Biografia
Ben, a recipient of more than a dozen awards including the 2013 UBCP/ACTRA John Juliani Award for Outstanding Achievement, has accumulated over 100 film and television acting credits. His lead roles in feature films have been showcased at prestigious festivals such as TIFF, Sundance, and Berlin.
As a writer, director, and producer, Ben has led two award-winning, theatrically released feature films: Down River, which earned 9 wins and 12 nominations including Most Popular Canadian Film at VIFF 2013 and Best Feature at the 2014 Soho International Film Festival in NYC; and Moving Malcolm, which received 4 wins and 1 nomination, including Best Feature Film at the 2003 Washington D.C. Film Festival. Additionally, he has written, directed, and produced numerous short films and web series episodes, directed the CTV series Robson Arms, and developed several original television series for Canadian networks.
In theatre, Ben has performed in numerous plays such as This by Melissa James Gibson, Dinner with Friends by Donald Margulies, and Italian American Reconciliation by John Patrick Shanley. Early in his career, he earned a Jessie Richardson Award nomination for his role as "Bobby" in David Mamet's American Buffalo. He has also directed multiple plays, including the Canadian premieres of Tommy Smith's White Hot and Christopher Shinn's Dying City, as well as Either We Talk Or We Don't Talk, created with actors from Haven Studio. In 2020, Ben wrote and directed the one-man show Casey and the Octopus, inspired by the story of 19-year-old cancer survivor Casey Wright.
Ben's upcoming project is the television series Trigger Me (2021), which he created and directed, featuring many Haven Studio actors in lead roles. Richard J. Lewis, director and executive producer of HBO's Westworld, has joined as executive producer.
Beginning his teaching career in 1995 under the guidance of mentor Ivana Chubbuck (author of The Power of the Actor), Ben has also studied with Larry Moss (author of The Intent to Live), Patsy Rodenburg (author of The Second Circle), and Canadian teacher Mel Tuck. Having taught acting in Vancouver, Los Angeles, and across Canada, Ben founded Haven Studio in Vancouver's Mount Pleasant neighborhood in 2002. There, he and his team continue to provide highly sought-after classes for both experienced actors and emerging talent.
In 2021, Ben changed his name from Ben Ratner to Ben Immanuel (his middle name) to prevent confusion and mistaken association with director/producer Brett Ratner, to whom he is not related.
