Joseph Mawle

Joseph Daniel Turner Mawle (born 21 March 1974) is an English actor. Mawle is best known for his roles as Benjen Stark in Game of Thrones, Det. Insp. Jedediah Shine in Ripper Street, Firebrace in Birdsong and Jesus Christ in The Passion.

Mawle was born in Oxford. He grew up in a Victorian manor house on a farm outside Shipston-on-Stour, Warwickshire. He is one of three children from a family with a history of nine generations of farming in Warwickshire. His mother was a teacher. His father Richard still farms the land.

He attended the Croft prep school on the outskirts of Stratford-upon-Avon where he was diagnosed as severely dyslexic and as a result he went from the ages of 13 to 16 at a boarding school for special needs. Mawle left the school at 16 to become an actor, but contracted labyrinthitis, leaving him 70 per cent hearing-impaired in the upper register and with tinnitus. He persuaded the director of the local college at Stratford-upon-Avon to let him study for a BTEC in performing arts while doing an assortment of jobs such as fitness instructor and dish-washer. He also did some acting for the Box Clever Theatre Company and in his own production of Solo Hamlet. He won a scholarship to study at the Bristol Old Vic's theatre school.

Mawle graduated from Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in 2002 in the same year he appeared in the Irish Hurling TV adverts for Guinness. He left in 2002 with no agent and worked as an assistant in a special needs school. He landed his first major role in a 2003 production of Troilus and Cressida playing Troilus for Shakespeare at the Tobacco factory, work at the Nuffield Theatre, Southampton, in Hamlet and in 2005 the Royal Exchange, Manchester's production of Antony & Cleopatra followed.

It was his performance in the television film Soundproof in 2006 that made his biggest impact where a deaf actor was needed for the lead role. Mawle was nominated for the RTS Breakthrough on Screen Award and director Ed Coulthard won the BAFTA for best director in 2007.

He has appeared in a number of British television productions since including Dunkirk winner of the Huw Wheldon BAFTA Award for Factual Drama and in Adrian Shergold's Persuasion and Channel 4's gay drama Clapham Junction in the role of Tim. Time Out said "Mawle and Treadaway put in Bafta-winning efforts". In 2008 he starred as Jesus in BBC/HBO Films miniseries of The Passion, and as a guest star in Foyle's War "Broken Souls" episode.

In 2008 Mawle returned to the theatre in The Last Days of Judas Iscariot at the Almeida Theatre directed by Rupert Goold. Listed for Outstanding Newcomer by the Evening Standard Theatre Awards and nominated for WhatsOnStage Theatre Choice Awards for Best Newcomer for his performance as Judas.

In 2009 Mawle featured in films Nineteen Eighty (part of the Red Riding Trilogy) directed by James Marsh and in Heartless by Philip Ridley and in the spring in Dominic Savage's Freefall opposite Dominic Cooper and Aidan Gillen. In the same year, he starred in episode 4 of Jimmy McGovern's The Street.

In 2010 Mawle featured in artist David Austen's End of Love and in the short film Sometimes The Moon Is Velvet, which toured festivals. He also appeared in Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express, BBC drama Five Daughters, Dominic Savage's Dive and Made in Dagenham starring Sally Hawkins. He also starred with Rosamund Pike as lovers Gerald Crich and Gudrun Brangwen in the 2011 BBC Four television adaptation of Women in Love.

In 2011 Mawle joined the HBO series Game of Thrones as Benjen Stark in Season 1. Mawle returned to the role in Season 6 after an absence of five seasons.

Mawle appeared in several projects in 2012 including the Working Title production of Sebastian Faulks's acclaimed novel Birdsong, the Bruce Willis film "The Cold Light of Day", the Tim Burton-produced Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, and the independent British film Shell.

In 2011, he was featured in The Horrible Crowes' music video for their debut single "Behold the Hurricane".

2013 saw Mawle portray Stephen Beaumont in The Tunnel, and Detective Inspector Jedediah Shine on Ripper Street. Mawle had a lead role in the horror film The Hallow.

• 1998: Merlin as Village Man (TV mini-series)
• 2002: Sir Gadabout, the Worst Knight in the Land as Sir Tificate (TV series)
• 2004: Dunkirk as Lt. Ian Cox (TV film)
• 2006: Soundproof as Dean Whittingham (TV film)
• 2006: Silent Witness as Adrian Burney in "Schism"—2 parts (TV series) –
• 2006: Dalziel and Pascoe as Charlie Barron in "The Cave Woman"—2 parts (TV series)
• 2006: The Secret Life of Mrs. Beeton as Fred (TV film)
• 2007: Persuasion as Harry Harville (TV film)
• 2007: Holby Blue as Simon Jenkins in episode "Simon Jenkins" (TV series)
• 2007: Clapham Junction as Tim (TV film)
• 2008: Foyle's War as Fred Dawson in episode "Broken Souls" (TV series)
• 2008: The Passion as Jesus in 4 episodes (TV mini-series)
• 2008: Lezione 21 as Musician
• 2009: Free Agents in 1 episode (TV series)
• 2009: Red Riding: In the Year of Our Lord 1980 as the Ripper
• 2009: Freefall as Jim (TV film)
• 2009: After Tomorrow as James (short)
• 2009: The Street as Keiran in 1 episode (TV series)
• 2009: Heartless as Papa B
• 2009: Waking the Dead as Stefan Koscinski in 2-part episode "Substitute" (TV series)
• 2009: Merlin as Alvarr in Season 2, Episode 11 "The Witch's Quickening" (TV series)
• 2010: Five Daughters as Tom Stephens in 3 episodes (TV series)
• 2010: Sometimes the Moon is Velvet as Jack (short)
• 2010: Dive as Gary (TV film)
• 2010: Agatha Christie's Poirot as Antonio Foscarelli in 1 episode "Murder on the Orient Express" (TV series)
• 2010: Deathless as Max Serloom (short)
• 2010: Made in Dagenham as Gordon
• 2011: Women in Love as Gerald Crich in 2-part episode (TV series)
• 2011, 2016: Game of Thrones as Benjen Stark in 5 episodes (TV series)
• 2011: The Awakening as Edward Judd
• 2012: The Cold Light of Day as Gorman
• 2012: Birdsong as Jack Firebrace (TV film)
• 2012: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter as Thomas Lincoln
• 2012: Shell as Pete
• 2013: Half of a Yellow Sun as Richard
• 2013: The Tunnel as Stephen Beaumont
• 2013: Ripper Street as Det. Insp. Jedediah Shine
• 2015: The Hallow as Adam Hitchens
• 2015: Sense8 (TV series) as Nyx
• 2015: In the Heart of the Sea (film) as Benjamin Lawrence
• 2018: Troy: Fall of a City as Odysseus

• 2003: Troilus and Cressida as Troilus (Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory)
• 2004: Hamlet (the Nuffield Theatre, Southampton)
• 2005: Antony & Cleopatra (Royal Exchange, Manchester)
• 2008: The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (the Almeida Theatre)