Ben Daniels (born 10 June 1964) is a British actor. A graduate of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA), he has taken on roles in numerous productions. On television he has appeared in, among other shows, The Lost Language of Cranes (1991), Conspiracy (2001), Cutting It (2002–2005), Ian Fleming: Bondmaker (2005), The Virgin Queen (2005) and The State Within (2006). On the silver screen, Daniels has appeared mostly in supporting roles, including parts in The Bridge (1992), Beautiful Thing (1996), I Want You (1998), Madeline (1998) and Doom (2005). An exception was the 1997 independent film Passion in the Desert, based on a short story by novelist Honoré de Balzac.

Daniels was born on 10 June 1964 in Nuneaton, Warwickshire.[6] His father was an engineer at Rolls-Royce and later a grocer, while his mother owned a children's clothes shop. He has recalled: "I was quite a shy child, but quite disruptive as well. "I was very sneaky and underhanded."

Daniels was educated at Manor Park School, a state comprehensive school in Nuneaton, near Coventry, in Warwickshire (since closed). According to Daniels, drama lessons at O-levels gave him a voice, and when he attended sixth form studies at Stratford College between 1980 and 1982, doing A-levels in theatre studies and English literature, he attended Royal Shakespeare Company performances. A fellow student recalled that Daniels, whom he knew as Dave, "was very serious about his work, and struck me as incredibly intelligent... you got the sense his mind was working; the cogs were ticking over". Daniels subsequently trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) for three years.

Daniels has had most success with theatre work. He was nominated for Best Actor at the Evening Standard Awards for 900 Oneonta (1994), for Best Actor in the M.E.N. Theatre Awards for Martin Yesterday (1998), and for Best Supporting Actor in the 15th Laurence Olivier Awards for Never the Sinner (1991). He eventually won the latter award at the 25th Laurence Olivier Awards (2001), as well as the Best Supporting Actor award at the 2001 Whatsonstage.com Theatregoers' Choice Theatre Awards, for his performance in the Arthur Miller play All My Sons. Other theatre credits include Tales From Hollywood (2001), Three Sisters (2003), Iphigenia at Aulis (2004), The God of Hell (2005), The Wild Duck (2005–2006) and Thérèse Raquin (2006). In 2008 Daniels made his Broadway début with American actress Laura Linney in a revival of Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Dangerous Liaisons), for which he was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play.