Mckenzie benjamin
Ben McKenzie was born Benjamin McKenzie Schenkkan in Austin, Texas on
September 12, 1978, to Mary Frances (Victory), a poet, and Pieter Meade
Schenkkan, an attorney. His uncle is playwright
Robert Schenkkan. Ben is of Dutch
Jewish (from his paternal grandfather), English, and Scottish descent.
He attended Austin High School, and played wide receiver and defensive
back for the school's football team. From 1997-2001, he attended the
University of Virginia, where he majored in Foreign Affairs and
Economics.McKenzie got into acting during his first few years at the University of Virginia, where he appeared in "Measure for Measure" and "Zoo Story." After graduation he moved to New York and appeared off-Broadway in "Life is a Dream" at the SoHo Rep. Additionally, he performed in numerous productions at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, including "Street Scene" and "The Blue Bird." He relocated to Los Angeles in late 2001. His early TV appearances included roles on The District, JAG and Mad TV.
In 2003, FOX premiered the television series The O.C., about affluent teenagers with stormy personal lives who reside in scenic Orange County, California. The show became an overnight success and it put McKenzie on the map as Ryan Atwood.
While appearing in 'The O.C.', McKenzie made his feature film debut in 'Junebug' opposite Amy Adams. The film received high praise at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. He also appeared in a pivotal role in the 2007 film '88 Minutes', which starred Al Pacino. McKenzie's first starring role in a feature film was in the 2008 indie release 'Johnny Got His Gun.' The movie premiered at the Paramount Theater in Austin, TX, McKenzie's hometown, prior to playing art houses where it garnered excellent reviews for his solo performance.
April 9, 2009 NBC replaced the long-running series 'E.R.' after 15 years with a new cop drama, Southland, starring McKenzie as rookie police officer Ben Sherman.
McKenzie is playing Jim Gordon in the Batman-themed series Gotham (2014), beginning in September 2014.
mckenzie benjamin
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Ben McKenzie
The O.C. was the first time McKenzie played what The New York Times later described as the "quiet, guarded leading man" role he would repeatedly portray. As a result of the show's success, McKenzie appeared in magazines including People, In Touch Weekly and Us Weekly. He was ranked No. 5 in Independent Online's "100 Sexiest Men Alive" and twice appeared on Teen People magazine's annual list of "25 Sexiest Stars under 25". McKenzie was also voted one of InStyle's "10 Hottest Bachelors of Summer" in July 2005. The O.C. dropped in ratings dramatically during its third and fourth seasons, and ended in early 2007.
While appearing in The O.C., McKenzie made his feature film debut in Junebug alongside Amy Adams and Embeth Davidtz. The film was nominated for "Best International Film" and "Outstanding Ensemble Acting" in the Amanda Awards and won the Sarasota Film Festival award for "Outstanding Ensemble Acting". It also received high praise at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. According to Production Weekly, McKenzie was set to star in the thriller Snakes on a Plane, formerly known as Pacific Air 121, but later dropped out to film 88 Minutes, which starred Al Pacino.
In 2008, McKenzie earned critical acclaim for his solo performance in the "live on stage, on film" version of Dalton Trumbo's 1939 novel Johnny Got His Gun, his first starring role in a feature film. He stars as Joe Bonham, a role previously played by James Cagney, Jeff Daniels, and Timothy Bottoms.[16] The movie premiered at the Paramount Theater in Austin, McKenzie's hometown, while he was filming the pilot for Southland.
In 2009, he appeared in the short movie The Eight Percent. The movie won the Delta Air Lines Fly-in Movie Contest and entered as an official selection on the Tribeca Film Festival's Short film category.
McKenzie starred as rookie police officer Ben Sherman on the NBC drama Southland, which premiered on April 9, 2009. The show was canceled while in production on its second season. TNT bought the rights for the show and showed the seven episodes that had been produced. The show was subsequently renewed. However, the show was once again canceled after the fifth season.
In Fall 2010, he starred in an off-Broadway transfer of The Glass Menagerie at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles.
McKenzie returned to Fox in the Batman prequel television show Gotham, which premiered on September 22, 2014. In the series, he portrayed James Gordon as a young detective new to Gotham City. In the same series, he made his directorial debut with the season 3 episode "These Delicate and Dark Obsessions". McKenzie went on to direct "One of My Three Soups" and write "The Demon's Head" from the fourth season. He shot Live!, a real-time action thriller, in Birmingham, Alabama in early summer 2018, with the film slated for release in 2019.
On June 24, 2019 McKenzie, along with an ensemble cast, presented The Investigation: A Search for the Truth in Ten Acts, a dramatic reading of Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III's Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election. McKenzie portrayed President Donald Trump's former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, as well as the President's son and political advisor Donald Trump, Jr.
McKenzie made his Broadway debut on January 23, 2020 in the Second Stage production of Grand Horizons at the Hayes Theater. McKenzie stars as Ben, one of two sons struggling with their elderly parents' divorce. A limited-run production, the play began previews on December 23, 2019 and closed on March 1, 2020. In February 2022, it was announced that McKenzie would star in and produce Bloat, an internationally-produced J-horror film.
Personal Life
In September 2015, actress Morena Baccarin said in a legal declaration involving her divorce that she planned to marry her Gotham co-star, McKenzie, adding that she was pregnant with their child. Their daughter was born on March 2, 2016. Baccarin and McKenzie announced their engagement in November 2016. They were married on June 2, 2017 (Baccarin's 38th birthday) in Brooklyn, New York. They announced the birth of their son in March 2021.
Trivia
- He started being credited as Ben McKenzie in the second season of The O.C..
- His younger brother Zach Schenkkan appears as an extra in the fourth season.
- Ben uses his middle surname, McKenzie, as his surname stagename to avoid confusion with actor Ben Shenkman.
