| Welcome to HerndonDavis.com! Home of The Herndon Davis Diversity Reports Educational, Inspirational, Motivational |
He wields an enormous amount of influence over your weekly TV and movie viewing habits, but you’ve
probably never met him. In fact he is the voice of CSI: New York,” “Cold Case,” Criminal Minds,
NUMB3RS, Entertainment Tonight, and Court TV. He is also the signature voice of Major League Baseball
and NASCAR for FOX Television.
And for the past several years he has voiced promotional trailers for some of Hollywood’s biggest movies.
His name is Ben Patrick Johnson, a Midwestern bred but Hollywood refined voice over artist, fitness model,
and novelist.
Just reading over his bio, you’d think Ben was a superman of talents because he wears so many different
hats all at the same time it seems. But before all of his current success there existed an overweight child,
the youngest of 6 children from St. Paul, Minnesota.
“That kid influences and informs all of my decisions today whether I would wish for him to or not. He’s
definitely still there, the fat clumsy kid who doesn’t know how to talk to people, [or] behave in social
situations” Johnson admits.
But you really couldn’t tell this today of Johnson who stands at 6’2” carrying 230 pounds of muscle with
arms and thighs the size of giant watermelons and a voice the sound of thunder.
probably never met him. In fact he is the voice of CSI: New York,” “Cold Case,” Criminal Minds,
NUMB3RS, Entertainment Tonight, and Court TV. He is also the signature voice of Major League Baseball
and NASCAR for FOX Television.
And for the past several years he has voiced promotional trailers for some of Hollywood’s biggest movies.
His name is Ben Patrick Johnson, a Midwestern bred but Hollywood refined voice over artist, fitness model,
and novelist.
Just reading over his bio, you’d think Ben was a superman of talents because he wears so many different
hats all at the same time it seems. But before all of his current success there existed an overweight child,
the youngest of 6 children from St. Paul, Minnesota.
“That kid influences and informs all of my decisions today whether I would wish for him to or not. He’s
definitely still there, the fat clumsy kid who doesn’t know how to talk to people, [or] behave in social
situations” Johnson admits.
But you really couldn’t tell this today of Johnson who stands at 6’2” carrying 230 pounds of muscle with
arms and thighs the size of giant watermelons and a voice the sound of thunder.
After spending a tumultuous year as a television personality for the entertainment show Extra, where he
claims to have been sidelined because he was openly gay, Johnson was still respected by many of peers and
as a result was able to secure voice over gigs all over Hollywood.
Years later he continues to be on top of his game where he’s heard hundreds of times per day all over the
world between radio, TV, and movie advertisements. His distinctive voice carries a lot of weight and
attention which often competes with his looks.
Ben has graced the covers of several magazines and also has appeared in books where he’s posed as a
fitness model. He’s also an avid fan of professional bodybuilding and WTA and ATP tennis, but it is writing
that appears to be Ben’s truest passion.
Using a mimeograph machine at his mother’s part-time job, at the age of 5, Ben reveals that “I would type
little books that were 6, 8 and 10 pages long and copy them on the mimeograph machine, staple and fold
them. I don’t think anyone ever read them but me.”
claims to have been sidelined because he was openly gay, Johnson was still respected by many of peers and
as a result was able to secure voice over gigs all over Hollywood.
Years later he continues to be on top of his game where he’s heard hundreds of times per day all over the
world between radio, TV, and movie advertisements. His distinctive voice carries a lot of weight and
attention which often competes with his looks.
Ben has graced the covers of several magazines and also has appeared in books where he’s posed as a
fitness model. He’s also an avid fan of professional bodybuilding and WTA and ATP tennis, but it is writing
that appears to be Ben’s truest passion.
Using a mimeograph machine at his mother’s part-time job, at the age of 5, Ben reveals that “I would type
little books that were 6, 8 and 10 pages long and copy them on the mimeograph machine, staple and fold
them. I don’t think anyone ever read them but me.”
| Returning in Spring 2006 to: The Dish Network, Channel 223 Time Warner Cable "The Healthy Living Channel" PRIME TIME Every Thursday evening 10pm Eastern, 9pm Central, 8pm Mountain, 7pm Pacific Additional Cable Outlets: Comcast, Adelphia, Charter |
Over 25 years later, he has two published books to his name, “In and Out In Hollywood” and “Third and
Heaven” along with a queue of others waiting for clearance, “We’ve got them lined up ready to take off
like the planes at LAX, ready to go” he jokes.
