Benjamin Walker

Benjamin Walker, born Benjamin Davis on June 21, 1982, in Cartersville, Georgia, is an American actor and stand-up comedian who has worked extensively in theater, film, and television. He took his mother's maiden name, Walker, as his stage name because another Benjamin Davis was already registered with the Screen Actors Guild. The younger of two sons born to Jeannine Walker, a music teacher, and Greg Davis, who owned a movie rental store and later worked in financial services, Walker attended Cartersville High School before enrolling at the Interlochen Arts Academy near Traverse City. He subsequently trained at the Juilliard School in New York City, completing the Actor Training Program in 2004.

Walker's Broadway career began in February 2007, when he portrayed Bertram Cates in the revival of Inherit the Wind at the Lyceum Theatre, a production nominated for four Tony Awards including Best Revival. The following year, he appeared as the Chevalier Danceny in the Roundabout Theatre Company's production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, a role that cast him as an inexperienced lover manipulated by La Marquise de Merteuil. That production received six Tony Award nominations. His other early stage credits include The Arrangements at the Atlantic Theatre Company in 2005, a Lincoln Center Theater workshop of Spring Awakening that same year, Lady Windermere's Fan in 2005, and Romeo and Juliet in 2006.

One of Walker's most sustained stage commitments was the musical Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, in which he played the title role of Andrew Jackson. He first originated the part at the Center Theatre Group's Kirk Douglas Theatre in Los Angeles in December 2007, then reprised it in a workshop run at the Public Theater in March 2009, followed by a thrice-extended return engagement at the Public Theater in March 2010. The production subsequently transferred to the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre on Broadway, where it ran until January 2, 2011. Walker also performed in Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson: The Concert Version during the Public Theater workshop period. His work in the various incarnations of the show earned significant critical attention.

From 2012 to 2013, Walker played Brick in a revival of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. In 2016, he took on the role of Patrick Bateman in the Broadway musical adaptation of American Psycho, a performance that earned him a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Actor in a Musical. He returned to Broadway in 2019 in the revival of All My Sons, portraying Chris Keller, a role for which he received a Tony Award nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play.

On screen, Walker is recognized for playing the title character in the 2012 film Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, for which he researched multiple Lincoln biographies. His other film appearances include Kinsey, Flags of Our Fathers, In the Heart of the Sea, and the 2013 film Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight, in which he played Kevin Connolly. He had been cast as Hank McCoy in X-Men: First Class but departed the project to commit to Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson on Broadway. In television, Walker starred as Erik Gelden in the third season of the Netflix series Jessica Jones in 2019 and has appeared in Traitors and The Underground Railroad. He plays Ereinion Gil-galad, the High King of the Ñoldorin Elves, in the Amazon Prime Video series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, a role he has held since the series premiered in 2022.

Walker has also pursued stand-up comedy, performing at venues including Caroline's, Comedy Village, and The Comedy Store. His comedy show, Find the Funny, incorporates comics alongside taped short narratives and skits and is performed regularly in New York City. In his personal life, Walker married actress Mamie Gummer in 2011; the two separated in March 2013 and planned to divorce. He later began a relationship with actress Kaya Scodelario in April 2014, and the two became engaged in December of that year. They married in late 2015, with both adopting the surname Scodelario-Davis. The couple had a son in November 2016 and a daughter in December 2021. In February 2024, they announced their separation.