Benjamin Sutherland

Benjamin Dennis Scott Sutherland born May 24 1990 is a Canadian actor and writer based in Toronto Ontario Sutherland was born in Victoria British Columbia and raised in the town of Sidney British Columbia His father Darren Sutherland is an electrical contractor and his mother Stephanie Sutherland is a secretary and homemaker He has a younger brother Joshua a younger sister Mollynda and has described his family as being very loving and supportive Growing up he played competitive sports such as soccer volleyball and baseball He has said that his dream job has always been to be a hockey player in the NHL However his family could not afford to put both he and his brother into hockey when they were young As he got older his main focus shifted to baseball and he attended Lambrick Park Secondary Schools Diamond for Excellence Baseball Academy for the duration of his secondary education His baseball career was cut short however when he was injured in a regular season baseball game He was in early scholarship talks with two Ivy League universities at this time While injured his brother encouraged him to take a drama course during his senior year which he did He has said that he made the decision that year to be an actor after seeing Sean Penns performance in Dead Man Walking 1995 His biggest acting inspirations now are Gary Oldman Michael Fassbender Tom Hardy and Brad Pitt After graduation in 2008 Sutherland chose to start a carpentry apprenticeship instead of going to university He began building custom residential homes on Vancouver Island in many cases working along side his father and his fathers electrical company During the day he would work construction and in the evenings he would go to theatres such as The Belfry and Langham Court for rehearsals It was during this time that he would train in Vancouver with two worldrenowned acting coaches Andrew McIlroy and Larry Moss He ended his carpentry apprenticeship in 2013 with six weeks remaining in his apprenticeship before his journeyman certification in order to pursue acting fulltime In 2013 Sutherland trained at two of the most prestigious drama schools in the world In the summer he studied at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art RADA in London England focusing on contemporary theatre and in the fall he began the threeyear conservatory program at The National Theatre School of Canada NTS as one of six male actors selected that year He graduated from The National Theatre School in May 2016