Draft:Ben Eagle

Ben Eagle (born 5 August 1983) is an actor and singer born in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England.

Early Life
Ben Eagle was educated in Bradford at Queensbury School. He later went on to study at Bradford College, studying Acting, English Literature and Theatre Studies.

Eagle worked at the National Museum of Photography, Film & Television and the Alhambra Theatre

He co-founded the Bradford-based Paper Zoo Theatre Company and appeared in over 50 theatre productions before training as a professional

1984 and John Hurt
In 2009 Paper Zoo Theatre Company was commissioned by the National Media Museum to stage a production of George Orwell's 1984 in the Pictureville Cinema to mark the novel's 60th Anniversary. Actor John Hurt played the part of on-screen Big Brother in the production, which later toured to Wakefield, Sale and Derby. The following year, Hurt appeared as a guest at the Bradford International Film Festival where Eagle presented him with the Festival's Lifetime Achievement Award.

Eagle and Hurt formed a friendship and when Eagle was offered a place at the Central School of Speech & Drama in 2011, Hurt paid his drama school fees.

Acting Career
In 2011, Eagle accepted a place at the Royal Central School of Speech & Drama. He graduated in 2014 with the Lilian Baylis Award for Excellence.

His theatre work includes playing Isambard Kingdom Brunel in the world premiere of The Eighth Wonder of the World (2015) directed by Martin Parr and written by Nick Harrison; This Was The World And I Was King (2016) at the Arts Theatre, West End; Falstaff in The Merry Wives of Windsor and Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing for Merely Theatre; touring the USA twice for Actors From the London Stage playing Escalus in Measure For Measure (2017) and Claudius / Ghost in Hamlet (2018); Martin Massie in Alan Ayckbourn's Neighbourhood Watch at the Gordon Craig Theatre, Stevenage (2018); Bailiff Edwards in V For Victory: A Wartime Musical at the Stockwell Playhouse (2018), originating the role of Dick Holland in the New Diorama production of The Incident Room directed by David Byrne, written by Byrne and Olivia Hirst; one of the original Mr. Sparlings in the Birmingham Stage Company production of Horrible Histories: Terrible Thames ; PC Plank in the 2022/23 UK Tour of David Walliams' Demon Dentist directed by Neal Foster.

In 2020 Eagle portrayed Jim Parker, Telegraph & Argus Journalist in Kay Mellor's The Syndicate (Series 4).

Pantomime
In 2015 Eagle played Friar Tuck in Robin Hood at The Theatre Chipping Norton, later reprising the role for writer/director Ben Crocker at The Roses, Tewkesbury in 2016. Eagle then became the regular pantomime "Dame" at The Roses in Sleeping Beauty (2017), Dick Whittington (2018), Aladdin (2019) and King Arthur the Panto! (2021). In 2023 Eagle appeared as Dame Cherie Trifle in Beauty and the Beast for Doncaster's CAST theatre.