Michael Benz

Michael Benz is an English-American actor born in England in 1981 or 1982 to American parents Thomas and Margaret Benz. He received his secondary education at The American School in London, then earned a degree from Georgetown University in 2004, followed by training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, where he graduated in 2007.

Benz launched his professional stage career immediately after completing his studies at RADA, making his debut with Shakespeare's Globe in a production of The Winter's Tale, in which he played both Paulina and the Young Shepherd. He went on to appear in several additional Globe productions, including Love's Labour's Lost, As You Like It, and the world premiere of A New World: A Life of Thomas Paine. In the summer of 2012, he took on the title role in the Globe's Hamlet, a production directed by artistic director Dominic Dromgoole and Bill Buckhurst. That fall, the production toured the United States, and Benz received a nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor at the Helen Hayes Awards in Washington, D.C.

His West End debut came in 2011, when he played Horatio in Trevor Nunn's staging of Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket. Later that same year, Benz reunited with Nunn for a production of The Tempest at the same venue, playing Ferdinand opposite Ralph Fiennes as Prospero. Additional stage work includes Lee Baum in Arthur Miller's The American Clock and Christopher in the premiere of Bekah Brunstetter's Oohrah!, both at the Finborough Theatre; Simon Bliss in Noël Coward's Hay Fever at the West Yorkshire Playhouse; and Balthasar in Romeo & Juliet for the Royal Shakespeare Company. In 2017, Benz made his Broadway debut appearing in The Little Foxes.

On television, Benz appeared as Mike across six series and 60 episodes of the British science fiction sitcom Mike and Angelo. He also played the title character in the BBC six-part miniseries Little Lord Fauntleroy, adapted by Julian Fellowes from the children's novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett. In the 2013 Christmas Special of Downton Abbey, broadcast on December 25 in the United Kingdom, Benz portrayed Ethan, an American valet in service to Paul Giamatti's character Harold Levinson. His film work includes voice work for the animated film We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story and a role as a Wall Street executive in the 2019 thriller Joker, in which his character confronts Arthur on the subway.