Actor’s passion calls him to US
Twenty-two year old Ben Black always gets stuck playing the villain, does it bother him?
Not one bit, in fact, being on the dark side of the screen helps him appreciate human compassion even more.
An acting career in New Zealand is never an easy one, but things have just fallen into place for Black, who is heading to the US to join thousands of other aspiring actors from around the globe.
He’s met with a number of US acting managers and signed up with one during a trip to LA — it may sound like a smooth process but Black describes the ordeal as a “real process”.
“The next step is moving overseas and working from the ground up.”
The young actor grew up in the craggy, yet beautiful Haumoana and developed a love for theatre at high school.
“After growing up in Hawke’s Bay, acting sat pretty far away in terms of a career goal — but I stuck with drama at school and always loved it,” he says.
It was in his last year of Lindisfarne College that stars aligned for Black, as he was selected to go to London with Shakespeare Globe Theatre New Zealand, where he was part of the young Shakespeare Company in 2015.
“We arrived in London and got to study Shakespeare and it was all pretty amazing and that was my foot in the door.
“Upon returning to New Zealand, I basically packed all my stuff up in a car, drove up to Auckland and signed up with an acting agency, Johnson and Laird Management. I think the fact that I had done the London trip was my selling point.” Auckland then became Black’s home and creative workspace for the next few years. He auditioned for a number of projects and landed his first roles on New Zealand TV shows Cul De Sac and Filthy Rich.
After some experience on set, Black came to the realisation that he wanted more professional training.
In 2017 he participated in the Actors’ Programme, a oneyear intensive, industryrelated course to prepare him for the professional acting industry.
“Halfway through the study last year I was lucky enough to be cast in a Netflix show which was filmed in New Zea- land called Roman Empire. It was really lucky time-wise because it fell during the holiday period and I could accept the role without it affecting my course.”
Despite a few bumps in the road, Black continues to remain positive and focused on his new path.
“There are so many things that haven’t worked out, like the auditions you don’t get and they’re not a part of your success story, but they could have 100 per cent taken me down a completely different career path — but this is the one I’m on right now,” he laughs. Although he consistently falls into the enjoyable role of the villain, Black says he’s keen to try a range of different roles. “If I got cast as the villain for the rest of my life I wouldn’t say no, but it would be nice to play a hero,” he chuckles.