Ben Ashenden


Ben Ashenden is a British-Irish actor, writer and comedian. He is half of the double-act, The Pin, with Alexander Owen, with whom he has made four series for BBC Radio 4, picking up nominations at the 2017 Writers' Guild Awards. and Radio Academy Awards, and winning the BBC Radio Award for Best Comedy.

Early life

Ashenden was born on September 23rd 1989 in Watford, Hertfordshire, and grew up in Radlett. His father is a builder and his mother is a bookseller. He has one sister. He went to the Haberdashers' Aske's School for Boys in the same year as Alex Petrides, and performed with the Chicken Shed Theatre Company before studying English Literature at the University of Cambridge. He lives in London with his wife

Career

Ashenden met his double-act colleague, Alexander Owen, at the University of Cambridge, where they both performed with the Cambridge Footlights as part of the first troupe to tour America in a show directed by Liam Williams and Daran Johnson.
Upon graduation the pair took their sketch act, The Pin, to the Edinburgh Fringe. Their most recent show, The Pin: Backstage, was described by The Guardian as “one of Edinburgh’s most dazzling comedy shows”, and is now in development with .
As an actor, his film credits include Bridget Jones Baby,, and. His TV credits include Avenue 5, The English Game, W1A, Stath Lets Flats, Brotherhood, Plebs and Sky Christmas special, .
As a writer, he co-created the animated series for BBC3, and has written for BBC1 shows Walliams and Friend andTracey Ullman's Show, BBC3's , and Showtime’s Who is America?
The Pin have made a soon-to-be-released 8-part series for Audible, co-starring Fred Armisen, Cecily Strong, Jamie Demetriou, Lolly Adefope and Kate Berlant.