Benjamin Mackenzie first made himself known to the whole world, starring in "Lonely Hearts." The youth series was released in the two thousand and third year on the Fox channel. In this long television story, the actor embodied in Ryan Atwood, a guy from poor neighborhoods who ended up in the elite Orange County. The brilliantly played role overnight made Benjamin Mackenzie famous. The actor was twice nominated (in 2004 and 2005) for the prestigious Teen Choice Awards, fighting for the title of best actor in a drama series. Mackenzie is also known to the Russian audience for his roles in the films "Gotham" and "Southland." Popularity goes hand in hand with the desire of fans of the actor’s creativity to penetrate his personal life. Well, let us open the veil of secrecy. In this article we will tell not only about the biography of Benjamin Mackenzie, his creative path. We will also try to illuminate his heart affairs.
Actor's family
Benjamin Mackenzie was released in Austin, Texas, on September 12, 1978. It should immediately be said that the real name of the actor is Shenkan. Benjamin's parents were wealthy, but far from the world of cinema. His father, Peter Mead Shenkan, was a lawyer who rose to the rank of district attorney. His mother, Mary Francis Victory, in addition to working as an editor and newspaper reporter, taught a course at the university and wrote poetry. She was a recognized poetess and even won the A. Steiner Barlson Prize for her works. But the actor’s genes were still present in Benjamin’s DNA. His uncle, Robert Shenkan, is a distinguished screenwriter who won the Pulitzer Prize. His second cousin is actress Sarah Drew. And paternal grandparents also played on the stage in their youth. But his father insisted that Ben and his two other sons, Zach and Nate, follow in his footsteps and become lawyers.
Education
At Austin High School, Benjamin Mackenzie was fond of sports and was a member of the football team. The daughters of former US President Bush studied at the same institution. But Barbara and Jenna are a year younger than the future actor. Having received a matriculation certificate in 1997, he, at the request of his parents, entered the University of Virginia, the same one where his father and grandfather were educated. Ben graduated from the Faculty of International Relations. Even in the first years of the university, acting genes made themselves felt, and the young man took part in student theater plays with pleasure. Having received a bachelor's degree in international economics, Ben already knew that a legal career was not for him. In 2001, he went to New York - a city of great opportunities. In order to have money for life, Ben works as a waiter, and in order to realize himself as a person, he plays in the theater. He played in the play "Life is a Dream", as well as in a dozen other productions in the framework of the Williamstown festival ("Blue Bird", "Street Scene" and others). By the way, the vein of acting manifested itself in Ben's older brother, Nate. He graduated from Yale, but now works in one of the theaters on Broadway. The youngest of the brothers, Zach, is still studying at Pomona College, near Los Angeles.
Carier start
Having behind him the experience of participating in theatrical productions, the actor decided to try himself in the cinema. As usual, the first step was television. He starred in the television series East Park (District of Columbia), Military Legal Service and Crazy Television. His success awaited him after working in the youth epic Lonely Hearts, which was shot from 2003 to 2007. The acting guild already listed one Ben Shenkan. Therefore, the young man was forced to choose another stage name - Benjamin Mackenzie. The actor moves from New York to Los Angeles and makes his way to the big movie. He made his debut in the movie “June Beetle” (2005), where he played Johnny Johnsten. Since then, invitations to the set began to pour on the actor with enviable regularity.
Benjamin Mackenzie: filmography
In 2007, the actor was lucky to play in tandem with Al Pacino in the action-packed thriller “Eighty-Eight Minutes” (the role of Mike Stemp). For this work, he was nominated for the cup of the Sarasotsk Film Festival. The star of Benjamin Mackenzie entered the zenith in 2008, when he reincarnated as Joe Bonham in the movie "Johnny took the gun." This solo performance brought the actor the praise of film critics. From 2009 to 2013, Mackenzie worked in the team of the series Southland, where he brilliantly played Ben Sherman, a patrol officer. In 2011, cartoon character Bruce Wayne spoke in his voice in Batman: Year One. In 2013, Mackenzie starred in two films at once: “Transcript of Annie Praker” (the role of Tom) and “Farewell to the world” (Nick Randworth). And when in February 2014 they began to recruit a team in the television series "Gotham", there was not even a question of who would be taken on the role of fair investigator James Gordon.
Benjamin Mackenzie: personal life
The actor brilliantly reincarnated as a genius detective. According to the script, the hero Mackenzie James Gordon is gradually getting closer to his work colleague, forensic expert Leslie Tompkins. Female fans held their breath: are cinema passions a reflection of a real romance between the actors? Mackenzie had a relationship in the past that promised to marry, with Misha Barton. The girl at that time was eighteen, and the actor - 26. The difference in age, alas, affected life guidelines and values. Young people soon parted.
In 2005, a handsome man with a height of 1.75 meters was recognized by the rating of InStyle magazine as one of the ten most coveted bachelors. And he remained so until in September 2015 the cinema world stirred the news: actress Morena Bakkarin is pregnant from Mackenzie. It should be said that this beauty already has a child from her first marriage with director Austin Chick. This is the son Julius, who was born in 2013. However, Benjamin Mackenzie and his wife Morena are happy. The pair also contains a pit bull named Oscar.
