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Ben McKenzie was born and raised in Texas. Following his graduation from the University of Virginia where he was an Economics and Foreign Affairs major, he moved to New York to find work as an actor. 
 
In 2003, he was cast as the lead of the hit Fox series _The OC _which aired for four seasons.

 More recently, he is seen in TIFF premiered MOTOR CITY, Potsy Ponciroli's violent crime thriller set in 1977 Detroit, alongside Alan Ritchson and starred in the J-horror film BLOAT. He also made his feature film directorial debut with the documentary EVERYONE IS LYING TO YOU FOR MONEY, which explores cryptocurrency fraud and premiered at SXSW London. His book Easy Money debuted on the New York Times Bestseller list, and he was named a face of the anti-crypto movement by TIME Magazine.

Ben has appeared in several films, including Junebug with Amy Adams and _88 Minutes starring _Al Pacino. He received praise for his solo turn in the independent film Johnny Got His Gun, based on a novel by Dalton Trumbo and he also co-starred in Some Kind of Beautiful with Pierce Brosnan and Salma Hayek.
 
Ben’s other film credits include _Decoding Annie Parker _opposite Helen Hunt and a starring role in the short film The Eight Percent which screened at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival.
 
In 2009, Ben returned to series television as a patrol officer on the streets of Los Angeles in Southland Executive Produced by John Wells. The critically acclaimed show ran for five years. Ben has also guest starred on the comedy Men at Work.
 
Ben starred as ‘Detective James Gordon’ on the hit Fox series Gotham, which was the origin story behind Detective Gordon’s rise to prominence in Gotham City in the years before Batman’s arrival. The show premiered in the fall of 2014 and aired for five seasons.
 
Ben made his directorial debut in the Season 3 of _Gotham, _with episode 316. In Season 4, Ben became even more creatively involved in the show by writing episode 404 and directing his second episode, 416. For the fifth and final season, Ben directed episode 506 and wrote episode 509.
 
In 2019, Ben returned to the big screen in Scott Z Burns’ The Report, alongside Adam Driver and Annette Benning, which premiered at Sundance where it was acquired by Amazon Studios.
 
Ben also starred alongside Aaron Eckhart in Steve C. Miller’s action-thriller _Line of Duty _as the antagonist in the film which follows a cop to find a kidnap victim whose abductor was accidentally killed.

Ben resides in New York City with his wife, actress Morena Baccarin, and their children.