VANCOUVER ACTING
CLASSES + WORKSHOPS
A recipient of over a dozen awards, including the 2013 UBCP/ACTRA John Juliani Award for Outstanding Achievement, Ben has amassed over 100 film and TV acting credits, including lead roles in feature films that have played at prestigious festivals such as TIFF, Sundance, and Berlin. As a writer/director/producer, Ben has helmed 2 award-winning, theatrically released feature films: Down River (9 wins and 12 nominations, including Most Popular Canadian Film at VIFF 2013 and Best Feature at the 2014 Soho International Film Festival, NYC) and Moving Malcolm (4 wins and 1 nomination, including Best Feature Film at the 2003 Washington D.C. Film Festival). He has also written and/or directed and produced numerous short films and web series episodes, has directed Robson Arms for CTV, and has developed several original television series for Canadian networks.
For theatre, Ben has appeared in many plays including This, by Melissa James Gibson, Dinner with Friends, by Donald Margulies, and Italian American Reconciliation by John Patrick Shanley. Early in his career, Ben was nominated for a Jessie Richardson award for his portrayal of “Bobby” in David Mamet’s American Buffalo. He has also directed numerous plays, including the Canadian Premieres of Tommy Smith’s White Hot and Christopher Shinn’s Dying City, as well as Either We Talk Or We Don’t Talk, created in collaboration with actors from Haven Studio. In 2020, Ben wrote and directed the one-man show Casey and the Octopus for the inspiring and dynamic 19-year-old cancer survivor Casey Wright.
Next up for Ben is feature film, Are We Done Now?, which he created and directed and features many Haven Acting Studio actors in lead roles. HBO’s Westworld director/executive producer Richard J. Lewis has come on board as executive producer.
Ben started his teaching career in 1995, under the tutelage of his mentor Ivana Chubbuck (author, The Power of the Actor). He has also studied with and been greatly influenced by Larry Moss (author, The Intent to Live), Patsy Rodenburg (author, The Second Circle), and Canada’s Mel Tuck.
Having taught acting in Vancouver, Los Angeles and across Canada, Ben established Haven Acting Studio in Vancouver’s Mount Pleasant neighbourhood in 2002. He and his team at Haven Acting Studio continue to offer extremely in-demand classes to both top-notch veteran actors and ambitious up-and-coming performers.
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TESTIMONIALS
Matthew Kevin Anderson
"I’ve been working with Ben Immanuel in Haven Studio for years. I love Ben and his space because it is professional, holds you to a high standard and creates exciting work. The material and peers in the studio make for a great scene study that challenges and stretches my muscles and imagination. I’ve studied in many places in many cities and I come back to this studio time and time again. It keeps my heart pounding and my blood flowing. I leave there exhausted like leaving the gym after an amazing workout. Totally spent yet full to the brim. See you there."
Recurring on Skymed (CBS) and Chesapeake Shores, Turner & Hooch,
The Murders (CityTV), Supernatural (CW), Travelers (Netflix)
Awards
2020 Hollywood North Film Awards Best Supporting Performer
Bradley Stryker
"Actors need to act. Haven Acting Studio and Ben provide a safe place to explore your craft while getting notes on how to grow yourself and your instrument. I'm a firm believer in getting on my feet, doing the work, and exploring the possibilities of any given text. Ben provides just that opportunity, and he does so in a passionate manner in which you know he really cares about you and your growth as an actor."
Recurring in Devil in Ohio, Lost in Space & Stargate Universe, Animal Kingdom, Let Him Go and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit