ben james-ellis

From a very young age Ben has always loved performing, he decided to pursue the career at just 10 years old. By this time he could play the piano and memorised scores of full shows.

At the age of 16 Ben auditioned for the world famous Italia Conti Academy of Performing Arts and was awarded a full 3-year scholarship.

Ben completed 18 months of his scholarship before hearing the news of "Grease is the Word" and "Any Dream Will Do." Ben first tried out for "Grease is the Word" where he got through to boot camp. However at the same time his audition for "Any Dream Will Do" came up and he decided after much debating he felt the contacts and people he would be working with from "Any Dream Will Do" would be more beneficial and opted for that.

Ben remained in the "Any Dream Will Do" competition for 8 weeks before losing out on a place in the final.

Throughout the competition Ben received comments such as...

"Hot to Trot!" DENISE

"A phoenomenal entertainer!" BILL

"An absolute star" JOHN

"Star Quality" ZOE

He has signed to "Gavin Barker Associates" and joins with such stars as John Barrowman and Susie Blake. He also landed the lead role in a touring concert of Dirty Dancing in July 2007 visiting venues in London and Slovenia. Ben has played Link Larkin in the Original London Cast production of Hairspray starring with Michael Ball, Nigel Planer and Leanne Jones.

Whilst in Hairspray Ben won the 2008 Whatsonstage.com Theatregoers Choice Award for "Best Supporting Actor in a Musical" for his role as Link Larkin. He will also star as Peter Pan in Qdos' annual Pantomime in Hull with Paul Nicholas and Keith and Orville.