People

Ben Whishaw

Acting · follow into films and chains

Biography

Benjamin John Whishaw (born 14 October 1980) is an English actor. He has received various accolades, including three British Academy Television Awards, two Emmy Awards, and a Golden Globe. Beginning his career in the 2000s, he played the title role in a 2004 production of the play Hamlet. Television roles followed this in Nathan Barley (2005), Criminal Justice (2008) and The Hour (2011–12); and film roles in Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006), I'm Not There (2007), Brideshead Revisited (2008), and Bright Star (2009). In 2012, Whishaw played the title role in a BBC Two adaptation of Richard II, for which he won the British Academy Television Award for Best Actor. The same year, he appeared as Q in the James Bond film Skyfall (2012), going on to reprise the role in Spectre (2015) and No Time to Die (2021). He has voiced Paddington Bear in several projects since Paddington (2014). His other film roles in the 2010s include Cloud Atlas (2012), The Lobster (2015), Suffragette (2015), The Danish Girl (2015), and Mary Poppins Returns (2018). Whishaw had a leading role in London Spy (2015). For his portrayal of Norman Scott in the miniseries A Very English Scandal (2018), he won a BAFTA, a Golden Globe Award and a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor. In 2020, he had a leading role in the fourth season of the black comedy drama Fargo. He has since starred in the BBC medical drama series This Is Going to Hurt (2022), the short film Good Boy (2023), and the Netflix spy thriller series Black Doves (2024).

Notable films

Where to start

Highlights from credits and KinoChain journeys.

No Time to Die

Appears in a KinoChain journey

Paddington 2

Appears in a KinoChain journey

Skyfall

As Q

Mary Poppins Returns

As Michael Banks

Cloud Atlas

As Cabin Boy / Robert Frobisher / Store Clerk / Georgette / Tribesman

The Lobster

As Limping Man

Spectre

As Q

Paddington

As Paddington (voice)

Chains

KinoChain journeys

Public chains that pass through their films — or name them as a bridge.

Browse all chains

Open Doors: Cinema That Sees Everyone

From a deaf drummer to a queer romance in space, these eight films expand who gets to be a hero, a lover, a survivor. A journey through inclusive storytelling t...

8 films

When Studios Marry: Films Born of Corporate Chaos

From the ashes of mergers and acquisitions come some of cinema's most fascinating experiments. This chain traces how boardroom decisions shaped the art on scree...

8 films

The Long Goodbye to the Small Screen

A journey through the films that turned television's intimate glow into cinema's grand spectacle, and back again.

6 films

Pure-Hearted Heroes

Sixty years after Batman '66 taught us that heroism can be bright, sincere, and utterly without irony, this chain celebrates films whose protagonists believe, s...

7 films

Growing Pains: Sequels That Leap Through Time

From a Parisian afternoon to a boxing ring, these sequels skip years ahead and find their characters changed, challenged, and achingly familiar. A journey throu...

6 films

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