Although technically fiction, his first book parallels his own life experiencing homophobia at a prominent
TV entertainment magazine. His second book is a follow-up, taking a year-long peek into the diverse lives
of four gay friends in West Hollywood experiencing “romance, failed romance, drug addiction, and
stalkers and just the insanity of this environment in which we live” Johnson adds.
In his third book, Ben reveals that it is “largely a feminist piece… [with] four main characters but three of
them are heterosexual women; the story of three actresses who are all essentially vying to have the same
gown for the Oscars made by the same very hot young designer.”
As a writer, Ben shares that the character development in all of his books “are archetypal. Each character
speaks for a lot of people. I look at people’s life stories. Every character is to a certain extent the writer
and so I look for myself in these people. How would I feel emotionally? How would I feel finding out if I
had breast cancer, how would I feel if I just won the best actress or best actor [award]?”
With such a busy work schedule, Ben stresses that he does not try and find time to write but instead he
“makes time to write.” In fact his goal is to write for at least 1 hour a day but in reality it’s about 4-5
hours a week, sometimes more, right before a deadline.
When he’s not writing, modeling or doing voice over work, Ben still has found time do some acting in
front of the camera but the acting bug really hasn’t caught on just yet. “I have not yet taken on a full
dramatic role. I would entertain the idea but it is not something that I actively pursue. I think I am
reasonably talented as an actor, a lot of that has come from my voice over training.”
Even though he can write, model, sing, and act, surprisingly enough Ben really isn’t picture perfect. He
can’t dance, play team sorts, card games, or any games for that matter that involve strategy and oh, he’s
also bad with directions.
On his 10-20 year horizon, he foresees himself retiring from the voice-over business and becoming more
involved with consulting and various philanthropy initiatives such as Marriage Equality.
Finally, Ben’s simple advice to anyone seeking to pursue any of the areas in which he seems to freely and
effortlessly swim is “You’ll get a yes… you’re get 500 no’s. [so] believe in yourself and don’t give up!”
Heaven” along with a queue of others waiting for clearance, “We’ve got them lined up ready to take off
like the planes at LAX, ready to go” he jokes.
Although technically fiction, his first book parallels his own life experiencing homophobia at a prominent
TV entertainment magazine. His second book is a follow-up, taking a year-long peek into the diverse lives
of four gay friends in West Hollywood experiencing “romance, failed romance, drug addiction, and
stalkers and just the insanity of this environment in which we live” Johnson adds.
In his third book, Ben reveals that it is “largely a feminist piece… [with] four main characters but three of
them are heterosexual women; the story of three actresses who are all essentially vying to have the same
gown for the Oscars made by the same very hot young designer.”
As a writer, Ben shares that the character development in all of his books “are archetypal. Each character
speaks for a lot of people. I look at people’s life stories. Every character is to a certain extent the writer
and so I look for myself in these people. How would I feel emotionally? How would I feel finding out if I
had breast cancer, how would I feel if I just won the best actress or best actor [award]?”
With such a busy work schedule, Ben stresses that he does not try and find time to write but instead he
“makes time to write.” In fact his goal is to write for at least 1 hour a day but in reality it’s about 4-5
hours a week, sometimes more, right before a deadline.
When he’s not writing, modeling or doing voice over work, Ben still has found time do some acting in
front of the camera but the acting bug really hasn’t caught on just yet. “I have not yet taken on a full
dramatic role. I would entertain the idea but it is not something that I actively pursue. I think I am
reasonably talented as an actor, a lot of that has come from my voice over training.”
Even though he can write, model, sing, and act, surprisingly enough Ben really isn’t picture perfect. He
can’t dance, play team sorts, card games, or any games for that matter that involve strategy and oh, he’s
also bad with directions.
On his 10-20 year horizon, he foresees himself retiring from the voice-over business and becoming more
involved with consulting and various philanthropy initiatives such as Marriage Equality.
Finally, Ben’s simple advice to anyone seeking to pursue any of the areas in which he seems to freely and
effortlessly swim is “You’ll get a yes… you’re get 500 no’s. [so] believe in yourself and don’t give up!”
| Empowering The World's Diversity |
| Ben Patrick Johnson: The Voice of CSI: New York by: Herndon L. Davis |
Photo Credit: Matthew Mitchell
Photo Credit: Matthew Mitchell
| |||||||||||||
Copyrighted 2006
Herndon Davis is an author, lecturer, and TV/Radio Host of The Herndon Davis Reports. He can be
reached directly at http://herndondavis.com
Herndon Davis is an author, lecturer, and TV/Radio Host of The Herndon Davis Reports. He can be
reached directly at http://herndondavis.com