Since I've got a BA in filmmaking, I was involved in number of various productions. As a musician Im natural in front of the camera, did numerous music videos, often budged and were daily on tv since the band was one of the country majors...hunderds of tv appearances, live shows.

I am Croatian, grew up in Belgrade, so I can put on an authentic Eastern (South) European accent, I speak:Serbian, Croatian, English, Russian (not fluently), German and Swiss German.
With my old school tattoos and experience of observing the 'Balkan gangster' type of characters, I can transform into one of them, with tough, Slavic flavour... That 'privilege' helped in getting a major role in Havana Marking's (director of 'Afghan Star', Sundance film festival winner) new film 'Smash and Grab' about, Pink Panthers, glorified Serbian diamond robbers.. Filming just started (late September, 2011), produced by HBO (BBC Storyville and UK Film Council) it is set to appear in the cinemas this winter! Here is a short clip,

http://youtu.be/e9ERLtR-jeQ
And another,


http://youtu.be/9hz6cJrzg6g



Check out the page
and a trailer ( Im animated btw...they added me a few years with wrinkles. Also wasnt a big problem with hiding my tattoos since it all animated! Check it out:
http://www.facebook.com/smashandgrabthemovie
Also work as a voice over actor, check my profile made by Blockmedia, a production company that gave me various Voice over jobs: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0bnEYOLR-5k


On the other hand, 20 years of professional musicianship made me into what I am. So roles which require musicians are just about perfect!
I've just finished working with Angelina Jolie on her directorial debut, 'In the Land of Blood and Honey', I play a guitarist who gets killed. I am also recording music for the film.
Ok,hope this brief CV will help you in getting an idea of who I am as an actor. Please feel free to contact me. Im based in West London.
tomislavbenzon@gmail.com
Kind regards,
Tomislav Tom Benzon

Present:

Just finished working on Angelina Jolie's directorial début, which is coming out on 23Th of December. Apart from appearing as a musician in the film, I am recording music for it: 4 songs so far (guitar). Film is in the post production stage at the moment and with the band:' Dado Dzihan and Waves and Patterns' (originally made for film's purpose), one of our first official gigs will be at the première on 23th of December.
Recently, I've jonied Jack Savoretti's band.We finished recording his album with co writer: Steve Booker (Duffy, Alexandra Burke...) and another Grammy awards winner as our producer: Martin Terefe (Mary J Blige, James Morrison, Beverly Knight, Train, KT Tunstal..). Apart from the studio sessions, we are selling out venues like: the legendary Jazz Caffe London (London, Camden); Madame Jo- Jo's (London, Soho), Montreux Jazz Festival (Switzerland)...
Album was out last summer, we are touring UK second time with sold out venues in every town. Already the third single out, Breaking the Rules (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59m-keqLYBA&list=PL2AD54B849E58FE13&index=1&feature=plpp_video) which is, like the previous 2, daily played on BBC Radio2, Smooth FM and all around Europe at the moment. Some of the tunes from the new album were in series such as: One Tree Hill, Grey's Anatomy, Vampire Diaries (its a duo with an actress Sienna Miller)...Radio hosts like Sir Terry Wogan, Graham Norton, Jo Whiley, among others are the ones who keep promoting our album by playing it frequently. On top 20 Indie chards, the album is: number 5.
We were also invited on various tv shows, to mention just a few: New Britannia (Sky Atlantic), hosted by Morgan Spurlock (guy from Supersize me!); Got to Dance (Sky1), with our friend, dancer Adam Garcia who was tap dancing with his group to our lve performance. Check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNqIribeMVM&list=PL2AD54B849E58FE13&index=15&feature=plpp_video

History:
Years of full time playing and recording albums with various bands. Before UK, I lived in Croatia and played guitar for rock band Kojoti: 3 albums for Warner Bros, many number 1 singles, numerous tv and radio appearances. Next album was with my own band, The Cool Shakes where I was a front man (vocals and guitar) At the time I was touring Europe extensively. I moved to UK in 2004 and with Sonny West, started: The Congo Faith Healers (where I switched to doublebass) The band became quite unique for its cultural diversity and unusual mix of styles like: gypsy swing, blues, Cuban and Latin grooves with r'n'r and all that spiced with my own South Europoean musical heritage. In no time we became a favorite band for some of the UK's top artists like KT Tunstall and Franz Ferdinand... The band worked with another great UK producer, Chris Kimsey (known for working with Rolling Stones, Jimmy Cliff, New Model Army, INXS, Duran Duran...)

BBC2 and Mark LaMarr, featured as 'the best of the year' act in his show, where we performed live twice, 'Independent' rated us under' 10 top UK bands you must see!'...

In January, 2011, after 6 years of full time playing with Congo Faith Healers, due to our artistic differences, I moved on...
Watch this space :))