Paul G. Bens Jr. is an American writer and former

independent film An independent film, independent movie, indie film, or indie movie is a feature film or short film that is produced outside the major film studio system, in addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies (or, i ...

and television casting director. __TOC__

Early life and education

Bens was born in 1964, in

Fort Mitchell, Kentucky Fort Mitchell is a home rule-class city in Kenton County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 8,702 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Cincinnati metropolitan area. History Fort Mitchell was the site of one of seven Civil War forti ...

,IMdb
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Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state lin ...

, Ohio area. Bens is the youngest of four children and the only boy born to Paul and Judith Bens. His early education was at the college preparatory

Covington Latin School Covington Latin School is a co-educational Catholic college-preparatory high school in Covington, Kentucky, USA, offering a classical education. Since its inception in 1923, the school has operated under the Diocese of Covington; it is located ne ...

and he graduated from

Thomas More College This is a list of legal and educational institutions named Thomas More. Legal institutions *Thomas More Building at the Royal Courts of Justice in The Strand, London ** Thomas More Courts, courts of the Chancery Division of the High Court of Ju ...

Crestview Hills, Kentucky Crestview Hills is a home rule-class city in Kenton County, Kentucky, in the United States. The population was 3,148 at the 2010 census. Crestview Hills is located in Northern KY. Interstate 275 travels through the city.Interstate 71/75 lies c ...

, with a degree in

Theater Arts Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

. He relocated to Los Angeles in 1986.

Career

Bens' early career was a casting assistant on low-budget feature films such as '' Martians Go Home'' and '' Trip to Spirit Island''. Later, he moved into the position of casting associate on the television series ''

Night Court ''Night Court'' is an American television sitcom that aired on NBC from January 4, 1984 to May 31, 1992. The setting was the night shift of a Manhattan municipal court presided over by a young, unorthodox judge, Harold "Harry" T. Stone (portra ...

'', ''

Nurses Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health ca ...

'', and ''

Stand by Your Man "Stand by Your Man" is a song recorded by American country music artist Tammy Wynette, co-written by Wynette and Billy Sherrill. It was released on September 20, 1968, as the first single and title track from the album '' Stand by Your Man''. It ...

''. As a casting director, Bens and his partner Pat Melton contributed to 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 (or ''brush''). Twelv ...

series ''

Likely Suspects ''Likely Suspects'' is an American crime drama that aired from September 11, 1992 to January 14, 1993. Premise The show was an interactive crime drama where the viewer was treated as a rookie partner. Cast *Sam McMurray Sam, SAM or variants may ...

'' and ''

Ned & Stacey ''Ned & Stacey'' (or ''Ned and Stacey'') is an American sitcom created by Michael J. Weithorn, and starring Thomas Haden Church and Debra Messing as the titular couple. The series lasted two seasons, airing on Fox from September 11, 1995, to Jan ...

'', as well as the series ''

Malcolm & Eddie ''Malcolm & Eddie'' is an American sitcom that premiered August 26, 1996, on UPN, and ran for four seasons, airing its final episode on May 22, 2000. This series starred Malcolm-Jamal Warner and Eddie Griffin in the lead roles. The program was ...

'' on

UPN The United Paramount Network (UPN) was an American broadcast television network that launched on January 16, 1995. It was originally owned by Chris-Craft Industries' United Television. Viacom (through its Paramount Television unit, which pr ...

. His last casting position was for the FOX network's ''

Murder in Small Town X ''Murder in Small Town X'' (sometimes abbreviated MiSTX) is an American reality television series created by George Verschoor, Robert Fisher Jr., and Gordon Cassidy and was hosted by Sgt. Gary Fredo, a California Police Investigator, that aired ...

'', for which he was responsible for the casting of actors in the fictional

murder mystery Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professional detective, of a crime, ...

reality show. He served as producer for the film ''

hundred percent 100 or one hundred (Roman numerals, Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 (number), 99 and preceding 101 (number), 101. In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five 20 (number), score in order to different ...

'', a feature film with an Asian American cast which featured

Garrett Wang Garrett Richard Wang () (; born December 15, 1968) is an American actor. Wang is known for his role in '' Star Trek: Voyager'' as Ensign Harry Kim. Early life Wang was born in Riverside, California, to Taiwanese immigrant parents. He has one s ...

from '' Star Trek: Voyager'',

Tamlyn Tomita Tamlyn Naomi Tomita (born January 27, 1966) is a Japanese-American actress and singer. She made her screen debut as Kumiko in ''The Karate Kid Part II'' (1986) and reprised the character for the streaming series ''Cobra Kai'' (2021). She is also ...

Dustin Nguyen Dustin may refer to: Places in the United States * Dustin, Nebraska * Dustin Township, Holt County, Nebraska * Dustin, Oklahoma Dustin is a town in Hughes County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 395 at the 2010 census, down from 45 ...

from ''

21 Jump Street ''21 Jump Street'' is an American police procedural television series that aired on the Fox network and in first run syndication from April 12, 1987, to April 27, 1991, with a total of 103 episodes. The series focuses on a squad of youthful-lo ...

