A young actor who lived and honed his talents in East Yorkshire has been cast in a lead role of a major upcoming film based on the Legend Of Zelda video game series.
Benjamin Evan Ainsworth will play Link in the big-budget movie that is currently being produced by Sony and Nintendo.
Benjamin has attended East Riding-based Northern Lights Drama Theatre School and Stagecoach Beverley. As well as stage roles, including as William Beech in an East Riding Theatre production of Goodnight Mister Tom, he has appeared in TV shows such as Emmerdale and Netflix’s The Haunting of Bly Manor.
One of his biggest roles to date was as the voice of Pinocchio in Disney’s live-action remake of the animated classic that was directed by veteran filmmaker Robert Zemeckis – of Back To The Future and Forrest Gump fame – and co-starred Tom Hanks as Geppetto.
The upcoming film, which will feature British actress Bo Bragason in the role of Zelda and be directed by Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes film-maker Wes Ball, will be based on the classic game series which started life on the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1986 and has since seen numerous instalments on various platforms, most recently Tears Of The Kingdom and Echoes Of Wisdom on Nintendo Switch.
The games focus on the adventures of Link, an elf-like member of the Hylian race who is usually clad in green, in the land of Hyrule.
Announcing Benjamin’s casting in The Legend Of Zelda, the franchise’s creator Shigeru Miyamoto said: “I am pleased to announce that for the live-action film of The Legend of Zelda, Zelda will be played by Bo Bragason-san, and Link by Benjamin Evan Ainsworth-san. I am very much looking forward to seeing both of them on the big screen.”
Nintendo has already seen huge success with the move to the big screen with its animated Super Mario Bros. Movie, created in collaboration with Universal Pictures and Illumination, becoming the biggest box office hit of 2023 worldwide.
The Legend Of Zelda is due to be released in cinemas in May 2027.