Joseph Daniel Turner Mawle (born 21st March 1974, in Oxford, Oxfordshire) is an English actor. He's best known for his roles as Benjen Stark in Game of Thrones, Odysseus in Troy: Fall of a City, Jedediah Shine in Ripper Street and Adar in The Rings of Power.
Raised on a farm, Mawle was diagnosed with dyslexia in his early teens and attended a boarding school for students with special needs. He left school at sixteen to become an actor, though he later contracted labyrinthitis, leaving him partially deaf. Despite these challenges, he continued to pursue acting, winning a scholarship to Bristol Old Vic Theatre School; he graduated in 2002 and got his first major role in a production of Troilus and Cressida in 2003 (he also previously had a bit part in the 1998 miniseries Merlin, the one starring Sam Neill in the title role). His role in the 2006 TV film Soundproof was critically acclaimed and earned him a nomination for the Royal Television Society Breakthrough on Screen Award.
Mawle continued to appear in stage productions, television series and TV films over the years, gaining more prominence in the 2010s after being cast as Benjen Stark in hit fantasy series Game of Thrones.
Filmography includes:
- Merlin (1998) as Village Man
- Troilus and Cressida (2003) as Troilus
- Soundproof (2006) as Dean Whittingham (TV film)
- Silent Witness (2006) as Adrian Burney
- Persuasion (2007) as Harry Harville
- Clapham Junction (2007) as Tim (TV film)
- Heartless (2009) as Papa B
- Waking the Dead (2009) as Stefan Koscinski
- Merlin (2009) as Alvarr ("The Witch's Quickening")
- Poirot (2010) as Antonio Foscarelli (Murder on the Orient Express)
- Game of Thrones (2011; 2016 – 2017) as Benjen Stark
- Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012) as Thomas Lincoln
- The Tunnel (2013) as Stephen Beaumont
- Ripper Street (2013; 2016) as Det. Insp. Jedediah Shine
- The Hallow (2015) as Adam Hitchens
- Sense8 (2015) as Nyx
- In the Heart of the Sea (2015) as Benjamin Lawrence
- Troy: Fall of a City (2018) as Odysseus
- Mr Jones (2019) as George Orwell
- The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022) as Adar
- 1923 (2023) as Captain Shipley
Tropes associated with his roles include:
- Disabled Character, Disabled Actor: He's partially deaf and portrayed a profoundly deaf man accused of murder in the Made-for-TV Movie Soundproof.
- Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Two of his most famous roles, Benjen Stark and Adar, see him depicted as pale, black-haired and off-putting; Adar is a deathly-pale corrupted elf leading hordes of orcs and while Benjen doesn't start out creepy (with his physical features being a common trait amongst the Starks), he certainly fits the bill when he reappears as a visibly-decaying undead wight (though in this case he's Creepy Good).
