50 Fun Facts About Famous People Named Ben

Which Ben shared a screenwriting Oscar with Matt Damon for Good Will Hunting and later played Batman?

Ben Affleck went on to direct and star in the political thriller Argo, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture.

The nickname Big Ben strictly belongs to which part of the clock tower at the Palace of Westminster?

The Great Bell weighs more than 13 tonnes. Its name is said to honour either Sir Benjamin Hall, who oversaw its installation, or the heavyweight boxer Ben Caunt.

Michael Jackson's first solo US number one, the 1972 ballad Ben, was the theme to a film about which animal?

A rat named Ben is befriended by a lonely boy in the 1972 horror sequel of the same name. The song won a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Academy Award.

Which Ben, born Krishna Bhanji in Yorkshire, won the Best Actor Oscar for playing Gandhi?

Ben Kingsley was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2002 for services to the British film industry.

In the original Star Wars film, which Jedi Master lives as a hermit on Tatooine under the name Ben?

Obi-Wan Kenobi was played by Alec Guinness, who said he begged George Lucas to kill the character off because he hated the dialogue.

Which Ben sang lead for The Drifters before his 1961 solo hit Stand by Me?

Ben E. King co-wrote the song, which returned to the US top ten in 1986 when it became the theme of the film of the same name.

Which Ben, whose parents were both comedians, directed himself as a male model in the 2001 film Zoolander?

Ben Stiller's parents were Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara. He went on to direct and executive produce the Apple TV series Severance.

Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, nicknamed Big Ben, won two Super Bowls with which NFL team?

The Pittsburgh Steelers were his only team across 18 NFL seasons. At 23 he became the youngest quarterback to win a Super Bowl.

Which Ben opened an ice cream parlor in a renovated Vermont gas station with his friend Jerry Greenfield?

Ben Cohen has anosmia, a lack of the sense of smell, so he kept adding bigger chunks for texture. That became the signature Ben & Jerry's style.

Founding Father Benjamin Franklin, the face of the US $100 bill, invented which kind of eyeglasses?

Bifocals sit beside the lightning rod and the Franklin stove on his list of inventions. He never patented any of them, wanting others to benefit freely.

Which Ben led the 1987 surgery separating twins joined at the head and later became US housing secretary?

Ben Carson became the youngest chief of pediatric neurosurgery in the United States at 33. Cuba Gooding Jr. played him in the TV film Gifted Hands.

In Marvel Comics, the killing of Uncle Ben by a burglar drives which teenager to fight crime?

Peter Parker could easily have stopped the same burglar earlier and let him go. Guilt over that choice is what turns him into Spider-Man.

Which Ben won the 1988 Olympic 100 metres in Seoul, then lost the gold after failing a drug test?

Ben Johnson had run a world record 9.79 seconds, but his sample contained the steroid stanozolol and he was disqualified three days after the final.

The 1959 epic Ben-Hur, starring Charlton Heston, is best remembered for which nine-minute action sequence?

A chariot race pits Judah Ben-Hur against his former friend Messala. The film won eleven Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the British Isles, stands close to Fort William in which country?

Scotland's highest peak is all that remains of a volcano that collapsed in on itself around 350 million years ago.

In the cartoon Ben 10, which alien device on Ben Tennyson's wrist lets him change into different creatures?

The Omnitrix is shaped like a wristwatch and starts out with ten alien forms, which is where the series gets its name.

Which Ben chaired the US Federal Reserve through the 2008 financial crisis and later shared a Nobel Prize?

Ben Bernanke was named Time Person of the Year for 2009 for his response. His 2022 Nobel honoured research on banks and financial crises.

Which actor plays Ben Braddock, the young man seduced by Mrs. Robinson in the 1967 film The Graduate?

Dustin Hoffman got the part after Robert Redford tested for it. Director Mike Nichols felt Redford lacked the underdog quality the role needed.

Which Ben voices Paddington in the films and plays gadget master Q in the Daniel Craig Bond movies?

Ben Whishaw was a late replacement for Colin Firth, who stepped aside after filming when the studio decided his voice did not suit the character.

Which Ben, born in New Zealand, was man of the match when England won the 2019 Cricket World Cup final?

Ben Stokes top-scored in England's innings and then batted in the tied Super Over. He had moved from Christchurch to England as a child.

Which Ben, a piano-playing songwriter, named his 1990s rock trio a Five because it sounded better than Three?

Ben Folds later teamed up with two namesakes, Ben Kweller and Ben Lee, in a supergroup called The Bens that toured Australia in 2003.

Which Ben won a Tony Award for originating the title role in the Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen?

Ben Platt was 23 when he won, the youngest solo winner of that award at the time. Film fans know him as Benji Applebaum in the Pitch Perfect series.

Which Ben voices Sonic the Hedgehog in the live-action films and played Jean-Ralphio in Parks and Recreation?

Ben Schwartz has also voiced Dewey Duck in DuckTales and Leonardo in Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Which Ben played Cory Matthews in Boy Meets World and returned to the role in Girl Meets World?

Ben Savage is the younger brother of Fred Savage of The Wonder Years, who guest-starred in one episode as a college professor.

Which Ben, once a Richard Nixon speechwriter, played the economics teacher in Ferris Bueller's Day Off?

Ben Stein later hosted the Comedy Central game show Win Ben Stein's Money, with Jimmy Kimmel as his first co-host.

Which Ben survived a head-on crash with a bus in 1949 and won three golf majors in 1953?

Ben Hogan was driving home from a tournament when a Greyhound bus overtaking a truck hit his car. The press dubbed his 1953 season the Hogan Slam.

