Benjamin O’Mahoney is best known to viewers as Victor Brothers in the Channel 4 soap Hollyoaks.
His soap villain alter-ego has stunned fans with a string of dramatic storylines in grooming a number of village’s kids into selling drugs during his reign of terror, before it landed him in the slammer.
But away from his bad boy character, actor Benjamin, who describes himself as “a lad from London with a degree in make-believe,” leads a very different life.
READ MORE: Hollyoaks autumn trailer teases Victor's return, death tragedy and killer exposed
Many fans may not know that the star is currently working on his passion project as he builds his own drama school and trains some of the UK’s newest TV stars.
As fans get set to welcome him back to our screens in his highly anticipated soap return, Daily Star has taken a look at the actor behind the role.
Soap return
His huge return was recently was revealed by Channel 4 bosses as Benjamin got set to reprise his role as bad boy Victor Brothers.
Victor was last seen stabbing Sid Sumner after he tried to turn him in to the police for grooming kids to sell drugs.
Ollie Morgan took over from Sid’s mission and succeeded in bringing Victor down, landing him in the slammer after he was incarcerated for bossing the County Lines drug drama.
Sid, who has since become a police officer, is seen receiving a message from Victor, who is still behind bars for what he did.
An Autumn trailer from the soap show’s Sid receiving the message from Victor, before we see him sat behind bars with vengeance in his eyes.
The gang boss is now set to thrill viewers as he is hellbent on getting his revenge on Sid and making his escape from prison when he is allowed out to attend his mother’s funeral.
Second Job
Benjamin clearly has a passion for his craft and the actor is keen to share his talents with others.
When the London-born star isn’t filming for his highly anticipated return to Hollyoaks, he is working on his passion project – teaching acting classes.
The star currently runs Drama Playground, which was created “to support you throughout your acting journey, offering acting classes that run from absolute beginners right through to seasoned professionals.”
The classes start £199 and run up to £269.99.
Reviews on the site offer a glowing tribute to Benjamin’s skills, with one gushing: "The confidence I gained through all my preparation with Ben, allowed me to go into the audition space comfortable and self-assured.
"Resulting in me booking the lead role in my first West End Show!”
Another added: "After working with Ben I finally managed to break the cycle of fear I had around auditions and started producing work I was genuinely proud of. Plus I definitely started booking more jobs."
And Benjamin certainly has the experience to lead others, having appeared in rival soap Doctors as Stefan Atkins in 2019 and starred in Ripper Street as Det. Sgt. Frank Thatcher in 2016.
Family heartbreak
Benjamin’s life away from Hollyoaks is a far cry from his alter-ego Victor.
He's happily married to his wife of three years, Emma Rowe.
The star often gushes about his beautiful bride on Instagram, showing fans a glimpse of their stunning wedding.
But the pair have faced their own tragedy after Benjamin shared they had suffered two miscarriage last year.
He told fans: In the last few months we have experienced two miscarriages (on top of 2 failed rounds of IVF in spring).
“When the 1st miscarriage came knocking at our door we were wholly unprepared for how violent the sense of loss would be; all our hopes and dreams for the months and years ahead were gone in an instant and we were left with a sense of emptiness.
“When the 2nd came it felt almost familiar, and for the first time I truly understood what it meant to be "triggered"; but what is worse the 2nd time round is that what you could previously rationalise as a freak occurrence now starts to feel like a pattern, and in the darker moments I confess I find myself stupidly asking whether there's something broken in us.”
He went on to thank their wonderful friends and family for their support and stress how important it is to just “take a moment to be honest and open about the long-term scars the miscarriage can leave on your life.”
Hollyoaks now streams first on All 4, with new episodes dropping each weekday morning. The show airs Mondays to Fridays at 6.30pm on Channel 4 with first look episodes at 7pm on E4
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