Australian actor, born 3 April 1969 Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
His paternal grandfather was from a Polish Jewish/German Jewish background, while the rest of his ancestry includes English, Irish, Scottish, one eighth Greek, and more distant German. Ben found out in the Australian version of the show Who Do Think You Are? that his grandfathers ancestors were among the first Prussian Jews to be naturalized in Poland.
His father is a prominent medical researcher who heads the Howard Florey Institute in Melbourne.
Got into acting after taking a Drama class as he thought it would be easy to pass.
Offered to remove his front teeth for the role of Robin in Place Beyond the Pines, which was written as having dentures. The director accepted the offer but changed his mind when an producer intervened before Mendelsohn had the dental work done.
Is the oldest of two brothers.
To get into character for Animal Kingdom, Mendelsohn rarely spoke to James Frecheville on set and would call him John, rather than James or Jim. After production, the two became close friends during the films promotional tour.
Lived with Scoot McNairy while filming Killing Them Softly.
Considers Bottom (A Midsummers Night Dream) the greatest character in theater, a role he played in high school.
Played Rupert Murdoch in the film Black & White. Murdochs favorite movie is Spotswood, which Mendelsohns starred in.
Supporter of the Mirabel Foundation, a charity to support children orphaned and abandoned by drug addicted parents.
Frequently works with directors David Caesar, Nadia Tass, and Paul Moloney, and actors Noah Taylor, Kylie Minogue, Rachel Griffiths, and Toni Colette.
Claimed in an interview to have written several books under a pseudonym.
Had a strong German accent and spoke the language fluently until the age of six when his family returned to Australia after an extended period living abroad.
Performed a one man play, Mother, as a teenager for his entire school.
A passionate animal lover, while filming Adore, he halted filming to make sure a stray cat made it across the street safely.
After his parents divorced at age six, he lived with his mother until the age of 13, when he moved to Washington DC with his father. After being expelled from his boarding school, Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania, after just six months for burning things, he moved in with his grandmother in Australia until he began acting and was able to support himself.
Despite its large ensemble cast of Animal Kingdom, AFI winners Jacki Weaver and Joel Edgerton single out Ben Mendelsons performance in the film during their speeches. Mendelsohn had won best actor earlier that evening.
Was asked to star in the second and third season of Love My Way by his costar from The Big Steal, Klaudia Karvan (who produced and co-wrote series).
Spent a lot of time in Europe and the United States growing up, returning to Australia for High school.
Learned of method acting from costar Nina Landis (Prime Time), who suggested he read Uta Hagens Respect for Acting as a teenager.
Seriously injured his back on his last day filming A Map of the Human Heart.
Appeared in short films for both Geoffrey Wright and David Caesar, before starring in their feature films.
Trained at the Heidelberg Theater Company.
Memorized every line from Taxi Driver as a teenager because Robert DeNiro was his acting idol. They worked together in the film Killer Elite.
Mendelsohn was originally cast as Hando in Romper Stomper and had already shaved his head for the part of the neo-Nazi when Russell Crowe (his costar in Spotswood) began campaigning against him, claiming the actor wasnt threatening enough for the role. Mendelsohn was eventually dismissed and replaced by Crowe, but did star in director Geoffrey Wrights follow-up film, Metal Skin.
Hadnt watched one of his own films for 6 years, but was obligated to attend the screenings of Killing Them Softly at Cannes and Place Beyond the Pines at the Toronto International Film Festival. He had previously gone 10 years without seeing his own films.
Appeared in a PSA with Gia Carides and Paul Gleeson in the 80s set in a nightclub to teach teenagers how to fill out their tax returns.
Did voice acting on the Interlude and Intro tracks of Gorillazs album Humanz.
He has said that he is often mistaken for his The New World co-star Noah Taylor.
He was offered the role of Pennywise in It but turned it down due to salary conflicts.
He would punish me much more than he would anyone else, but he was also,nicer to me than anyone else on the set.
[The hardest day on the set of Killing Them Softly] I discovered that if,you eat 40 ice creams in a row you get crook. Yeah, that was bad. That,scene we did again and again and it was the hottest, baking day. I was,incredibly unwell at the end of that day.
In Australia, even the darkest subject matter has a little pinch of humor. A little sweet to make the sour go down.
