Benjamin B. Busch is an American

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), l ...

, writer, film maker, photographer, and

United States Marine Corps Reserve The Marine Forces Reserve (MARFORRES or MFR), also known as the United States Marine Corps Reserve (USMCR) and the U.S. Marine Corps Forces Reserve, is the reserve force of the United States Marine Corps. It is the largest command, by assigned p ...

officer. He is best known for his portrayal of Anthony Colicchio on the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

original series ''

The Wire ''The Wire'' is an American crime drama television series created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon. The series was broadcast by the cable network HBO in the United States. ''The Wire'' premiered on June 2, ...

''.

Biography

Benjamin Busch was born in December 1968 in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...

and grew up in Poolville, New York. He attended

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely fol ...

from 1987 through 1991. Busch graduated with a major in Studio Art and joined the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through ...

, where he served as an active duty officer from 1992 to 1996. Resigning from active duty service in 1996, he continued to serve in the

Marine Forces Reserve The Marine Forces Reserve (MARFORRES or MFR), also known as the United States Marine Corps Reserve (USMCR) and the U.S. Marine Corps Forces Reserve, is the reserve force of the United States Marine Corps. It is the largest command, by assigned p ...

. In 1997 he began a career in acting, appearing in ''

Party of Five ''Party of Five'' is an American television teen and family drama created by Christopher Keyser and Amy Lippman that originally aired on Fox for six seasons from September 12, 1994, to May 3, 2000. The series featured an ensemble cast led by ...

'', '' Homicide: Life on the Street'', and ''

The West Wing ''The West Wing'' is an American serial (radio and television), serial political drama television series created by Aaron Sorkin that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1999, to May 14, 2006. The series is set primarily in the ...

''. He deployed to Iraq in 2003, where he served two tours of duty with the

4th Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion 4th Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion (4th LARB) is a fast and mobilized armored terrestrial reconnaissance battalion of the United States Marine Corps reserve. Their primary weapon system is the LAV-25 and they are part of the 4th Marine D ...

. After his first deployment in 2004, he began playing the role of Officer Anthony Colicchio on the

series ''

'', appearing in the final three seasons of the show. In 2005, he deployed to Ramadi, Iraq as Team Leader for Detachment 3 of the 5th Civil Affairs Group. He later played the role of Major Todd Eckloff on the HBO mini-series ''

Generation Kill ''Generation Kill'' is a 2004 book written by ''Rolling Stone'' journalist Evan Wright chronicling his experience as an embedded reporter with the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion of the United States Marine Corps, during the 2003 invasion of Ira ...

''. His first film as a writer/director, "Sympathetic Details", was released in February 2008. His latest release, "Bright", was featured at the 2011

Traverse City Film Festival The Traverse City Film Festival is an annual film festival held at the end of July in Traverse City, Michigan. The festival was created as an annual event in 2005 to help “save one of America's few indigenous art forms—the cinema". The event ...

. In March 2022, Busch appeared in a CNN report from Ukraine entitle
"American veterans train Ukrainian volunteers in combat."

Photography

Busch took photographs of his experiences in Iraq during his two tours of duty, which formed the basis for his exhibits of photographs, "The Art in War" (2003) and "Occupation" (2005). "Abstract Matter", his final exhibit of images from Iraq, was released in 2008.

Personal

He is the son of author and novelist

Frederick Busch Frederick Busch (August 1, 1941 – February 23, 2006) was an American writer, and the author of nearly 30 books including volumes of short stories and novels. Early life Frederick Matthew Busch was born in Brooklyn, New York on August 01, 194 ...

and grew up in upstate New York.

Memoir

In March 2012, Busch followed in his father's literary footsteps, publishing a memoir primarily about his wartime experiences, winning early critical acclaim. A review in the New York Journal of Books stated: "No other writer has moved me as much as Benjamin Busch has in writing about war. No other writer has created such a moment of grace . . . ''Dust to Dust'' is a work of extraordinary merit. I’ve found no better book of any genre, by any author, so far this year, and likely will not in the months ahead."

Bibliography

Articles

Books

References

External links

*
Busch participates in panel discussion, ''Standing Down: From Warrior to Civilian''
at the

Pritzker Military Museum & Library The Pritzker Military Museum & Library (formerly Pritzker Military Library) is a non-profit museum and a research library for the study of military history on Michigan Avenue (Chicago), Michigan Avenue in Chicago, Illinois. The institution was fo ...

on December 4, 2013 {{DEFAULTSORT:Busch, Benjamin 1968 births United States Marine Corps personnel of the Iraq War Male actors from New York City United States Marine Corps officers United States Marine Corps reservists Vassar College alumni Living people 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors