Benjamin McKenzie Schenkkan born September 12 1978 is an American actor and commentator He is best known for his starring television roles as Ryan Atwood on the teen drama The OC 20032007 Ben Sherman on the crime drama Southland 20092013 and James Gordon on the crime drama Gotham 20142019 After graduating in Economics and International Relations at the University of Virginia he moved to New York in order to devote his attention to acting There he received first in offBroadway productions different roles before moving to Los Angeles and was hired there for a starring role in the television series The OC with the fourth season came to an end on 22 February 2007 For his portrayal of Ryan Atwood in the series he won several awards between 2003 and 2007 He made his film debut in the Academy Awardnominated film Junebug 2005 before appearing in films including 88 Minutes 2007 Goodbye World 2013 Some Kind of Beautiful 2014 and Line of Duty 2019 He has been married to actress Morena Baccarin since 2017 they have 2 children His uncle is actor and Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Schenkkan his second cousin is actress Sarah Drew