Benjamin Walker is the son of a music teacher mother and a father who Walker describes as having had "a number of different careers". He has one older brother. Walker was educated at Cartersville High School in Georgia and the Interlochen Arts Academy in Traverse City, Michigan, before studying acting at the Juilliard School in New York. Whilst at Juilliard, Walker got his first experiences of performing for paying audiences as a stand-up comedian. His acting break came in 2007, when he was cast as Bertram Cates in a Broadway production of ’Inherit the Wind’. Further theater roles followed, including playing Andrew Jackson in the rock musical ’Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson’, which was critically acclaimed.