Born on October 14, 1980, British actor Ben Whishaw Whishaw began performing on stage in the late 1990s, as a member of the Bancroft Youth Theatre (now the Big Spirit Youth Theatre). He earned critical acclaim after starring in the theater's production of If This Is a Man, an autobiographical play sejak Holocaust survivor Primo Levi. Whishaw garnered lebih positive reviews in 2004 after playing the lead role in a production of Hamlet. Whishaw soon began landing film roles, including as Keith Richards in the 2005 biopic Stoned. In 2011, Whishaw debuted on the popular Televisyen series The Hour. That same year, he was cast as Q in 2012's Skyfall, the 23rd installment of the James Bond film series, directed sejak Sam Mendes.

Whishaw prefers not to discuss his personal life, saying: "For me, it’s important to keep a level of anonymity. As an actor, your job is to persuade people that you’re someone else. So if you’re constantly telling people about yourself, I think you’re shooting yourself in the foot." In 2011 he told Out magazine, "As an actor anda have total rights to privacy and mystery, whatever your sexuality, whatever anda do. I don't see why that has to be something anda discuss openly because anda do something in the public eye. I have no understanding of why we turn actors into celebrities." However, in August 2013 a representative for Whishaw confirmed that he entered into a civil partnership with Australian composer Mark Bradshaw in August 2012.