About Ben

Ben is not only into acting and moderating.

He went from drumming with his band KIM? and facing a massive burnout and anxiety disorder to become a licensed yoga & kitesurf teacher, a qualified and transatlantic sailor and experienced seaman, a certified kayak, climbing & wildlife guide and he was also working as an agricultural assistant, being able to herd sheep, to milk cows and to make cheese. 

HERE’S TO THE FULL STORY:

• Ben’s full name is Benjamin Hoffmann, but everybody calls him Ben. He was born in the most southern area of Germany and grew up in a small town called Sonthofen, surrounded by mountains, lakes and agriculture, 2 hours south of Munich.

  His love for movies and acting began very early when he appeared in front of the camera for the very first time at the age of 7. His first role was in a socially critical short film which was produced and filmed by his parents and their friends in order to criticize the classical gender roles that society suggested.

  

• As a student Ben wasn’t always easy to handle.

  His attention span had a very low range and pretty early he began to skip school in order to play the drums and be creative in all kind of ways. He left secondary school after the 10th grade to start a 3-years-formation in a music promotion company where he was promoting and tourmanaging rock bands and singer/songwriters.

• On Xmas eve 2001, he also founded his own group kim?.
  Ben’s twenties were pretty much dominated by kim?‘s recording, touring and promotion cycles.

  The band signed with sony g.u.n. records and wrote the official hymn „wolfsherz“ for the handball bundesliga season 2009. The video to the single was frequently shown on tv while the band was playing hundreds of concerts.

  

• At one point Ben’s energy reserves were gone as he was always the one to party hard, drink too much and forget to eat.

  So he found himself in hospital where he was diagnosed with a massive anxiety burnout and stress disorder.
  On his long way back to the stage he started to do yoga, discovered a healthier lifestyle and moved to Essen in the west of Germany.

• But licking wounds and taking care about his inner balance didn’t mean that he stayed inside his comfort zone for too long.

  As the band took it a little easier on touring for a while Ben started to work as an outdoor guide and gained several licenses which allowed him to work as a guide for kayaking, climbing and survival activities.

  

• In 2017 he gave away most of his personal belongings, left his apartment and started living in his campervan for the next 4 years.

  Within this timespan the explorer and adventurer inside him got his full attention when he finished two formations to become both a kitesurf trainer and a yoga teacher.

• Ben took one year off in 2018 to join various courses and trainings in Italy and northern Germany to become a sailor and finally be able to work as a seaman.

  He took his van and traveled to the United Kingodm where he spent the summer in Wales, working as a wildlife guide on tourist boats. During the following winter he flew to Argentina to do the same job, telling people about the local wildlife including sea lions, whales and orcas around the Peninsula Valdès.

  

• The beginning of the pandemic in 2020 made him return to Europe and he moved to the Canary Islands in Spain.

  He continued to work as a kayak guide and made some extra money by teaching english, german and also spanish, which he had picked up in Argentina. In 2021 he decided to join a small crew to sail up the Atlantic, delivering an old Italian sailing yacht from La Palma over the Azores to Ireland, which meant to cover 2500 nautical miles in 4 weeks.

• Back on La Palma he rented a little house with two rooms directly at the coast.

  He identified 100% with the life on the island, but when La Palma suffered a dramatic volcanic eruption in 2021 he escaped to the bigger neighbor Tenerife where he was working as a kitesurf and yoga teacher again.

  

• In spring 2023 Ben realized that the only thing that was missing on the Canaries was to release his creative energy.

  So he decided to go back to Germany to start a 2- years-formation to become an actor.

• 

  Camera acting then pretty quickly became one of the core things in his life. Ben finished his 2 years acting formation at a private acting school in Cologne and keeps on working with his private acting coach Johanna Paliatsou.

  In 2025 Ben also took a step forward to express his love for the oceans and became an offshore crew member for Sea Sheperd – an organization that is defending marine wildlife and protecting their habitat.
  Ben is working as a co-skipper and rhib pilot for Sea Sheperd on various international missions. He’s also giving school workshops for Sea Sheperd and joined the International ocean film tour as a moderator.

TO BE CONTINUED.