Ben Shenkman - Biography

Benjamin Shenkman (born September 26, 1968) is an American television, film and stage actor.

Life and career

Shenkman was born in New York City and raised in what he described as "the secular Eastern European Jewish tradition". He graduated from Brown University, and obtained a Masters of Fine Arts in 1993 from New York University. He began his professional acting career with a small role in the 1994 film Quiz Show directed by Robert Redford and a guest-starring role on Law & Order, his first of seven appearances throughout the run of the show. He also began working in theatre, portraying Louis Ironson in Tony Kushner's play "Angels in America" at San Francisco's American Conservatory Theatre. The production wasn't the first or last time Shenkman took part in this award-winning piece: while still at New York University, Shenkman played the role of Roy Cohn in a workshop production of the play, and he would reprise the role of Louis eight years later in the HBO miniseries adaptation, earning Emmy and Golden Globe nominations. Throughout the 1990s Shenkman combined work in Off-Broadway productions in NY with small roles in films such as Eraser (1996), The Siege (1998), π (1998), and Jesus' Son (1999), Chasing Sleep (2000), and Requiem for a Dream (2000).

In 2000 Shenkman gained success in the theatre, co-starring with Mary-Louise Parker in the Manhattan Theatre Club production of Proof, for which he received a 2001 Tony nomination. After the release of HBO's Angels in America (TV miniseries) he returned to Manhattan Theatre club in 2004 in Sight Unseen opposite Laura Linney.

As his career continued Shenkman moved between studio films such as Must Love Dogs (2005) and Just Like Heaven (2005), and indies like Then She Found Me (2008), "Brief Interviews With Hideous Men" (2008), and Breakfast with Scot (2008) a gay-themed film made in Canada for which the NHL notably endorsed the use of a team's logo and uniforms. 2010 saw him with Michael Douglas in Solitary Man and the Sundance premiere Blue Valentine.

He also kept busy in TV, as a series regular in the 2008 Julianna Margulies legal drama Canterbury's Law on Fox, and in recurring roles on Grey's Anatomy, Burn Notice, Damages, Drop Dead Diva and FX's Lights Out.

Shenkman co-starred in the short-lived NBC sitcom The Paul Reiser Show, which was a midseason replacement for the 2010-11 television season.

Filmography

External links

• Interview with Ben Shenkman by Beth Stevens on Broadway.com