Benjamin John Whishaw born 14 October is an English actor. Beginning his career in the early s, he played the title role in a production of the play Hamlet. He has voiced Paddington Bear in several projects since Paddington In , he had a leading role in the fourth season of the black comedy drama Fargo. Whishaw was born on 14 October , in Clifton, Bedfordshire , and was brought up there and in neighbouring Langford.
His mother is of English ancestry, and his father is of French, German and Russian descent. This is a traditional German occupational name for a wheelwright. Whishaw's paternal grandfather was born Jean Vladimir Stellmacher in Istanbul in , to a Russian mother and German father, who was stationed there.
The couple moved to Kassel , Germany, where Stellmacher grew up and was educated. He spoke seven languages. He entered England in after being discharged. He married Olga, a woman he had met in France, and together they made new lives in the UK. Their children included Whishaw's father and a daughter Ingrid.
They did not know about their father's wartime adventures until shortly before John's death in , when their mother Olga told them. She survived to , dying at the age of Ingrid took back the surname of Stellmacher. Whishaw and his father kept the adopted name his grandfather chose. He graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in The role was shared with Al Weaver in an unusual arrangement. Nunn is reported to have made this arrangement due to the youth of the two actors playing the lead, to relieve some of the pressure on each.
His film and television credits include Layer Cake and Chris Morris 's sitcom Nathan Barley , in which he played a character called Pingu. In he was nominated as best actor in four award programs for his portrayal of Hamlet.
