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Wes Bentley’s Yellowstone character might be motivated by money and power, but in real life, the actor finds inspiration in his wife and children.

Bentley plays the sketchy politician Jamie Dutton on the Paramount Network series. And while you might hate his character, you’ve gotta love his performance!

Thankfully, the real Wes is less menacing and conniving and more loving and grateful.

Jacqui Bentley and actor Wes Bentley arrives to the premiere of Lionsgate’s “The Hunger Games” at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on March 12, 2012 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images) Wes Bentley Gushes About His Wife

Based on his responses to interview questions, it seems that Wes seizes every opportunity to praise his wife, Jacqui Swedberg.

“I just knew that I’d never met someone like her,” the actor told Elle in 2013.

“I love that she’s unexpected. You can’t...

Since Heath Ledger’s tragic death in 2008, Hollywood took a turn for the better in terms of addiction and sobriety. The lingering yet rampant effects of hard substances from the industry’s rock-n-roll era subsided and actors like Robert Downey Jr. and Yellowstone star Wes Bentley turned over a new leaf for good.

Wes Bentley as Seneca Crane in The Hunger Games [Credit: Lionsgate Films]However, the haunting memories of those years spent under the influence still aggrieved the actors who survived their addiction to see healthier and happier days. Yellowstone star Wes Bentley, who has been on everyone’s radar since his appearance as the cruel and bloodthirsty Head Gamemaker Seneca Crane in The Hunger Games, now relives his past with a touch of nostalgia.

Yellowstone Star Reveals His Fiery Struggle With Addiction

Wes Bentley has had a formidable career to boast of, with films in his résumé that most would kill for.

Wes Bentley is an American actor. He is best known for his roles in American Beauty (1999) and Yellowstone.

Wes Bentley Biography: Age, Early Life, Family, Education

Wes Bentley was born on September 4, 1978 (Wes Bentley: age 44), in Jonesboro, Arkansas to Cherie Baker and David Bentley. His father is a minister and his mother is a chaplain for the United Methodist denomination. Bentley and his three brothers were raised in Little Rock, Arkansas. He graduated from Sylvan Hills High School in 1996 and went on to complete one year at the Juilliard School’s Drama Division before leaving to follow his acting career.

Wes Bentley Biography: Career

Bentley started his acting career with the movie Three Below Zero (1998) in which his character and several others are trapped in a New York basement on the hottest day of the summer. The next year Bentley starred in one of his most famous roles, Ricky Fitts in American Beauty.

Wes Bentley is reflecting on the plight of Jamie Dutton.

The “Yellowstone” actor plays Jamie, the son of rancher-turned-governor John Dutton (Kevin Costner), in the hit Paramount Network series. Yet Bentley’s emotional journey through depression has anchored the character, forcing Bentley to create new boundaries between his roles and home life.

“He’s incredibly sad,” Bentley told The New York Times of his character Jamie. “I’ve always dealt with my sadness with things like comedy, or humor, or drugs at one point, or trying to just ignore it and finding another way out of it. But you can’t do that when you’re trying to portray someone’s sadness. You have to let it be there. That’s been the hardest part of it all, and it’s weighed on my life a little bit.”

Bentley has portrayed Jamie since “Yellowstone” debuted in 2018. Season 5 returns this summer.

Wednesday night's reveal of the Ten Commandments Killer on American Horror Story: Hotel was quick, but it certainly wasn't painless.

Spoiler warning: If you haven't watched the most recent episode of Ahs: Hotel, key plot details will be revealed ahead. For those who have seen the episode, keep reading for insights from the star who was revealed to be behind the Seven-style murder spree at the center of Ahs's fifth season.

Early into the latest episode, weeks of speculation proved true when viewers learned that the very man investigating the show's Biblically inspired homicides is also the one who's been perpetrating them.

Wes Bentley is good at keeping secrets. Case in point: he and wife Jacqui Swedberg welcomed their second daughter four months ago! The American Horror Story: Freak Show guest star's rep confirms to E! News that the couple's daughter, Brooklyn Bentley, was born in June. Married since 2010, they are also parents to son Charles Bentley, 4. Wes, who played Seneca Crane in 2012's The Hunger Games, has yet to mention his daughter's birth while promoting Interstellar, co-starring Jessica Chastain, Anne Hathaway and Matthew McConaughey. While promoting The Time Being in 2012, however, Wes revealed how fatherhood had changed him. "I was drawn to the story about trying to be an artist and have a...

