Ben Sharples

Ben Sharples is an American actor, screenwriter and producer known for his role as Jack Hafey in the Takashi Shimizu horror movie Flight 7500 (2014) opposite Ryan Kwanten and Amy Smart. He is the writer, producer, director and lead actor of the comedy feature film Gentlemen's Fury (2017) which was nominated for Best Feature and took home Best Actor for Sharples at the Sunscreen Film Festival West. Ben played real estate mogul Stephen in the underground romantic comedy hit film X's & O's (2007), reported by the New York Times to be downloaded over 150,000 times in one week. He also appeared in the season three opening episode of 90210 (2008) as a professional tennis player who takes out Teddy Montgomery. The pilot episode of Ben's comedy series Quarantine Assassin (2020) tied for first place at Everybody Digital Film Festival's Stay Creative Challenge, and his thriller short Taken In (2020) won Best Thriller at The Hollywood Blood Horror Festival. Sharples was born in Hollywood, CA. He lived on the island of Kwajalein from ages two to four, then relocated to Manhattan Beach, CA where he grew up. He discovered his love of filmmaking at age 13, when he began making movies with his friends and an RCA camcorder. He pursued his interest further at Crossroads School in Santa Monica, CA, focusing on film studies. He took an acting class on a dare while at the University of California, Berkeley and loved it so much that he went on to drama school at the American Conservatory Theater, graduating from their MFA Program. An accomplished tennis player, Ben was awarded Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player three years in a row by the Crossroads School tennis team. He finished his junior career ranked in the top twenty in Southern California and went on to play for the U.C. Berkeley men's tennis team for four years. He coached professional tennis player Zack Fleishman at the U.S. Open in 2011.