Ben Cura

Ben Cura
Ben Cura in 2013
Born	José Ben Cura[1] (1988-09-30) 30 September 1988 Buenos Aires, Argentina
Nationality	British, Argentine, Italian
Education	BA (Hons) in Classical Acting for the Professional Theatre [2]
Alma mater	London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
Occupation	Actor
Years active	2011–present
Parent(s)	José Cura Silvia Ibarra

Ben Cura (born 30 September 1988) is a Argentine-British^[3] film, television and theatre actor and director.

Early life

He was born in Buenos Aires, the son of Argentine tenor/conductor José Cura. When he was 1 year old, he moved to Santo Stefano Belbo, Italy, where his father's grandfather was from. The family first lived in a convent while his father struggled to find work as an opera singer. He has two younger siblings, Yazmín and Nicolás.^[1]

The family moved to France when he was 6, and then to Spain when he was 11. During this time, he frequently traveled with his parents around the world.^[4]

Cura's first acting role came at age 9, as a supernumerary in a production of La Forza del Destino at the Opéra de Marseille, France. Whilst living in Paris, he received formal piano and solfège training. He subsequently attended the New York Film Academy in Paris, France before eventually training and graduating from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in 2011.^[5][6]

Career

Cura made his film debut in British indie flick Comes a Bright Day, appearing shortly after in Comedy Central's series Threesome and Bernard Rose's film The Devil's Violinist.

He made his West End debut playing Angel in the original cast of Jennifer Saunders' musical Viva Forever at the Piccadilly Theatre in London, UK. He was later cast as Seve Ballesteros in British golf film Dream On^[7]

Aged 24, he made his directorial debut with a film adaptation of August Strindberg's play Creditors.^[8] for which he also wrote the screenplay and played one of the lead characters, Freddie Lynch.^[9][10] Later that year, he starred in the UK premiere of award-winning American play Next Fall at the Southwark Playhouse in London, UK.^[11]

In 2015, he was cast in U.S. series The Royals as recurring character Holden. He later went on to star in British film White Island set in Ibiza, and based on the novel A Bus Could Run You Over written by Colin Butts, alongside Billy Zane and Billy Boyd.

Cura's directorial debut Creditors world-premiered at the Nordic International Film Festival in New York City on October 31, 2015.^[12][13] The festival awarded it with an Honorable Mention in the Best Nordic Narrative Feature category.^[14] Latin Post film critic David Salazar called the film "A triumphant debut"^[15] Blazing Minds film critic Susanne Hodder said of the actors that "all give compelling performances, bringing their characters to life and giving them depth",^[16] Screen Relish film critic Stuie Greenfield said that "Creditors is a beautiful, sometimes angry and surprising film that brings with it strong performances from the entire cast as well as an unexpected yet welcome twist"^[17] while Movie Marker film critic Darryl Griffiths said that "Creditors is an incisive and accomplished piece of filmmaking [...], possessing a rich, powerful psychology that instills an unnerving modern-day relevance to age-old material."^[18] Creditors received over ten awards, including Best Feature, Leading Actor, and Script/Writer for Cura.^[19]

Later that year, Cura was cast as a series regular in ITV/Netflix crime noir drama Marcella penned by The Bridge writer Hans Rosenfeldt.^[20][21] The series premiered on UK television in April 2016, followed by a worldwide release on Netflix in July 2016.^[22] He was later cast that summer in drama feature film Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool opposite Jamie Bell and Annette Benning,^[23] and Simon West's action/comedy feature film Salty opposite Antonio Banderas and Olga Kurylenko.^[24][25][26]

Filmography - Actor

Filmography - Director

Filmography - Writer

Stage

• 2012: Viva Forever by Jennifer Saunders at the Piccadilly Theatre London^[27][28][29]
• 2014: Next Fall by Geoffrey Nauffts at the Southwark Playhouse London^[30]

Voice work

• 2012: Swimming with Piranhas Radio Documentary for BBC Radio 4^[31][32]
• 2014: Alien: Isolation by The Creative Assembly distributed by SEGA and produced by Twentieth Century Fox^[33]
• 2015: Credit Card Baby Radio Drama written by Annie Caulfield for BBC Radio 4, directed by Mary Ward-Lowery^[32]

Production company

In April 2013, he co-founded London-based production company Tough Dance Ltd. with actress and producer Andrea Deck.^[34][35] The company's first production was award-winning feature film Creditors.

References

External links

• Ben Cura at the Internet Movie Database
• Ben Cura at Whatsonstage.com
• Tough Dance