Kingston ‘boy’ crowned Narnia’s prince

6:47am Monday 19th February 2007

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Kingston actor Ben Barnes is on his way to becoming the next Johnny Depp, after bagging the lead role in the next film in the blockbusting Narnia series.

Ben, who studied English and drama at Kingston University, has been picked to play Prince Caspian in the second film adaptation of C S Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia.

He is currently filming in New Zealand, ahead of the scheduled release of the film in 2008.

But he will be seen on screen this year too, alongside A-listers Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer, Sir Ian McKellen, Peter O'Toole and Sienna Miller in Matthew Vaughn's fantasy flick Stardust.

He also stars in independent film Bigga than Ben, about Eastern Europeans in London, which is due out this year.

Ben, 25, who grew up in Wimbledon, had good preparation for being a Hollywood heartbreaker while he was at Kingston University, playing the lead in the drama department's production of Don Juan.

He also had a brush with fame in 2004 when he became a Eurovision hopeful with a band called Hyrise.

But leaving pop behind, he toured with the stage production of Alan Bennett's The History Boys before getting big screen recognition.

And, true to the Hollywood tradition, Ben will be playing someone much younger than he is in real life as his character Prince Caspian is a 12-year-old boy.