Ben Whishaw's Real Name: Ben Whishaw

Quick answer: The actor is known professionally as Ben Whishaw. Biography.com gives the name Ben John Whishaw and dates the birth to October 14, 1980, in Clifton, Bedfordshire. The Golden Globes independently give the name Benjamin "Ben" Whishaw and date the birth to October 14, 1980, in Clifton, England.

Real name and early life

Independent publishers identify him under the professional name Ben Whishaw. Biography.com gives the name Ben John Whishaw and dates the birth to October 14, 1980, in Clifton, Bedfordshire. The Golden Globes independently give the name Benjamin "Ben" Whishaw and date the birth to October 14, 1980, in Clifton, England. Biography.com says he began performing on stage in the late 1990s as a member of the Bancroft Youth Theatre, later known as the Big Spirit Youth Theatre, and later received critical acclaim for a production of If This Is a Man and for playing the lead in a 2004 production of Hamlet.

Career highlights

Biography.com says he later appeared as Keith Richards in the 2005 film Stoned, starred on the television series The Hour, and went on to play Q in the James Bond films Skyfall (2012), Spectre (2015), and No Time to Die (2021). It also records later voice work as Paddington Brown in Paddington (2014), Paddington 2 (2017), and The Adventures of Paddington (2019), and later work opposite Hugh Grant in the BBC limited series A Very English Scandal in May 2018. The Golden Globes independently record that he played Q in Skyfall, Spectre, and No Time to Die, and that he acted with Hugh Grant in A Very English Scandal (2018). The official Golden Globes awards record lists a 2019 win for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television, for A Very English Scandal. The Golden Globes also list later film work including Bright Star (2009), Cloud Atlas (2012), The Lobster (2015), Suffragette (2015), The Danish Girl (2015), Mary Poppins Returns (2018), and Women Talking (2022), and later television work including Fargo (2020) and This Is Going to Hurt (2022).

Name notes for searchers

People looking up Ben Whishaw, Ben John Whishaw, or Benjamin Whishaw are looking for the same actor, including the later Bond and Paddington work most often associated with his name. Search traffic often uses the professional name Ben Whishaw.