Benjamin Charles Aldridge (born 12 November 1985) is an English actor. He is best known for his portrayals of Thomas Wayne in the crime drama series '' Pennyworth'' (2019–present)'','' Arsehole Guy in the dramedy series ''

Fleabag ''Fleabag'' is a British comedy-drama television series created and written by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, based on her one-woman show first performed in 2013 at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. It was originally produced by Two Brothers Pictures for d ...

'' (2016–2019), and DI Matthew Venn in drama '' The Long Call'' (2021).

Early life and education

Having worked with the

National Youth Theatre The National Youth Theatre of Great Britain (NYT) is a youth theatre and registered charity in London. Its aim is to develop and nurture young people through creative arts and theatrical productions. Founded in 1956 as the world's first youth the ...

, Aldridge graduated from the

London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) is a drama school located in Hammersmith, London. It is the oldest specialist drama school in the British Isles and a founding member of the Federation of Drama Schools. LAMDA's Principal is ...

with a bursary from the Genesis Foundation for young actors. He left early to begin filming the 2009 ITV film ''

Compulsion Compulsion may refer to: * Compulsive behavior, a psychological condition in which a person does a behavior compulsively, having an overwhelming feeling that they must do so. * Obsessive–compulsive disorder, a mental disorder characterized by i ...

'' alongside

Ray Winstone Raymond Andrew Winstone (; born 19 February 1957) is an English television, stage and film actor with a career spanning five decades. Having worked with many prominent directors, including Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, Winstone is perha ...

and

Parminder Nagra Parminder Kaur Nagra (born 5 October 1975) is a British actress of Indian Punjabi descent and Sikh heritage. She is known for portraying Jess Bhamra in the film '' Bend It Like Beckham'' (2002) and Dr. Neela Rasgotra in the NBC medical drama ...

Career

Aldridge's first professional acting role was in a play ' at

Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith The Lyric Theatre, also known as the Lyric Hammersmith, is a theatre on Lyric Square, off King Street, Hammersmith, London.

in 2004. In 2008, Aldridge made his television debut in

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

's four-part miniseries '' The Devil's Whore'', playing Harry Fanshawe, husband of the title character. That same year, he was featured on

Screen International ''Screen International'' is a British film magazine covering the international film business. It is published by Media Business Insight, a British B2B media company. The magazine is primarily aimed at those involved in the global film business. ...

's "Stars of Tomorrow" list. In addition to ''First Light'', ''

Lewis Lewis may refer to: Names * Lewis (given name), including a list of people with the given name * Lewis (surname), including a list of people with the surname Music * Lewis (musician), Canadian singer * "Lewis (Mistreated)", a song by Radiohead ...

'', '' Toast'' and ''

Vera Vera may refer to: Names * Vera (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) * Vera (given name), a given name (including a list of people and fictional characters with the name) **Vera (), archbishop of the archdiocese of Tarr ...

'', Aldridge also appeared as Daniel Parish in the

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

period drama ''

Lark Rise to Candleford ''Lark Rise to Candleford'' is a trilogy of semi-autobiographical novels by Flora Thompson about the countryside of north-east Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, England, at the end of the 19th century. The stories were previously published s ...

''. In 2011, the American network

The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

cast Aldridge as the lead in the pilot ''Heavenly''. Later on he spent time in

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; names in other languages) is the capital and largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and the crossroads of the Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. Nearly 1,166,763 mi ...

shooting the partially improvised romance short film ''In the Night'' for director Ivana Bobic and award-winning cinematographer Rain Li, alongside supermodel

Danijela Dimitrovska Danijela Dimitrovska (Serbian Cyrillic: Данијела Димитровска; ; born 22 April 1987) is a Serbian model. She began her modelling career by winning the Elite Model Look competition in Serbia in 2004. Career Modeling Dimitr ...

. Aldridge is a co-founder of "In the Corner Productions". He directed the comedy pilot ''Pet Shop Girls'' in late 2011, which he co-wrote and co-produced with actor-writers Luke Norris, Ed Hancock and Kirsty Woodward. In 2013, Aldridge starred in

Almeida Theatre The Almeida Theatre, opened in 1980, is a 325-seat producing house with an international reputation, which takes its name from the street on which it is located, off Upper Street, in the London Borough of Islington. The theatre produces a diver ...

