Benedict Samuel is an Australian actor, writer, and director best known for playing Jervis Tetch / Mad Hatter in the

Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

crime series '' Gotham'' and as Owen in '' The Walking Dead''.

Early life and education

Benedict Samuel was born in

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

. The youngest of three siblings, his brother is actor

Xavier Samuel Xavier Samuel (born 10 December 1983) is an Australian film and theatre actor. He has appeared in leading roles in the feature films '' Adore'', ''September'', ''Further We Search'', ''Newcastle'', '' The Loved Ones'', ''Frankenstein'', '' A Fe ...

and his sister is a stage manager.Gilbertson, Matt (30 July 2011) He planned to be an actor from an early age and was inspired by his brother's high school theatre performances. Benedict attended Christian Brothers College in Adelaide, and is a graduate of The National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA).

Career

In theatre, Samuel performed in ''Sex Wars'' during his time at NIDA. He also played a part in ''

'Tis Pity She's a Whore ''Tis Pity She's a Whore'' (original spelling: ''Tis Pitty Shee's a Who'' 'o'''re'') is a tragedy written by John Ford (dramatist), John Ford. It was first performed or between 1629 and 1633, by Queen Henrietta's Men at the Cockpit Theatre. ...

'' at the

Malthouse Theatre Malthouse Theatre is the resident theatre company of The Malthouse building in Southbank, part of the Melbourne Arts Precinct. In the 1980s it was known as the Playbox Theatre Company and was housed in the Playbox Theatre in Melbourne's CBD ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

. In 2011, Benedict appeared on several Australian television series, including the mini-series '' Paper Giants: The Birth of Cleo'' and the children's series '' My Place''. He is known for playing the role of Harman "Hammer" Pirovic on

Seven Network Seven Network (stylised 7Network, and commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is an Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, ...

soap opera ''

Home and Away ''Home and Away'' (''H&A'') is an Australian television soap opera. It was created by Alan Bateman and commenced broadcast on the Seven Network on 17 January 1988. Bateman came up with the concept of the show during a trip to Kangaroo Point, N ...

'', for which he appeared for several episodes until his character was killed off. Samuel made his directorial debut with the short film ''Sanctuary'' in 2012. In 2014, Samuel was cast in ''

Asthma Asthma is a common long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wh ...

'', the directorial debut from Jake Hoffman, alongside

Iggy Pop James Newell Osterberg Jr. (born April 21, 1947), known professionally as Iggy Pop, is an American singer, musician, songwriter, actor and radio broadcaster. He was the vocalist and lyricist of proto-punk band the Stooges, who were formed in 1 ...

Rene Ricard Rene Ricard (July 23, 1946 – February 1, 2014) was an American poet, actor, art critic, and painter. Life and career Albert Napoleon Ricard was born in Boston and grew up in Acushnet, Massachusetts, near New Bedford. As a young teenager he ran ...

, and

Krysten Ritter Krysten Alyce Ritter (born December 16, 1981) is an American actress. After an early modeling stint, she appeared on the UPN noir mystery series ''Veronica Mars'' (2005–2006) and the CW comedy drama series ''Gilmore Girls'' (2006–2007). He ...

. In 2015, Samuel played Skeet du Pont in the acclaimed ''

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

'' series '' The Beautiful Lie'', and Jacob Harding in the thriller film ''The Stanford Prison Experiment''. In one of his most recognisable performances, Samuel appeared as Owen, the leader of the Wolves gang, in the American post-apocalyptic zombie series '' The Walking Dead''. In 2016, Samuel was cast as famous

Batman Batman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on M ...

villain

The Mad Hatter The Hatter (called Hatta in ''Through the Looking-Glass'') is a fictional character in Lewis Carroll's 1865 book ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' and its 1871 sequel ''Through the Looking-Glass''. He is often referred to as The Mad Hatter ...

, the main antagonist of the third season of '' Gotham''. He continued to play the character in a recurring capacity during the fourth season, beginning to appear again with the episode "Ace Chemicals" of

Season 5 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

. '' Secret City'' is an Australian political thriller television series based on the best-selling novels ''The Marmalade Files'', ''The Mandarin Code'', and ''The Shadow Game'' by

Chris Uhlmann Christopher Gerald Uhlmann (born 24 June 1960) is a former security guard, Australian journalist and television presenter. Career Uhlmann was formerly a seminarian, a security guard, and a journalist with ''The Canberra Times'' before joining ...

and Steve Lewis. The show filmed in 2016 and Samuel plays Felix . In 2018, Samuel played monstrous character, Lewis, in Australian movie ''Pimped''.

Filmography

Film

Short film

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Samuel, Benedict Living people Australian screenwriters Australian directors National Institute of Dramatic Art alumni 1988 births 21st-century Australian male actors Australian male soap opera actors Male actors from Adelaide