Baby No. 2! Hunger Games actor Wes Bentley and his wife Jacqui Swedberg welcomed their second child, a baby girl named Brooklyn, this past June, his rep confirms exclusively to Us Weekly. The happy couple are already proud parents to toddler son Charles. In an interview with UK's Independent in April 2014, the American Beauty actor opened up about his past struggle with heroin and cocaine.  "I came to Hollywood and I got caught up in all the glitz and glamour of the nightlife," the Arkansas-raised actor said in [...]...

In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, "Hunger Games" star Wes Bentley opened up about his past battle with heroin addiction.

"I put up such a wall that I didn't even go and meet with these great directors whom I respected and admired so much," he told THR. Bentley would take long breaks in between films and didn't shoot anything between 2000 and 2003. "I wasn't bringing my A game to any of them," he said. "I don't know if I was bringing my B game. I just kind of didn't care and [was] coasting."

The 34-year-old star gained fame when he appeared in "American Beauty" in 1998, and according to THR he began using drugs to "escape expectations." During that time, he reportedly turned down opportunities to work with Christopher Nolan, Tim Burton and Ang Lee.

Bentley and Heath Ledger became close friends after they met while filming "The Four Feathers" in...

If you read between the lines of Wes Bentley's IMDb page, you can glimpse the nosedive his career took between 2000, just after he shot to fame with Sam Mendes's critically lauded "American Beauty," and 2011, when the plum film roles began rolling in again.

There's a reason for that roughly 10-year slowdown: Bentley, now 34, was struggling with drug addiction.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Bentley admits that his sudden success with "American Beauty" was too much for his 21-year-old self to handle. He turned to drugs as a means of escape, and became hooked on heroin "in a matter of days."

"There was a point where I had written off survival," the actor told People in 2011. "I was so numb, I was okay with it. I thought, this is what I am going to be -- dead."

Bentley stopped using in 2009 -- one year after getting arrested for heroin possession,...

Actor Wes Bentley "risked everything" during his eight-year drug hell, and even missed his brother's wedding because he was "so messed up".

The actor shot to fame at the age of 20 after the 1999 release of the multi Oscar-winning American Beauty, but Bentley struggled to deal with the spotlight and fell into a downward spiral of drink and drugs, including ecstasy, cocaine and heroin.

He turned his back on his career as his substance abuse worsened - and Bentley began shunning his family to hang around with homeless men as he hunted for drugs.

Bentley tells Details magazine, "I was risking everything to get drugs. I was driving around with homeless guys and people just out of prison, then I'd hit the streets and smoke all day. I'd already nodded off on set a couple times, and now I was being asked to leave auditions mid-reading because it was just so sad for them.

"I missed my brother's wedding because I was so messed up... The shakes, hearing voices, paranoia - those were daily occurrences for me. I was nearly dead, and I didn't care."

Bentley, who recently joined the cast of the highly-anticipated movie adaptation of The Hunger Games, credits his producer wife Jacqui Swedberg with turning his life around after they met in the late 2000s.

He adds, "When I met my wife (I wanted to get clean). I saw then what I have now. I saw life. It still took me a while to get sober after that, but the switch had happened. We were long-distance for a while, and I'd try to be sober for her, but I ended up withdrawing with her - and I hated that. That's when I told her everything. She wasn't mad. She wanted to help."...

Wes Bentley has revealed that he's formed a close bond with his Hunger Games co-star Lenny Kravitz. The actor admitted to Details he was surprised that he and the 'American Woman' rocker have so much in common. "[We] really clicked. We'd talk about acting and music, about his life in the Bahamas, hurricanes," Bentley recalled. "Also how much we love - and really miss - eating burgers." Bentley added of his and Kravitz's love of hamburgers: "He was getting ready for a tour, so he couldn't [eat burgers], and I've been cutting back ever since I got sober." The star also discussed his battle with drugs and alcohol, and told the magazine that meeting his wife Jacqui Swedberg helped him turn his life around. "When I met my wife. I saw then what I have now. I saw life," (more)...