Benjamin Charles Aldridge (born 12 November 1985) is an English actor. He is known for his portrayals of Captain James in the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

military drama ''

Our Girl ''Our Girl'' is a British television military drama series written and created by Tony Grounds broadcast on BBC One from 2013 until 2020. The series began with a feature-length television pilot first broadcast on 24 March 2013 starring Lacey T ...

'' (2014–2018), 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. The series was produced by Two Brothers Pictures for digi ...

'' (2016–2019), and

Thomas Wayne Dr. Thomas Wayne, Doctor of Medicine, M.D. is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He is the father of Bruce Wayne (Batman), and husband of Martha Wayne as well as the paternal grandfather of Damian Wayn ...

in the crime drama series '' Pennyworth'' (2019–2023). He has starred in feature films such as '' Spoiler Alert'' (2022) and ''

Knock at the Cabin ''Knock at the Cabin'' is a 2023 American apocalyptic psychological horror film written, directed and produced by M. Night Shyamalan, who wrote the screenplay from an initial draft by Steve Desmond and Michael Sherman. It is based on the 2018 ...

'' (2023), among other work.

Education

Having worked with the

National Youth Theatre The National Youth Theatre of Great Britain (NYT) is a youth theatre and charity in London, created with the aim of developing young people's artistic skills via theatrical productions and other creative endeavours. Founded in 1956 as the world ...

, 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. Founded in 1861, it is the oldest specialist drama school in the British Isles and a founding member of the Federation of Drama Schools. In ...

with a bursary from the Genesis Foundation for young actors.

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 nonprofit theatre on Lyric Square, off King Street, Hammersmith, London."About the Lyric" > "History" ''Lyric'' official website. Retrieved January 2024. Background The Lyric Theatre ...

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

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

'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 which also owned '' Broadcast''. The magazine is primarily aimed at those involv ...

'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 Radiohe ...

'', '' 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 channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

period drama '' Lark Rise to Candleford''. In 2011, the American network

The CW The CW Network, LLC (commonly referred to as The CW or simply CW) is an American commercial broadcast television network which is controlled by Nexstar Media Group through a 75% ownership interest. The network's name is derived from the firs ...

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

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

shooting the partially improvised romance short film ''In the Night'' for director Ivana Bobic and cinematographer Rain Li, alongside supermodel Danijela Dimitrovska. 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 is a 325-seat producing house located on Almeida Street off Upper Street in the London Borough of Islington. The theatre opened in 1980, and produces a diverse range of drama. Successful plays are often transferred to West E ...

's production of ''

American Psycho ''American Psycho'' is a black comedy horror novel by American writer Bret Easton Ellis, published in 1991. The story is told in the First-person narrative, first-person by Patrick Bateman, a wealthy, narcissistic, and vain Manhattan investmen ...

'' as Paul Owen, opposite

Matt Smith Matthew Robert Smith (born 28 October 1982) is an English actor. He is known for playing the Eleventh Doctor in the BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' (2010–2013), Prince Philip in Netflix's historical series ''The Crown ( ...

Susannah Fielding Susannah Glanville-Hearson,"Drama: High profile OB actors"

Jonathan Bailey Jonathan Stuart Bailey (born 25 April 1988) is an English actor known for his dramatic, comedic, and musical roles on List of Jonathan Bailey performances, stage and screen. List of awards and nominations received by Jonathan Bailey, His accola ...

, and Lucie Jones. 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'' (2011–2014), ''Big Love'' (2009–2011), '' Riverdale'' (2017– ...

based on

Bret Easton Ellis Bret Easton Ellis (born March 7, 1964) is an American author and screenwriter. Ellis was one of the literary Brat Pack (literary), Brat Pack and is a self-proclaimed satirist whose trademark technique as a writer is the expression of extreme acts ...

's cult novel, with music and lyrics by

Duncan Sheik Duncan Sheik (born November 18, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. 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 com ...

. In September 2014, he joined BBC's original drama series ''

'' as Captain 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., King of Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia, List of Belgian monarchs, Belgium, Co-princes of Andorra, Andorra), of a people (e.g., List of Frankish kin ...

'' as King

Antoine of Navarre Antoine (, , 22 April 1518 – 17 November 1562), sometimes called Antoine of Bourbon, was King of Navarre from 1555 until his death in 1562 as the husband and co-ruler of Queen Jeanne III. He was the first monarch of the House of Bourbon, of whi ...

. More recently, Aldridge has starred in ''

'' (2016–2019), '' Pennyworth'' (2019–2023), '' Spoiler Alert'' (2022) and ''

'' (2023).

Personal life

Aldridge was raised as an

evangelical Christian Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

. Both his parents and grandparents were raised in the

Plymouth Brethren The Plymouth Brethren or Assemblies of Brethren are a low church and Nonconformist (Protestantism), Nonconformist Christian movement whose history can be traced back to Dublin, Ireland, in the mid to late 1820s, where it originated from Anglica ...

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 publicly

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

as a member of the

LGBTQ+ LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The group i ...

community in a post on

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

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 anyone "coming out of the closet". First celebrated in the United States in 1988, the initial idea was grounded in the feminist and gay liberation s ...

. In a 2021 interview with ''

Attitude Attitude or Attitude may refer to: Philosophy and psychology * Attitude (psychology), a disposition or state of mind ** Attitude change * Propositional attitude, a mental state held towards a proposition Science and technology * Orientation ...

'' magazine, he said that he was

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 ...

and in a 2023 interview, again with ''Attitude'' who were honouring him in the ''Attitude'' 101 LGBTQ trailblazers, he commented that his recent leading gay roles had helped him explore his own identity: "I'm meeting myself much more in those characters in my work than I ever have done before in my twenties, playing straight characters. I am getting to know myself better through playing those characters."

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Stage

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Aldridge, Benjamin 1985 births 20th-century English LGBTQ people 21st-century English LGBTQ people 21st-century English male actors Alumni of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art English former Christians English gay actors English LGBTQ actors English male film actors English male stage actors English male television actors Former Plymouth Brethren Living people Male actors from Exeter National Youth Theatre members