Ben Lewis (Canadian actor)

Ben Lewis is a Canadian actor and writer known for his role as William Clayton in the last two seasons of Arrow. He also played Other Scott in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and Bobby Beckonridge in Degrassi: The Next Generation.

For the Australian actor, see Ben Lewis (Australian actor). For the British actor and writer, see Ben Lewis (writer). For other people named Ben Lewis, see Ben Lewis.
Ben Lewis
Lewis in 2018
OccupationActor, writer
Spouse(s)
(
m. 2016)

Career

Lewis graduated from the National Theatre School of Canada.[1] One of his earliest roles was in a guest starring role as Teddy Jones Jr., a ranch hand who kills his father's murderers, on Murdoch Mysteries in 2009,[2][3] but his biggest roles came in mid-2010 when he had a small role as Other Scott in the film Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and played Bobby Beckonridge in the tenth season of Degrassi: The Next Generation; in July 2010 he said that they were the biggest roles of his career up to that point.[4]

Interviewed at the time, he said that before getting the part of Bobby in Degrassi he had auditioned for the Canadian rite-of-passage show several times without success, and that he had not been invited to the first round of auditions for Bobby because they had been looking for a younger actor, getting the chance to audition when they didn't find anyone.[4] Bobby is an abusive boyfriend with some personal baggage, and Lewis said that co-star Annie Clark, who played Bobby's girlfriend Fiona, was the key to helping him perform this, saying: "Annie is the sweetest girl, and we got along really really well from the very beginning which really helps, especially when you’re dealing with such sensitive subject matter. You feel that you trust the other person, and you can really go there."[4]

In Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Lewis played Other Scott, the boyfriend of Scott Pilgrim's roommate Wallace Wells.[5] Jeff Bayer's The Scorecard Review review of the film gave the cast of the film 10/10, noting that "Scott's bandmates are even better. Alison Pill, who you may remember from Milk and Ben Lewis as the other Scott, steal every moment they are on screen. It's just an amazing cast of characters that support this film".[6] During the Scott Pilgrim vs. the World 10th anniversary livestream, Lewis tweeted that "[Scott Pilgrim] profoundly changed my life. [Edgar Wright] seeing fit to include me in this cast was an honour & the greatest vote of confidence a young actor could've asked for."[7]

Lewis then had television roles in Designated Survivor, The Handmaid's Tale,[8] Chasing Life and Suits. In 2018 he joined the DC Comics superhero television show Arrow in its seventh season as the recurring character William Clayton, and became a main character for the eighth and final season. Lewis' William is an adult version of the Arrow's son, portrayed as a child by Jack Moore, who appears in a future timeline.[1] The 2040 scenes with Lewis were flash-forwards in the seventh season; as Lewis had a bigger role in the eighth season, it was speculated that the 2040 setting may be more important in this season.[9]

In 2019 he finished filming a role in the upcoming movie The High Note.[1] During the COVID-19 pandemic, Lewis joined Cameo to raise money for charities.[10] He has also written and directed short films, including Apart from Everything and Zero Recognition, and wrote for the web series This Week Had Me Like.[8]

Personal life

Lewis is openly gay, and came out to his parents when he was seventeen.[11] He is married to actor Blake Lee, who he met in the Grauman's Chinese Theatre bathroom at the Scott Pilgrim vs. the World premiere after being told they had mutual friends. Lee had been attending as Aubrey Plaza's friend. Lewis and Lee began a long-distance relationship between Los Angeles and Toronto. They have a dog called Todd.[12]

Lewis has publicly criticized the Marvel Cinematic Universe for not casting LGBT+ actors; in a 2019 interview with Attitude he said "How many fucking Avengers are there at this point, and not one gay actor in the bunch" – Attitude noted that Lewis overlooked Tessa Thompson, a queer actress who plays the bisexual Avenger Valkyrie, in his comments.[13] In the same interview, Lewis praised the Arrow producers for "[giving] more out actors [...] a platform to succeed".[13] His Arrow character was made gay after Lewis specifically requested they write it into the show.[11][14] In relation to Lewis' character coming out, magazine Out also lamented that the DC Extended Universe only had one queer character.[15]

gollark: Too many words, it's horrible.
gollark: It's to ensure nobody can understand the code.
gollark: In asm.js you just have all your memory be a giant array of u8s.
gollark: Like asm.js.
gollark: I'm sure with some horrible meddling it's possible to just pretend Ruby is C.

References
  1. Boucher, Geoff (July 17, 2019). "'Arrow': Ben Lewis Upped To Series Regular For Final Season". Deadline. Retrieved May 30, 2020.
  2. "Teddy Jones Jr. - Murdoch Mysteries". TV Maze. Retrieved May 30, 2020.
  3. "Murdock Mysteries Rewatch: (S02E01) Mild, Mild West". Geek Girl Authority. January 16, 2017. Retrieved May 30, 2020.
  4. "Spotlight on Ben Lewis: Degrassi's Latest Bad Boy". The TV Addict. Retrieved May 30, 2020.
  5. "Arrow Casts Scott Pilgrim Alum in Spoilery Season 7 Role". CBR. October 17, 2018. Retrieved May 30, 2020.
  6. "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World". The Scorecard Review. Retrieved May 30, 2020.
  7. Lewis, Ben (May 20, 2020). "#ScottPilgrim profoundly changed my life. @edgarwright seeing fit to include me in this cast was an honour & the greatest vote of confidence a young actor could've asked for.pic.twitter.com/MwfPf6ibtk". @benlewishere. Archived from the original on May 21, 2020. Retrieved May 30, 2020.
  8. "Ben Lewis". CFC Creates. Retrieved May 30, 2020.
  9. "Arrow Actor Ben Lewis Promoted To Series Regular For The Upcoming Final Season". Comic Book Movie. July 19, 2019. Retrieved May 30, 2020.
  10. Lewis, Ben (May 1, 2020). "I joined Cameo to raise money for coronavirus relief and immediately ruined everything". CBC. Retrieved May 30, 2020.
  11. "William's 'Arrow' Coming Out Is One of the Highlights of the Series". Pride. November 5, 2019. Retrieved May 30, 2020.
  12. "For Blake Lee & Ben Lewis, A Chance Encounter in the Men's Room Became an Eight-Year Love Affair". Out. January 10, 2018. Retrieved May 30, 2020.
  13. "'Arrow' star Ben Lewis urges Marvel to cast a gay actor as MCU's first LGBTQ superhero". Attitude. May 24, 2019. Retrieved May 30, 2020.
  14. "Arrow's Ben Lewis Pitched William's Coming Out Scene". Comicbook.com. Retrieved May 30, 2020.
  15. "A Major 'Arrow' Character Finally Confirmed 'I'm Gay'". Out. February 12, 2019. Retrieved May 31, 2020.
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