Nathaniel Robert (Nat) Benchley

Much to the astonishment of his family, Nat Benchley graduated from The (former) Choate School and Stanford University without being arrested. A long time ago.

He has been a freelance actor/writer for 24 years. Prior to disdaining regular work, he wrote and produced public relations for WETA, the Washington, D.C. public television station, worked on a White House national drug abuse prevention campaign and served in the Philippines and Viet Nam in the U.S. Naval Security Group during the unpopular Southeast Asian dust-up.

He was proud to work with the FBI National Academy, writing a film about their exceptional program in Quantico, VA.

He was also pleased to work with Nick Olcott on two productions for Radio Theater of the Air, "Seven Days in May" and "The Caine Mutiny Court Martial."

These days, he narrates educational films on- and off-camera and is heard across the country on commercials and documentaries for the National Geographic's "Explorer" series and many of The Discovery Channel's documentaries.

He was seen staggering around the precinct as Det. Augie Polk in the first two seasons of HBO's gritty series "The Wire."

His stage work has earned him plaudits and award nominations, as well as the singular moniker "The Burly Deadpan," due largely to the influence of Peter Cook, John Cleese and an old-time humorist named Robert Benchley. At the end of the 20th-Century Nat crusaded for word-based comedy by reviving stage productions of "Beyond the Fringe" and "Good Evening" for Washington-area audiences (both directed by Nick Olcott). The Washington Post's theater critic noted that "Benchley is a graceful performer who, like many talented funny men, suggests undercurrents of both melancholy and rage." (He has promised to keep the rage under control in the future.)

In 1995 he published an article in Nantucket Magazine chronicling his grandfather's adventures on that mid-ocean speck of heaven.

Nat lives in New York with his wife, Kathleen Peacock Benchley.

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