Ben Barnes Biography: In His Own Words – Exclusive Video, News, Photos, Age

by Paulina ProsnitzJanuary 17, 2022, 5:16 pmDaily Digest, News, News Feed, U Bio >

Ben Barnes is an English actor and singer. He is best known for his roles in the The Chronicles of Narnia film series and the television shows Westworld, The Punisher and Shadow and Bone.

BEN BARNES BIOGRAPHY: AGE, EARLY LIFE, FAMILY, EDUCATION

Ben Barnes was born on August 20, 1981 (Ben Barnes age: 41) in London. His mother, Patricia Becker, was a relationship psychotherapist, and his father, Thomas Barnes, was a psychiatrist and professor. He has one sibling, a younger brother named Jack Barnes.

Barnes attended Homefield Preparatory School in Sutton and King’s College School in Wimbledon. He joined the National Youth Music Theatre at age 16, giving his first performance in the West End musical adaptation of Bugsy Malone.

Barnes later attended Kingston University, where he studied literature and drama and appeared and directed in several productions, including Don Juan and The Golden Age. Barnes succeeded academically at Kingston, winning the English Prize and becoming the university’s first drama student to achieve First Class Honours. During his university years, he briefly explored the music industry by joining the boyband Hyrise.

BEN BARNES BIOGRAPHY: CAREER IN TELEVISION & MOVIES

Barnes made his television debut in 2006 with minor parts in Doctors and Split Decision. He made his feature film debut in 2007 with the role of young Dunstan Thorn in Stardust, an adaptation of Neil Gaiman‘s novel of the same name.

His first major breakthrough occurred in 2008 when he was cast as Prince Caspian in The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, beating out Andrew Garfield for the role. His performance earned him nominations from the National Movie Awards, Teen Choice Awards, and the MTV Movie Awards. Later that year, Barnes starred in the romantic comedy Easy Virtue alongside Jessica Biel and Colin Firth. He sang three of the songs included in the film’s score.

In 2009, Barnes played the title character in the film Dorian Gray, an adaptation of Oscar Wilde‘s novel.

In 2010, Barnes returned to his role of Prince Caspian in the third installment of The Chronicles of Narnia series, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

Barnes joined a star-studded cast for the production of The Big Wedding in 2013, acting alongside Robin Williams, Robert De Niro, Diane Keaton, Susan Sarandon, Katherine Heigl, and Amanda Seyfried. He returned to the fantasy genre in 2014 with the role of Tom Ward in The Seventh Son. The film, also starring Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore, is based off Joseph Delaney’s novel The Spook’s Apprentice. The actor worked again with Heigl in the romantic drama Jackie & Ryan, released in 2015.

In 2016, Barnes began one of his most well-known roles – Logan Delos in HBO’s Westworld. Barnes stayed on the show for two seasons. In 2017, the cast received a nomination for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series at the Screen Actors Guild Awards.

In 2017, Barnes portrayed Billy Russo in the first season of the Marvel Netflix series The Punisher. The show ran for two seasons before being cancelled in 2019.

In 2021, Barnes starred as General Kirigan in the first season of Netflix’s fantasy series Shadow and Bone, based on the novel of the same name by Leigh Bardugo.

On October 11, 2021, Barnes released his debut EP Songs for You.

BEN BARNES BIOGRAPHY: PERSONAL LIFE

On October 29, 2021, Barnes spoke exclusively with uInterview about his debut album.

Barnes described having some difficulty at age 18 trying to decide what his sound was. The actor/singer noted that throughout his film career he’s played “Americana folk singers and stadium rock 80s… idiot rock stars who don’t know whether they want to do stadium rock or kind of new romantics kind of vibe or what.” Barnes noted, however, “It was never me, it was never my voice, my messaging, my influences, and I think it just took this long to know that.”

Barnes also discussed how the pandemic forced him to “reprioritize” music, and put his songs out there. “If not now, when?”, he said.

One of the stand-out songs on the artist’s EP is “11:11”. The song’s music video stars Barnes’ Westworld co-star Evan Rachel Wood and is directed by Shadow and Bone director Lee Krieger.

“I drove to her house with a trumpet and said, ‘Can you please learn this one bar? It’s very important’,” explained Barnes. “And she was so game and so brilliant…and she did it in one day, which is nuts. I’m really, really proud of it.”

Barnes also discussed the balancing of his music and acting careers going forward. He explained, “I see [acting and songwriting] as part of the same thing… It’s performance, it’s storytelling, so those are the same thing. They kind of go hand in hand as far as I’m concerned.”

Barnes is currently in a relationship with Dancing With the Stars champion Julianne Hough. The exact date when they started dating is unknown, but pictures of the two surfaced shortly after Hough’s divorce in 2020. Barnes’ previous public relationships were with Felicity Jones in 2014 and Tamsin Egerton in 2009.