Ben Aldridge

 ( 1985 Births ) 

Benjamin Charles Aldridge (born 12 November 1985) is an English actor. He is known for his portrayals of Captain James in the BBC military drama Our Girl (2014–2018), Arsehole Guy in the dramedy series Fleabag (2016–2019), and Thomas Wayne in the crime drama series Pennyworth (2019–2023). He has starred in feature films such as Spoiler Alert (2022) and Knock at the Cabin (2023), among other work.

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Education Having worked with the National Youth Theatre, Aldridge graduated from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art with a bursary from the Genesis Foundation for young actors.

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Career Aldridge's first professional acting role was in a play at Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith in 2004. In 2008, Aldridge made his television debut in Channel 4'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's "Stars of Tomorrow" list. In addition to First Light, Lewis, Toast and Vera, Aldridge also appeared as Daniel Parish in the BBC One period drama Lark Rise to Candleford. In 2011, the American network The CW cast Aldridge as the lead in the pilot Heavenly. Later on he spent time in Belgrade 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's production of American Psycho as Paul Owen, opposite Matt Smith, Susannah Fielding, Jonathan Bailey, and Lucie Jones. The musical thriller featured a book by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa based on Bret Easton Ellis's cult novel, with music and lyrics by Duncan Sheik. In September 2014, he joined BBC's original drama series Our Girl as Captain James. He left the role after the third series in 2018. In December 2014, Aldridge joined The CW's series Reign as King Antoine of Navarre.

More recently, Aldridge has starred in Fleabag (2016–2019), Pennyworth (2019–2023), Spoiler Alert (2022) and Knock at the Cabin (2023).

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Personal life Aldridge was raised as an evangelicalism. Both his parents and grandparents were raised in the Plymouth Brethren 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 as a member of the LGBT community in a post on Instagram on the occasion of National Coming Out Day. In a 2021 interview with Attitude magazine, he said that he was gay 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."

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Filmography

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Film

2013	In the Night	Alex	Short film
		Mike Moffat
2014	Synchronicity	Fred	Short film
2018	The Titan	Lawrence
	Paris Song	George Gershwin	Main role
2019	Thrive	Alex	Short film
2022	Spoiler Alert	Kit Cowan
2023	Knock at the Cabin	Andrew

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Television

2008		Harry Fanshawe	Miniseries; episode 1
	Compulsion	Alex	Television film
2009	Lewis	Daniel Rattenbury	Episode: "The Point of Vanishing"
2010	First Light	Brian Kingcome	Television film
	Toast	Stuart	Television film
2010–2011	Lark Rise to Candleford	Daniel Parish	Starring role; 16 episodes
2011	Heavenly	Dashiel Coffee	Television film
2012		Joe Hazelhurst	Television film
	Vera	Ollie/Alex Barton	Episode: "Sandancers"
2013	Pramface	Marcus	Episode: "If You Cry, I'll Cry"
		Luke	Miniseries; episode: "Courage"
2014–2018	Our Girl	Captain James	Main role
2014–2015	Reign	Antoine of Navarre	7 episodes
2015	DeTour	Michael Sturges	Unaired Television Pilot
2016	Stan Lee's Lucky Man	DS Ben Grady	2 episodes
2016, 2019	Fleabag	Arsehole Guy	Recurring role; 6 episodes
2019–2022	Pennyworth	Thomas Wayne	Main role
2021	The Long Call	DI Matthew Venn	Main role
2024		Jeremy Karne	Voice; Episode: "Prison Break, Hell Yeah!"

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Video games

2012		Saïd (voice)
2022		(voice)

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Stage

2004		Pinstripe / Doctor	Lyric Hammersmith
2005	Antigone at Hell's Mouth	Rothenkopf	Kneehigh Theatre
2006	Fish and Company	Tom	Soho Theatre
	Shelf Life	Dan	Old Red Lion
2009	Romeo and Juliet	Benvolio	Shakespeare's Globe
2013		Brian Hutchins	Menier Chocolate Factory
	American Psycho	Paul Owen	Almeida Theatre
2017	Run The Beast Down	Titus Halder	The Marlowe Theatre

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Awards and nominations

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External links

Categories: 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

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