Which Ben went undrafted yet won four NBA Defensive Player of the Year awards and a 2004 title with Detroit?

Ben Wallace tried out for a team in Italy after no NBA club drafted him. He entered the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2021.

Which Ben co-wrote the sitcoms The Young Ones and Blackadder and wrote the Queen musical We Will Rock You?

Ben Elton was 23 when The Young Ones gave him his first TV success. Blackadder went on to win four BAFTAs and an International Emmy.

Which Ben edited The Washington Post during its Watergate coverage and was later played on film by Tom Hanks?

Ben Bradlee backed reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein as they probed the break-in. Jason Robards won an Oscar playing him in All the President's Men.

In Marvel's Fantastic Four, test pilot Ben Grimm is turned by cosmic rays into which rock-skinned hero?

The Thing blames teammate Reed Richards for his condition, because Richards had dismissed the danger of the rays that Grimm took seriously.

In the sitcom Friends, which character is the father of Ben, a boy raised partly by two mothers?

Ross Geller shares custody of Ben with his ex-wife Carol and her wife Susan. Cole Sprouse played Ben as a boy.

Which actor plays Ben Gates, who seeks a map hidden on the Declaration of Independence, in National Treasure?

Nicolas Cage's character has the full name Benjamin Franklin Gates, and the lost treasure has long been the obsession of his whole family.

Uncle Ben's, rebranded as Ben's Original in 2020 by its owner Mars, is best known for which food?

Rice sold under the name was America's top seller until the 1990s. In 2020 Mars admitted it did not know whether a real Ben had ever existed.

Ben Solo, the child of Han Solo and Leia Organa, takes which name after turning to the dark side?

Kylo Ren trains as a Jedi under his uncle Luke Skywalker before Snoke, the Supreme Leader of the First Order, seduces him away.

In the 1960s TV series Gentle Ben, set in the Florida Everglades, what kind of animal is Ben?

A bear of roughly 700 pounds, Ben is the companion of young Mark Wedloe, played by Clint Howard, the brother of Ron Howard.

Which Ben played troubled teen Ryan Atwood in The O.C. and later detective Jim Gordon in Gotham?

Ben McKenzie spent the years between the two shows as police officer Ben Sherman in the crime drama Southland.

In Parks and Recreation, which actor plays Ben Wyatt, the state auditor who marries Leslie Knope?

Adam Scott left a lead role in the comedy Party Down to join the show. His character was elected mayor of his hometown at 18 and promptly bankrupted it.

In the Book of Genesis, Benjamin is the younger of two boys born to Rachel and which patriarch?

Jacob gave the boy the name Benjamin in place of Benoni, a name that recalled his mother's death just after the birth.

Which actor played Ben Matlock, a folksy Atlanta defense attorney with a love of hot dogs?

Andy Griffith took the role in 1986, returning to the kind of hit he had as Sheriff Andy Taylor of Mayberry in the 1960s. Matlock ran for nine seasons, first on NBC and then on ABC.

The word ben in many Hebrew surnames, matched in Arabic by bin or ibn, has what meaning?

Son of is also the sense of the first syllable of the biblical name Benjamin, which is read as 'son of the right'.

Which Ben is the Seattle rapper better known as Macklemore, whose Thrift Shop topped the Billboard Hot 100?

Ben Haggerty first performed as Professor Macklemore. Thrift Shop, made with producer Ryan Lewis, came out on his own independent label rather than a major one.

Which Ben fronts the indie rock band Death Cab for Cutie and is a member of the supergroup The Postal Service?

Ben Gibbard married actress and musician Zooey Deschanel near Seattle in 2009. The couple announced their separation two years later.

Which Ben, the singer and guitarist who leads the Innocent Criminals, was married to actress Laura Dern?

Ben Harper met her at one of his concerts in 2000. Two decades later he recorded the album Winter Is for Lovers on a solo lap steel guitar.

Which Ben won a 1973 Tony Award for the musical Pippin and played Chicken George in the miniseries Roots?

Ben Vereen had been Tony-nominated a year earlier for playing Judas Iscariot in the original Broadway production of Jesus Christ Superstar.

Which Ben won sailing gold medals at four consecutive Olympic Games from 2000 to 2012?

Ben Ainslie also won a medal at the 1996 Games, making five Olympics in a row. In 2013 Oracle Team USA drafted him in as tactician during the America's Cup.

Which Ben, a racing driver, was revealed in 2010 as The Stig, the anonymous test driver on Top Gear?

Ben Collins had played the role since 2003. The BBC went to court to stop his autobiography from revealing the secret and was refused an injunction.

Which Ben, a sound designer, created the lightsaber hum for Star Wars and later the voice of WALL-E?

Ben Burtt built the hum from an idling film projector and feedback from a broken television set. Darth Vader's breathing is his own, recorded in a scuba regulator.

Which Ben, a Nigerian-born novelist, won the 1991 Booker Prize for The Famished Road?

Ben Okri was 32, then the youngest winner in the prize's history. The novel follows a spirit-child called Azaro and opens a trilogy.

Which Ben won back-to-back World Series with the Royals and the Cubs and was named Series MVP in 2016?

Ben Zobrist signed a four-year, $56 million contract with the Chicago Cubs weeks after winning the 2015 title with Kansas City.

In the BBC children's series about Bill and Ben, who live in an English garden, what are the two men made of?

Flower pots of terracotta form their bodies. A smiling plant called Little Weed grows between the two large pots they hide in.