Benjamin Tan was born on July 9, 1989 in Singapore. His mother, May Orr, works in a Japanese manufacturing company. His father, Cheng-Jin Tan, is a taxi driver. He has an older brother, Xavier, who is a computer engineer. His family is of Chinese descent. He was educated in National University of Singapore, where he was a business finance major, before going on to Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute, Los Angeles, to study Method Acting. Tan is the only member in his family to pursue a career in acting, and he models at times too.
Tan developed an interest in performing when first encouraged by his high school teacher to join the school's Chinese Opera theatre group. In his first Chinese Opera performance, Tan played the protagonist, Third Dragon Prince, in the story of Ne Zha. Great reviews from the performance encouraged him to take up the title role of Villain Lu in the story of Justice Bao v Villain Lu the following year. These two experiences sparked his interest in the craft of acting and he went on to play an autistic teen in the play, "Crazy Love", the year after in college.
Driven by his hunger to grow as an actor, Tan enrolled himself into Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute, Los Angeles, shortly after he graduated from university. During his time in Los Angeles, he also started training in Classical Ballet, initially hoping to correct his posture, but he took a strong interest in the art form subsequently.
Tan gained national attention when he made his feature film debut in local director, Jack Neo's period movies, Long Long Time Ago (2016) and Long Long Time Ago 2 (2016). His portrayal of Ah Hee in both movies left a lasting impression on the audience because of his fluency in Hokkien, a dialect which was the main language used in both movies and one that not many young Singaporeans can speak today. The innocence and impulsiveness of a younger brother that he brought onscreen caught the attention of the audience nation-wide.
Tan is based in both Singapore and Los Angeles.
