Brian Benben

Brian Edward Benben, born June 18, 1956, in Winchester, Virginia, is an American actor whose career has spanned stage, film, and television. He is the son of Gloria Patricia Benben and Peter Michael Benben Sr., a produce buyer. After growing up in Marlboro, New York, where he attended high school, Benben completed two years of study at Ulster County Community College in Stone Ridge, New York, before relocating to New York City. There he held various jobs while pursuing acting and auditioning for roles.

Benben's Broadway career began in 1983 with the production of John Byrne's Slab Boys, which ran for 48 performances. The cast included Kevin Bacon, Sean Penn, Val Kilmer, and Jackie Earle Haley.

His national television exposure began with the 1981 NBC miniseries The Gangster Chronicles, during the filming of which he met actress Madeleine Stowe. The two married in 1982 and have one daughter, born in 1996. Benben and Stowe have resided in Pacific Palisades, having previously lived west of Austin near Johnson City, Texas.

Among his most prominent television work is the lead role in the HBO comedy series Dream On, which ran from 1990 to 1996, in which he played Martin Tupper. He also appeared in the 1988 episode of Matlock titled "The Heiress" and starred in the short-lived CBS primetime sitcom The Brian Benben Show, which premiered in September 1998 and aired for approximately one month. Later, he joined the cast of Shonda Rhimes's ABC medical drama Private Practice as Sheldon Wallace, a character first introduced in December 2008 who evolved from a recurring role into a series regular, a position Benben held through 2013. In 2014, he appeared in Rhimes's series Scandal.

On film, Benben played a FBI agent in the 1990 feature Dark Angel, released in the United States as I Come in Peace. In 1994, he appeared in Radioland Murders as the estranged husband of Mary Stuart Masterson's character.