Ben Barnes

Ben Barnes is a 26-year-old Londoner, the son of a psychiatrist and a therapist. He was born on August 20, 1981 and has lived in the English capital ever since. His interest in acting goes back a long way, so his parents –aware of the instability of the trade– recommended that in addition to trying to earn a living as an actor, he should study a career. Ben was an obedient child and graduated from Kingston University, where he studied drama and English literature, specializing in the children’s field. This taste for children’s literature has also carried him since he was little, when Ben was a regular reader of all kinds of works related to young audiences. Thus, he was 8 years old when he read “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian”, a book that would change his life in the future. When he found out that he had been chosen to play Prince Caspian, Ben ran home, where he rummaged through the bookstore until he found the copy from his childhood. He fondly remembers that on the cover there was a sticker that read “I can’t stand being without my books.”

In addition to his literary knowledge of Narnia, Ben confesses that he was also a faithful fan of the series that the BBC made for television. So when he got the call that made him Prince Caspian, he was more than familiar with the story. Something that suited him very well, since he was the last to join the cast. Someone from the production company came to see him act in the theatrical production of “The History Boys”, where he was a troubled young man. And it is that the beginnings as an actor of Ben were on the tables, to which he was linked for years as a member of the National Youth Music Theater (1997-2003). A few days after being booked after the visit to the theater, Ben auditioned and a week later he had the role. Everything happened so quickly that he went from jumping for joy at his London home after learning he had been chosen to play Caspian, to riding a horse as part of the training necessary for filming that would begin in a few months. The training was so intensive “that I spent two months riding a horse,” he recalls. This time also served to prepare the future Caspian in the arts of war, as this new Narnia film is characterized by having many more action and battle scenes than the previous one.

Although at the moment it cannot be said that Ben is a famous actor, it is no less true that he is for part of the English public. This relative popularity is not linked to his facet as a theater actor, but to that of a musician. In 2004 he was one of the members of the Hyrise youth quartet, which appeared in a television contest whose winner would be the English representative in the Eurovision Song Contest. His group did not win, so he did not have the opportunity to emulate Massiel and company. This anecdotal moment in his career gave way to his television debut, thanks to a chapter in the English series Doctors (2006). His film premiere came withStardust (2007), another film full of adventure and fantasy. In this production she had a supporting role that led her to play the young version of the main character’s father, Tristan. His first lead came with Bigga Than Ben (2007), where he was a young delinquent. It was then that he received the call from Caspian, the heir to Narnia, that he must fight his uncle, the evil tyrant Miraz.

The tremendous success of the first installment of The Chronicles of Narnia bodes well for the future of Ben who, for the moment, has committed himself to reincarnating Caspian in the third part of the saga, The Voyage of the Traveler. Alba , which will be released in 2010. Before that distant date arrives, Ben will return to movie screens with Easy Virtue , a romantic comedy that he has just shot with Jessica Biel .

For the moment, Ben is still a normal guy, who has no manager and who drives his own car to interviews. The immediate future will tell if Prince Caspian will mean for him the closet door that will take him to a new world beyond the seas, where he will become the new king of Hollywood.