'' and

Keiko Agena Christine Keiko Agena (born October 3, 1973) is an American actress. She is mostly known for playing Lane Kim in ''Gilmore Girls'' and NYPD medical examiner Dr. Edrisa Tanaka on FOX's crime drama ''Prodigal Son'' (2019–2021). Personal life Age ...

from ''

Gilmore Girls ''Gilmore Girls'' is an American comedy-drama television series created by Amy Sherman-Palladino and starring Lauren Graham ( Lorelai Gilmore) and Alexis Bledel ( Rory Gilmore). The show debuted on October 5, 2000, on The WB and became a flag ...

''. An

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

author, Bens' first foray into writing came as co-author of ''Next! And Actor's Guide to Auditioning'', a how-to guide for aspiring actors published in 1997 and co-authored by

Ellie Kanner Ellie Kanner, sometimes credited as Ellie Kanner-Zuckerman, is an American film and television director and former casting director. Career Kanner grew up in Bloomfield, Connecticut. From a young age, she wanted to move to Los Angeles and purs ...

, casting director of the television series '' Friends''. Bens ventured into fiction writing shortly thereafter and his short works have been published in '' Cemetery Dance, Chick Flicks, HeavyGlow, Twisted Tongue, Velvet Mafia: Dangerous Queer Fiction'', ''Outsider Ink'' and ''Dark Discoveries''. He also has contributed to Dark Scribe Magazine's Roundtable discussions, moderating an in-depth interview with five leading voices in Queer Horror fiction. Although Bens' fiction tends to examine the darker side of man, he has also contributed to the gay erotica / gay romance genres with his Hawaiiana-based novella ''Mahape a ale Wala'au'' and short story ''Me Ka Hau'oli Makahiki Hou.'' His first novel ''Kelland'' was published by Casperian Books on September 1, 2009, and has drawn largely favorable reviews with the author's style being compared to

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, science-fiction, and fantasy novels. Described as the "King of Horror", a play on his surname and a reference to his high ...

Michael Cunningham Michael Cunningham (born November 6, 1952) is an American novelist and screenwriter. He is best known for his 1998 novel '' The Hours'', which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the PEN/Faulkner Award in 1999. Cunningham is a senior lectur ...

and the better films of

M. Night Shyamalan Manoj Nelliyattu M. Night Shyamalan ( ; born August 6, 1970) is an Indian-American filmmaker and actor. He is best known for making original films with contemporary supernatural plots and twist endings. He was born in Mahé, India, and raise ...

Bibliography

*1997: ''Next! An Actor's Guide to Auditioning'' (non-fiction, co-author) *2001: ''For the Love of God'' (short story) *2001: ''First Kiss'' (short story) *2002: ''Dwellings'' (short story) *2004: ''Toe Tag'' (short story) *2005: ''The Other White Meat'' (short story) *2006: ''The Perfect Date'' (short story) *2006: ''The Fifties'' (short story) *2006: ''Kama'' (short story) *2006: ''You're Gonna Love This'' (flash fiction) *2006: ''Dehiscent'' (flash fiction) *2007: ''That Lovely Land of Might-Have-Been'' (short story) *2007: ''Inside Out'' (flash fiction) *2008: ''Mahape a ale Wala'au'' (erotic novelette) *2009: ''Me Ka Hau'oli Makahiki Hou'' (short story) *2009: ''Kelland: A Novel'' *2010: ''The Beheld'' (short story) *2010: ''Ka Heleui Hope'' (short story) *2010: ''Talk Story: Three Tales of Hawai'i'' (collection) *2010: ''The Fear of Gay Men: A Roundtable Discussion on the New Queer Horror'' (non-fiction) *2012: ''If You Love Me'' (short story) in the anthology ''The Devil's Coattails: More Dispatches from the Dark Frontier'' edited by

William F. Nolan William Francis Nolan (March 6, 1928 – July 15, 2021) was an American author who wrote hundreds of stories in the science fiction, fantasy, horror, and crime fiction genres.Jason V. Brock, "Finding Sanctuary: Running from the Zone to Logan" i ...

and

Jason V Brock Jason Vincent Brock (born March 1, 1970) is an American author, artist, editor and filmmaker. He is the CEO and co-founder (with his wife, Sunni) of JaSunni Productions, LLC, whose documentary films include ''Charles Beaumont: The Short Life of ...

*2012: '' amel3ssMagazine'' (contributor) *2012: ''Dark Side of the Moon: The Quiet Horror of Space: 1999'' (non-fiction, amel3ssMagazine) *2016: ''Discoveries: Best of Horror and Dark Fantasy'', (anthology reprint of ''The Beheld''), Dark Regions Press *2016: "Da Manapua Man" (short story)

Awards

Black Quill Award 2010: Best Small Press Chill (Editors' Choice) for the novel ''Kelland''

References

External links

Author's Official Site

Who is Kelland?
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bens, Paul G. Jr. American male bloggers American bloggers American gay writers 21st-century American novelists 1964 births Living people Thomas More University alumni American LGBT novelists LGBT people from Kentucky American male novelists 21st-century American male writers