Benjamin Grant Mitchell
Benjamin Grant Mitchell (born 2 June 1969 in Manchester, England)[1] is a writer, singer and actor now living in Melbourne, Australia. He is the author of The Last Great Day, an 'autobiographical novel released in 2011. Generally credited as Ben Mitchell, his full name was first recorded for playing ‘‘Troy Keogh’’ in a 1996 episode of Blue Heelers titled ‘Sex & Death’.
As a singer/songwriter he released The Stars Can See through MGM distribution in 2006. While it received strong reviews in England (Americana UK) and The Netherlands (Hanx) and locally he is perhaps better known for roles in the long running Australian soap opera, Neighbours.
Neighbours
His first appearance on the Television drama was in 1989, as a Coffee Shop customer who ordered a steak, despite Kerry Bishop’s attempts to get him to order vegetarian. Later that year, He played the role of Brad Willis for two episodes. In the same year Mitchell played the role of Bevan Quinn in Skirts, a short-lived police drama for the Channel 7 network by Simpson Le Mesurier Films.
In 1992 he returned to Neighbours for his longest running role of Cameron Hudson – a motorcycle riding lawyer and cousin of his first named role of Brad Willis (who was now played by Scott Michaelson). Cameron shared a house with Beth Brennan played by Natalie Imbruglia.
The Stars Can See
Mitchell lived and worked in London from 1998 to 2004 where he wrote and recorded the songs for his debut album, The Stars Can See. It features Claire Worrall from Robbie Williams band on keyboards, Pete Cuthbert on drums, Ben Sargeant on bass guitar and was co-produced by Mitchell and Ken Brake at Regal Lane Studios, Primrose Hill.
The Stars Can See was released by MGM Distribution and picked up by a handful of alternative radio stations in Australia including 3JJJ, 3RRR and most notably PBS 106.7FM. Acid Country with David Heard, Claire Stuchbery’s No Frills and Jacqueline Dee’s, Tyranny of Distance all played tracks from the debut album in 2006.
Return to Australia
In 2008, after more than a ten-year break from acting, Mitchell returned to television to play his third character on Neighbours, taking the guest role of Matt Freedman, father to Simon (Mauricio Merino, Jr.) and Tegan Freedman (Chelsea Jones).
The Last Great Day
In April, 2011 Mitchell independently published his first novel, The Last Great Day (ISBN 978-0-646-55032-9).