Ben Barnes

BEN BARNES had his first Hollywood motion picture starring role as the title character of C.S. Lewis' second adventure in the land of Narnia. In the third installment, Caspian has been anointed King.

Barnes began his career on the English stage. The young U.K. native studied drama at Kingston University and was a member of the National Youth Music Theatre, where he debuted in “The Ballad of Salomon Pavey” at age 15. His other credits with NYMT include “The Ragged Child,” “Bugsy Malone” at the Queen's Theatre, “The Dreaming,” and “Andrew Lloyd Webber's 50th Birthday” at London's famed Royal Albert Hall.

Prior to creating the role of Caspian, Barnes won rave reviews for his work as the charming, manipulative predator, Dakin, in Alan Bennett's award-winning play, “The History Boys,” at London's Wyndham's Theatre. Other British stage work includes “Sex, Chips & Rock n' Roll” at the Royal Exchange in Manchester, “Loving Ophelia” at the Pleasance Theatre, the “Judi Dench & Friends” gala at the Kingston Rose Theatre, as well as workshop productions of “Blag” and “Talking to Mr. Warner” at the Chocolate Factory.

Barnes starred as the lead character of Cobbakka, a Russian delinquent who runs riot in London, in the independent feature “Bigga Than Ben,” then had a featured role in director Matthew Vaughn's big screen fantasy, “Stardust.”

Following his work in the second “Narnia” feature, Barnes completed three film projects. He starred opposite Jessica Biel and Colin Firth in Stephan Elliott's romantic comedy, “Easy Virtue,” then as the title character in Oliver Parker's updated version of the classic Oscar Wilde story, “Dorian Gray.” He had a starring role opposite Brenda Fricker, Sarah Roemer and Eliza Dushku in Suri Krishnamma's thriller, “Valediction.” Film adaptation of Neil McCormick's memoir “Killing Bono,” in which he portrayed the author, a classmate of U2's Bono.
McCormick's career ambitions of wealth and fame in the rock world came crashing down in the shadows of superstardom.

On television, Barnes co-starred for director Simon West in the CW network telefilm, “Split Decision”

2010 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All rights reserved.