Ben McKenzie

## Relevant Pages

**Benjamin McKenzie Schenkkan** is an American actor who portrays James Gordon & Basil on Fox's *Gotham*.

## Biography

McKenzie was born in Austin, Texas, as Benjamin McKenzie Schenkkan, one of three boys born to Frances Victory Schenkkan, a poet, and Pieter Meade "Pete" Schenkkan, an attorney. His middle name, McKenzie, is his paternal grandmother's maiden name. His grandfather, Robert F. Schenkkan, was a professor at the University of Texas at Austin, and worked with President Lyndon B. Johnson on passing the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967. He is a nephew of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Robert Schenkkan, Jr.

For middle school, he attended St. Andrew's Episcopal School, where he was friends and flag football teammates with future Super Bowl MVP Drew Brees. He attended Austin High School, playing wide receiver and defensive back for the school's football team. From 1997–2001, he attended the University of Virginia, his father and paternal grandfather's alma mater, where he majored in foreign affairs and economics. He uses his middle name as his stage name to avoid confusion with actor Ben Shenkman.

## Trivia

* Uncle is Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Robert Schenkkan
* Education: Austin High, graduated 1997; University of Virginia, bachelor's degree 2001
* His paternal grandparents both did some acting when they were young. His 22-year-old brother Nate is a Yale graduate working in avant-garde theater in New York. Younger brother Zack, 19, is attending Pomona College, a half-hour away from Los Angeles, and still pondering his future.
* He followed his father and grandfather to the University of Virginia, where he graduated in 2001 with a degree in economics and foreign relations.
* Son of Austin attorney Pieter Schenkkan and poet-writer Mary Frances Victory.
* Has a manager, publicist and lawyer on the payroll (he's shopping for a new agent now that his career is taking off)
* He recently moved into a new apartment in Santa Monica and bought a sleek new Infiniti G35, which he concedes he spends more on than housing.
* Moved to New York City three weeks before 9/11
* While in New York he waited tables to help support himself and shared a bunk bed in a cramped apartment in the city.
* Mother: Frances Schenkkan will begin the master's program in creative writing at the University of Texas in the fall. She's been a newspaper reporter and editor, and in the 1980s she served on the Austin Planning Commission and the board of the Austin Child Guidance Center. She is a recipient of the Adele Steiner Burleson prize in poetry at the university. She and husband Pieter have three sons, Ben, Nate, and Zack.
* He graduated from the same high school in Austin that the Bush twins (Jenna Bush and Barbara Bush) graduated from. He was a senior the year they were freshmen.
* Second cousin of Sarah Drew
* Was a speaker at the Democratic National Convention on July 27, 2004.
* Was voted one of InStyle's "10 Hottest Bachelors Of Summer" in July 2005, placing at number 10.
* One of his grandfathers, Robert F. ("Bob") Schenkkan, was an early proponent of both PBS and NPR. In recognition of his work, Austin, Texas' public radio and television stations KUT-FM and KLRU-TV hosted a 90th birthday celebration for him in March 2007, at which McKenzie and many of Schenkkan's other grandchildren spoke.
* Played football with (quarterback of the New Orleans Saints) Drew Brees at Austin High School and then against Drew Brees when Drew transferred to a rival school. Is now a Saints fan.
* Best friends with Paul Wesley.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 http://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/benjamin-mckenzie/bio/189542
2. ↑ http://www.plainsite.org/attorneys/graves-dougherty-hearon-and-moody-pc/pieter-meade-schenkkan
3. ↑ http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/statesman/obituary.aspx?pid=148529709
4. ↑ http://www.texascollegetennis.com/?p=1880
5. ↑ http://uvamagazine.org/articles/before\_batman
6. ↑ http://www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2004/01/high-profile/