One series that is causing a lot of discussions on several social channels and websites is the psychological thriller You. The more the episodes, the more we are made to see the deranged nature of Joe Goldberg, played by Penn Badgley. In You season 3, we see Joe and his equally demented wife, Love Quinn-Goldberg, move to another suburb entirely to raise their child. Even though they believed that this would help put their past behind them, it didn’t happen. For Dante, played by Ben Mehl, fans want to know whether he has sight problems? What role did he play in You season 3? These are questions that need answers.
Who is Dante Ben Mehl in You Season 3?
Ben Mehl handled the character of Dante expertly. Dante is the blind co-worker of Joe Goldberg, the lead character in the intense TV series You. He was introduced as a recurring character in season three of the show. His role was simple; the co-worker of Joe, who is funny and has a simple life. He portrayed a gay character, too, married to Lansing.
#1. Ben Mehl’s Role As Dante in You Season 3
When the problem of Joe and his wife happened, resulting in the death of Love Quinn-Goldberg, Dante was the guy who was charged with the responsibility of taking care of Henry, Joe, and Love’s child. Having found out that Joe knew about her murderous past, Love found a way to exterminate him. So, she decided to poison Joe during dinner, the same way she did her ex-husband.
Unfortunately for her, Joe already saw the situation coming and took adrenalin which would neutralize the effect of the poison. Pretending that he was dead, Joe injected his wife with an overdose of Wolfgang poison she grew in her garden, killing her. To cover his tracks, Joe made all the evidence about the death of Natalie, an obsession of Joe, whom Love killed after finding out, and the death of her ex-husband. After setting the ball rolling so that all murders lead to Love, he burns his house down. However, Joe handed his son over to Dante.
#2. Dante Ben Mehl is Visually Impaired
Fans may have observed that Dante Ben Mehl is blind in the You season. While he is not totally blind, he is visually impaired. Opticians diagnosed Ben Mehl with an uncommon degenerative condition called Stargardt’s disease. It is known as a gradual loss of central vision. So far, there is no cure or treatment except that it can be prevented and maintained. Ben found out about this illness when he noticed that he was struggling to recognize faces and texts.
As an actor, vision is critical as you would need your vision to read your scripts. After finding out about his loss of vision, Ben decided that he would still be an actor regardless, unlike other people who may take that to mean the end of the world. In his interview with Authority Magazine, he said, “How could I read my scripts? How would I see the expression on my scene partner’s face? After taking time to mourn the loss of my central vision and accept my new life, I decided I was not going to let this disease define me, and I would learn what it meant to be an actor with this disability.”
#3. Ben Mehl’s Biggest Inspiration is His Mother
Ben Mehl was born in Toronto, Canada. His parents are immigrants from South Africa. As a young boy, his older brothers inspired him to take acting seriously. With an unmistakable talent, Ben received advice from his teacher to audition for Claude Watson School for the Arts when he was in his fourth year.
However, no one was more encouraging than his mother, who made him eradicate the word “can’t” in his vocabulary. “My mom always told me there was no such word as ‘can’t’ and that I could do anything I set my mind to,” Mehl recalled in an interview with Authority Magazine.
Ben Mehl graduated from Claude Watson to begin his secondary education at Earl Haig school. Here, he suddenly developed a love for Space. But, there was an original passion for acting, so he looked for an institution where one could major in Astrophysics and Drama at the same time. Well, he got it. So, Ben Mehl enrolled at the University of Toronto.
#4. Dante Has Twin Daughters
Ben Mehl is married to a healthcare worker who together they had twin daughters. He has said severally that he spends a lot of time with his daughters, which means watching TV shows is not regular.
#5. Dante Ben Mehl Never Heard of You Before Auditioning
It may come as a shock to many people, but Ben had never heard of “You” before he auditioned. He discovered that he was one of a few people who had not heard of the series that was making waves. With no idea of what the series was about, Mehl had to find out the fuss that people made about the series before going for an audition for season three.
Mehl mentioned that his agent told him he got the role in season 3 while bathing his daughters.
#6. Ben Had to Work With a Specialist to Act Dante’s Total Blindness
Here is the thing, Ben Mehl is partially blind, but his character as Dante in You season three is totally blind. To achieve this, he had to work with a specialist to help portray Dante’s total blindness. He worked with a mobility and orientation expert to help him use the white cane. Mehl had to spend hours and days learning how to behave like a blind person to make it real to the viewers. For Ben, he was happy that the creator didn’t build the plot of the series around Dante’s blindness.
#7. Ben Mehl Faced Rejections
As a result of his failing sight, it was hard for Ben to get roles as an actor. He faced several rejections after auditioning for roles he believed he would handle well.
Read about Natalie in You season three, find out who she is in real life. Read about Michaela McManus here
#8. Dante Ben Mehl Hopes To Get His Career On Track
With the global success of You, Ben believes that his performance is enough to get him more roles. Dante (Ben Mehl) gave a sterling performance as a blind person working in a library. With this, it is believed that he should get more roles regardless of his partial blindness, which, as he showed in the You series, is not a problem. Talent is the most important, and this is what Ben Mehl has in abundance.
Conclusion
Hopefully, Ben Mehl gets his career back on track. He has shown that he is a good actor. Also, this is a call to all-inclusive people in movies, and not them segregated because of their disability.
