hill on ''Dexter (TV series), Dexter'' (2009), Portia Bellefleur on ''True Blood'' (2011), Lily on ''Parenthood (2010 TV serie ...

. Also in 2015, he starred in the

Starz Starz (stylized as STARZ since 2016; pronounced "stars") is an American premium cable and satellite television network owned by Lions Gate Entertainment, and is the flagship property of parent subsidiary Starz Inc. Programming on Starz consist ...

television series ''

The Girlfriend Experience ''The Girlfriend Experience'' is a 2009 American slice of life drama film directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring then-pornographic actress Sasha Grey. It was shot in New York City, and a rough cut was screened at the Sundance Film Festiva ...

''. In 2016, Benson appeared in the Netflix time loop thriller '' ARQ'' as Sonny, as well as Season 2 of the series ''

Gangland Undercover ''Gangland Undercover'' is a Canadian-American factual based drama television series written and created by Executive Producer Stephen Kemp and co-writer Noel Baker. It was inspired by the story of Charles Falco a former ATF confidential informa ...

'' as Crowbar. He subsequently appeared in the SyFy series '' Channel Zero'' as the town sheriff, Gary Yolen. Between 2017 and 2021 Benson appeared in many prestige projects including

The Boys Boys are young male humans. Boys or The Boys may also refer to: Film and television Films * ''The Boys'' (1962 British film), a courtroom drama by Sidney J. Furie * ''The Boys'' (1962 Finnish film), a war drama by Mikko Niskanen * ''Boys'' ( ...

on Amazon as Ezekiel, Tiny Pretty Things on Netflix as Brooks, Code 8 as Dixon as well as independent and TV film work for

Lifetime Lifetime may refer to: * Life expectancy, the length of time a person is expected to remain alive Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Lifetime (band), a rock band from New Jersey * ''Life Time'' (Rollins Band album), by Rollins Band * ...

SyFy Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Lau ...

, etc

As a director

In 2013, he directed Stop/Kiss by Diana Son for the Toronto Fringe Festival. The play won best of festival and garnered and extended run. In 2014, Benson directed the independent film '' Barn Wedding'', which won the

HMV Sunrise Records and Entertainment, trading as HMV (for His Master's Voice), is a British music and entertainment retailer, currently operating exclusively in the United Kingdom. The first HMV-branded store was opened by the Gramophone Company ...

People's Pick For Best Flick award at the 2015 Canadian Film Fest. In 2021, Shaun co-wrote, co-directed and starred, with

Karen Knox Karen Knox is a Canadian director, actor, and writer. She is the show runner of '' Slo Pitch'', and ''Homeschooled'' on CBC, which she wrote, directed, and starred in. Her directorial feature film debut, ''Adult Adoption'', premiered at the 2022 ...

, in Borderline which had its World Premiere in the UK at Crystal Palace International Film Festival and its North American Premiere at Dances With Films at the Chinese Theatre.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Benson, Shaun 1976 births Living people Canadian male soap opera actors Canadian male television actors Canadian people of Northern Ireland descent People from Guelph Male actors from Ontario University of Western Ontario alumni George Brown College alumni Canadian male film actors Canadian male stage actors Film directors from Ontario Canadian theatre directors 20th-century Canadian male actors 21st-century Canadian male actors