Ben Winspear (born 1975 or 1976) is an Australian actor and director. He has an extensive history performing for theatre, and on screen is known for appearing in comedy drama series Bay of Fires (2023).
Contents
Early life
Ben Winspear was born around 1975/1976 in Wagga Wagga, and was raised alongside younger brother Dallas in Hobart, Tasmania, where he attended an alternative community school. His father Les was a founding member of Hobart's Big Monkey Theatre.
In 1995, at the age of 19, Winspear relocated to Sydney, after being accepted into the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA). He graduated in 1997, with a Bachelor of Dramatic Art (Acting).
Career
Stage
Winspear has had a long career in theatre, as actor, adaptor, assistant director, director, dramaturge, lighting designer, performer, scenic artist and set designer. His first credited role was as flyman for a 1990 production of Don Pasquale at the Tasmanian Conservatorium of Music.
In 1998, after graduating from NIDA, Winspear was cast as Edmund in a production of King Lear for Bell Shakespeare. In 2002, he appeared in Same Same But Different, a major work created by Kate Champion with dance theatre company Force Majeure, touring the eastern states of Australia. That same year, he appeared in a stage production of Great Expectations at the Sydney Opera House.
Winspear was resident director at Sydney Theatre Company from 2003 to 2005, during which time he directed Morph, These People, This Little Piggy, The Metamorphosis, and Thyestes.
In 2008, Winspear played Viktor in a Sydney Theatre Company production of Frankenstein. In 2009, he appeared in Baghdad Wedding for Company B. He later appeared with wife Marta Dusseldorp in Joanna Murray-Smith's adaptation of Ingmar Bergman's 1973 film Scenes from a Marriage for Queensland Theatre, in 2017.
Additionally, Winspear was an associate artist for Sydney's Griffin Theatre Company, and has worked as assistant director with Barrie Kosky, Robyn Nevin, Howard Davies, Garry McDonald, and Jean-Pierre Mignon. Later, for Archipelago Productions, he directed sellout seasons of The Maids by Jean Genet, and Winterreise by Franz Schubert, as well as productions of The Bleeding Tree by Angus Cerini, which re-opened the Theatre Royal, and Venus and Adonis.
Screen
Winspear had a significant role in period drama series A Place to Call Home, playing René Nordmann, a war-damaged Jewish refugee and love interest for lead character Sarah Adams, played by his wife, Marta Dusseldorp. She also had in a main role in Underbelly: Badness, the fifth season of the Underbelly crime drama franchise, playing the task force's second-in-command, Detective Sergeant Tim Browne, opposite Jonathan LaPaglia and Matt Nable.
In 2014, Winspear had a recurring role as Sebastian Strong in Rake. That same year, he featured in horror film The Babadook, opposite Essie Davis and Daniel Henshall. He then had a guest role as Con Heliotis in 2015 miniseries House of Hancock, opposite Mandy McElhinney, Peta Sergeant and Sam Neill. The following year, he appeared in drama thriller film Bad Girl, with Samara Weaving.
Winspear played the ongoing part of Sam in comedy series Rosehaven, from 2020 to 2021. More recently, he has appeared as Rowan Furness, a public servant in two episodes of crime comedy-drama series Bay of Fires in 2023. The series was co-produced by his company, Archipelago Productions.
Other activities
Winspear is co-owner, with his wife Marta Dusseldorp, of film production company Archipelago Productions, in Hobart, Tasmania.
Winspear has been on the judging panel for the Patrick White Award and Young Writers Award.
Personal life
Winspear is married to actress Marta Dusseldorp. The couple met at the Sydney Theatre Company, while he was resident director and she was appearing in a production of The Way of the World. They met again later that year in Berlin, whereupon their relationship developed. They were married in February 2006.
The couple have two daughters. In 2018, the family relocated from their home in inner Sydney, to Hobart.