Tattoo artist Benny Shields never aspired to make his mark in Hollywood, let alone on Hollywood. The L.A. inkman has adorned the arms of numerous stars, perhaps most prominently those of The Bear‘s tatted chefs, Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White) and Luca (Will Poulter). His first screen credit came via buddy Ryan Gosling for 2011’s The Place Beyond the Pines. When the actor’s self-drawn tattoo designs for his motorcycle stuntman character weren’t panning out, he called on Shields, whose brother Zach was a member of Gosling’s band Dead Man’s Bones.
“When things are presented to me, I try to say yes unless I can find a good reason not to,” the 44-year-old tattooist tells THR. As for The Bear, “I had a feeling that show was going to be good.” White, as it happens, was a longtime friend for whom Shields had also done permanent ink. “They sent me the script, but a lot of who Carmy was hadn’t really been decided,” says Shields.
Carmy’s tattoos weren’t just decoration, they were integral to the development of the character, White notes. “Ben Shields was a really important part of my getting to understand Carmen and early,” says the actor. “He was probably the person I spoke to first about Carmy. He asked about his family, what made him feel inspired or safe. We took all these conversations and put it on paper, in sketch and scribbles.”
A Pyrex measuring glass with the globe on Carmy’s left forearm — among the 15 sketches that made the cut — was the actor’s idea. The fictional chef has become a style icon, body art included: His J.Crew cashmere sweater went viral and sold out, and Reddit is rife with fans showing off their Bear-inspired tattoos (the kitchen knife going through a hand is a popular one).
Working on the Emmy-winning Hulu/FX series has been a full-circle moment for the onetime pizza delivery driver (in his hometown of Rochester, New York) whose first tattoo was inspired by his slice-slinging life. Before his West Coast move, Shields briefly worked for a hip-hop producer in Queens and apprenticed at a local tattoo shop “because I was out of options. I wasn’t trying to be an artist, but I was always good at doodling,” he says.
Shields arrived in L.A. in 2007 with a bag full of tattoo gear and soon earned such clients as Breaking Bad’s Matt Jones and Hilary Duff, whom he inked, along with her bridesmaids, ahead of her 2010 wedding to NHL player Mike Comrie.
When Gosling called, Shields had a steady job building recording studios (“the money was better”) and tattooing friends including such industry pals as Honey Boy director Alma Har’el, who would later ask Shields to whip up tattoo designs for her 2019 film starring Shia LaBeouf.
Shields also created the hand-poked-style pieces for Alien: Romulus (he and director Fede Álvarez met through their kids’ preschool), which “had tons of Easter eggs,” but they never got their close-up. “There’s so much stuff in those tattoos, and then you don’t even see them because they have long sleeves on and everyone dies,” jokes Shields.
With The Bear done after five seasons, Shields is wrapping up his residency with Filson, where he’s bringing his fine-lined, black-and-white designs to the outdoor clothing brand’s Seattle store (Oct. 9 and 10) after stops in L.A. and Chicago. He’s also back into music, designing and building a recording studio for Grammy-winning producer Noah Goldstein (who has worked with Rosalía, Frank Ocean, Travis Scott and Ye) in Cypress Park.
Like his tattoo appointments, Hollywood jobs have been word-of-mouth — there’s not exactly an agent for movie tattoo artists, after all. “I’m not in a guild, and I’m not a makeup person. I’m below the line,” he says. “But I’d be foolish to not be grateful; it could have been anyone. People try so hard to find their way in.”
This story appeared in the Oct. 7 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.