's production of ''

American Psycho ''American Psycho'' is a novel by Bret Easton Ellis, published in 1991. The story is told in the first person by Patrick Bateman, a serial killer and Manhattan investment banker. Alison Kelly of ''The Observer'' notes that while "some countr ...

'' as Paul Owen, opposite

Matt Smith Matthew Robert Smith (born 28 October 1982) is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as the eleventh incarnation of the Doctor in the BBC series '' Doctor Who'' (2010–2013), Daemon Targaryen in the HBO series ''House of the Dr ...

, Susannah Fielding,

Jonathan Bailey Jonathan Stuart Bailey (born 25 April 1988) is an English actor. Known for his comedic, dramatic, and musical roles on stage and screen, he is the recipient of a Laurence Olivier Award and a nomination for a Evening Standard Theatre Award. Ba ...

, and

Lucie Jones Lucie Bethan Jones (born 20 March 1991) is a Welsh singer, musical theatre actress, and model. Jones first came to prominence while competing on series 6 of ''The X Factor UK'' in 2009, where she finished eighth. She represented the United Ki ...

. The musical thriller featured a book by

Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (born 1973) is an American playwright, screenwriter, and comic book writer best known for his work for Marvel Comics and for the television series '' Glee'', '' Big Love'', '' Riverdale'', '' Chilling Adventures of Sabrina' ...

based on

Bret Easton Ellis Bret Easton Ellis (born March 7, 1964) is an American author, screenwriter, short-story writer, and director. Ellis was first regarded as one of the so-called literary Brat Pack and is a self-proclaimed satirist whose trademark technique, as a ...

's cult novel, with music and lyrics by

Duncan Sheik Duncan Sheik (born November 18, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter and composer. Sheik is known for his 1996 debut single " Barely Breathing", which earned him a Grammy Award nomination for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. He has composed m ...

. In September 2014, he joined BBC's original drama series '' Our Girl'' as Captain Charles James. He left the role after the third series in 2018. In December 2014, Aldridge joined The CW's series ''

Reign A reign is the period of a person's or dynasty's occupation of the office of monarch of a nation (e.g., Saudi Arabia, Belgium, Andorra), of a people (e.g., the Franks, the Zulus) or of a spiritual community (e.g., Catholicism, Tibetan Buddhism ...

'' as King

Antoine of Navarre Antoine de Bourbon, roi de Navarre (22 April 1518 – 17 November 1562) was the King of Navarre through his marriage ('' jure uxoris'') to Queen Jeanne III, from 1555 until his death. He was the first monarch of the House of Bourbon, of which he ...

Personal life

Aldridge was raised as an

evangelical Christian Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual expe ...

. Both his parents and grandparents were raised in the Plymouth Brethren church, although his parents both left the denomination at age 18. Commenting on his current relationship with religion, Aldridge stated in a 2021 interview, "It feels very far away in some respects as there isn't a religious aspect to my life now." In 2020, Aldridge

came out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

as a member of the

LGBTQ+ ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is ...

community in a post on

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

on the occasion of

National Coming Out Day National Coming Out Day (NCOD) is an annual LGBT awareness day observed on October 11, to support lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people ( the LGBT community, sometimes also called the queer community) in " coming out of the closet". Fi ...

. In a 2021 interview with ''

Attitude Attitude may refer to: Philosophy and psychology * Attitude (psychology), an individual's predisposed state of mind regarding a value * Metaphysics of presence * Propositional attitude, a relational mental state connecting a person to a pro ...

'' magazine, he self-identified as

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

Filmography

Film

Television

Video game

Stage

References

External links

* 1985 births 21st-century English male actors Alumni of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art English male film actors English male television actors English male stage actors English gay actors Actors from Exeter English LGBT actors Living people Male actors from Devon National Youth Theatre members 20th-century LGBT people 21st-century LGBT people {{england-actor-stub