Ben Whishaw

Not long after British actor Ben Whishaw debuted onscreen in the late '90s, he began to reveal a gift (and a proclivity) for essaying some of the more intense and unusual characterizations in contemporary cinema, occasionally delivering uncanny evocations of real-life figures. Whishaw was memorable as a young Keith Richards in Stephen Woolley's Brian Jones biopic Stoned (2005), then portrayed a demented young man so determined to capture "the scent of womanhood" that he resorts to serial murder in Tom Tykwer's psychological thriller Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006). Whishaw evoked a young Bob Dylan (one of many) in Todd Haynes' controversial avant-garde biopic of the folk singer, I'm Not There (2007), then signed on to portray famed author John Keats in director Jane Campion's dramatization of the Keats/Fanny Brawne romance, Bright Star (2008). That same year, audiences could catch Whishaw's portrayal of Sebastian in Julian Jarrold's big-screen Evelyn Waugh adaptation, Brideshead Revisited (2008).

by Nathan Southern, AMG