Ben graduated with a Diploma of Dance from the Australian Ballet School, studied acting at the Actors Centre London and trained his voice singing with various vocal coaches during his eight years working in Europe and the UK. He has danced with The Queensland Ballet and West Australian Ballet companies, and in Austria, performed for two seasons with the Vienna State Opera Ballet.
After rehearsing on Broadway with James Lapine, Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz, Ben made his musical theatre debut performing and recording their original production of Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame, which premiered in Berlin. Moving to Stuttgart, Ben performed in Roman Polanski’s cult musical Dance of the Vampires.
Soon after making his first appearance with The Phantom of the Opera, also in Stuttgart, he was cast in the hit musical Mamma Mia and went on to perform as soloist baritone touring throughout the Mediterranean with AIDA cruiselines. After recently touring to Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore with The Phantom of the Opera, Ben was delighted to return to Australia and believes that life is a gift.
His family lives in East Brisbane.
Favourite Phantom song: “Masquerade”. It brings out the strength of the full ensemble.
Brisbane audiences are: always great! Very enthusiastic.
Pre-performance anxiety – how I quell it: stretch and do a vocal warm up before the show.
Favourite shower song: “Ain’t that a Kick in the Head” (Sinatra).
Best place in Brisbane for a coffee…a picnic…a glass of vino with a view: Coffee – Regent Theatre, New Farm for a picnic, Powerhouse (Alto) for a vino overlooking the Brisbane River.
If I wasn’t acting/singing/dancing I’d be: doing something active – maybe building houses!
Morning or night person? Night.
Most embarrassing on-stage moment: saying my lines in German instead of English accidentally!
Complete this sentence: Taking risks is… how you find out!
