José Ben Cura is an Argentine-born British actor, musician and director of film, television and theatre.
Early life
José Ben Cura[1] was born in Buenos Aires, the son of Argentine tenor/conductor José Cura. When he was a year old, he moved to Santo Stefano Belbo, Italy, where his father's grandfather was from. The family first lived in a convent while his father struggled to find work as an opera singer. He has two younger siblings, Yazmín and Nicolás.[1]
The family moved to France when he was six and then to Spain when he was 11. During this time, he frequently travelled with his parents around the world.[2]
Aged 24, he made his directorial debut with a film adaptation of August Strindberg's play Creditors.[6] for which he also wrote the screenplay and played one of the lead characters, Freddie Lynch.[7] Later that year, he starred in the UK premiere of the award-winning American play Next Fall at the Southwark Playhouse in London, UK.
In April 2013, he co-founded London-based production company Tough Dance Ltd. with actress and producer Andrea Deck.[8] The company's first production was award-winning feature film Creditors.
In 2015, he was cast in the US series The Royals as recurring character Holden. He later went on to star in British film White Island set in Ibiza, and based on the novel A Bus Could Run You Over written by Colin Butts, alongside Billy Zane and Billy Boyd.
Cura's directorial debut, Creditors, world-premiered at the Nordic International Film Festival in New York City on 31 October 2015.[9][10] The festival awarded it with an Honorable Mention in the Best Nordic Narrative Feature category.[11]Latin Post film critic David Salazar called the film "A triumphant debut."[12]Blazing Minds film critic Susanne Hodder said the actors "all give compelling performances, bringing their characters to life and giving them depth".[13]Screen Relish film critic Stuie Greenfield said that "Creditors is a beautiful, sometimes angry and surprising film that brings with it strong performances from the entire cast as well as an unexpected yet welcome twist",[14] while Movie Marker film critic Darryl Griffiths said that "Creditors is an incisive and accomplished piece of filmmaking [...], possessing a rich, powerful psychology that instills an unnerving modern-day relevance to age-old material."[15]Creditors received over ten awards from various film festivals, including Best Feature, Leading Actor, and Script/Writer for Cura.[16]
Also in 2017, Cura was cast as CIA operative Philip Shafer in French historical war movie 15 minutes de guerre (renamed L'Intervention), directed by Fred Grivois. Later that year, he played the role of Steve in the screen adaptation of British stage play Life is a Gatecrash, renamed Gatecrash and directed by Lawrence Gough, opposite Olivia Bonamy, Anton Lesser, and Sam West.
In 2018, Cura guest-starred in season 2 of CBS's Ransom and the first season of the TV series The Rook, opposite Olivia Munn.
In 2019, he was cast in Nicholas Wright's stage play 8 Hotels directed by Richard Eyre, world-premiering at the Chichester Festival Theatre, playing the lead role of José Ferrer opposite Tory Kittles, Emma Paetz, and Pandora Colin, opening 7 August of that year to excellent reviews: "Joe, played masterfully by Ben Cura, is wonderful as the philanderer who can accept his wife's adultery but not her lover's flaunting of it";[23] "Jose Ferrer [...] Ben Cura, who captures him very well, has a wonderful mutually mistrustful good-pals-act with the impressive Kittles";[24] "Ben Cura is excellent as Ferrer [...] with charisma to spare";[25] "Ben Cura plays José Ferrer as a much disappointed jobbing actor [...] playing Iago for peanuts opposite the better paid Robeson [...] This Ferrer becomes increasingly jealous of Robeson and is convinced that his wife, Uta Hagen [...] is having an affair with the charismatic Robeson (she is), which fills him with an angry cynicism that he can barely control with his erudite and scathing humour that cannot disguise his underlying lack of confidence. Cura's Ferrer is a brilliant creation: a brilliant Iago in fact."[26]
In 2021, Cura founded production company and music label W.I.P. Media.[27] Later that year, Cura released his debut music single Water on streaming platforms, accompanied by an official music video on VEVO[28] followed by second single Toutes Les Couleurs and its accompanying VEVO music video[29] and a third single Argento alongside a third VEVO music video.[30] On 30 July, he released his debut instrumental E.P. Extended Play No.1.[31]
