BIG BEN

Aussie actor BEN MILLIKEN talks about playing a good guy with a dodgy past in the action thriller Run & Gun...

- DAVID MICHAEL BROWN

Channelling the dusty desert set crime sprees of No Country for Old Men and Breaking Bad, sunbleached noir Run & Gun, formally known as The Ray, is an ultra-violent calling card for Ben Milliken who, after making a name for himself in shows like police procedural drama Bosch, has been given his own piece of the action. Milliken plays the previously titular Ray. When we first meet him, he has a noose tightly wound around his neck hanging over an open grave. After escaping this near-death experience with neckslashing aplomb, he vows to leave his life of crime behind him.

However, even as a reformed good guy enjoying a quiet family life in the 'burbs, he cannot escape his violent past. Blackmailed into one last job to collect a mysterious package, he is double-crossed, wounded and finds himself on the run from ruthless assassins who will stop at nothing to get what he has. As his loved ones are dragged kicking and screaming into this murderous mix, Ray finds himself fighting for his life by drawing from his perilous past.

Born in Manchester in the UK but raised in Sydney's Northern Beaches, it was Australia where Milliken honed his craft. Run & Gun marks the culmination of a dream run for the Aussie actor who started his career in the 2008 surfing drama feature Newcastle that also launched Xavier Samuel into the world. After a role in McLeod's Daughters, the actor headed to Hollywood and landed parts in the Melrose Place reboot and CSI: Miami. His US career hit the big time when he won the role of criminal Carter in Season 5 of Bosch.

Milliken had a ball playing pill shill running stooge for the drug organisation led by Dalton Walsh (Chris Vance). “And also, not just a fun show to be on but a great show. Period!” Milliken explains when we spoke to the actor from his Stateside home. “An amazing group of people. One of the best crews ever. That was one of my most memorable jobs."