Ben Miles

English actor Ben Miles got the acting bug early, studying at Guildhall School of Music and Drama. His reasons for first working as a stagehand and later performing had nothing to do with the art of acting itself. He claims he wanted to date girls. Aesthetic concerns eventually took over, thankfully, and Miles applied himself to his craft. In the early 1990s he started to land roles in television programs like "Zorro," "Soldier Soldier," and "Is it Legal? ." He appeared in Iain Softley's critically-acclaimed 1997 period piece, "The Wings of the Dove," starring Helena Bonham Carter, Linus Roache, and Alison Elliot. His true breakout role, however, was getting the part of the not-so-bright woman-crazy conservative Patrick on the hit show "Coupling." The show revved his career into high gear and Miles appeared as Montague Dartie in the lavishly-produced adaptation of "The Forsyte Saga," starring Damian Lewis and Gina McKee; appeared as Jonathan Cole in "Mr. Harvey Lights a Candle," starring Timothy Spall; and co-starred in the series "Lark Rise to Candleford," with Olivia Hallinan and Julia Sawalha. He's also starred in two films by Wachowski brothers protégé James McTeigue--the dystopian science fiction movie "V for Vendetta" and the ultraviolent martial arts movie "Ninja Assassin"--as well as appearing in the frenetically stylish live-action "Speed Racer," directed by the Wachowskis themselves.