02-05-2025
Who is Benito Skinner? Get to know the 'Overcompensating' star
With his new comedy Overcompensating coming out this month, it's time for audiences to get to know comedian and actor Benito Skinner, also known as Benny Drama on social media!
Overcompensating is poised to be one of the breakout comedy hits of the year, with its unapologetic point of view, terrifically smart sense of humor, and relatability. Oh, and don't forget about a killer cast!
Learn more about Benito Skinner — and make sure to watch when it premieres May 15 on Prime Video.
Benito Skinner was born on November 3, 1993. He is 31 of this writing, and will turn 32 later this year.
Benito Skinner's boyfriend is Terrence O'Connor, who works as a photographer and creative director. Some of O'Connor's recent posts include Skinner as they celebrated birthdays, holidays, and New Year's Eve — and the couple is also known for having (very elaborate) matching Halloween costumes.
In November 2021, Benito and Skinner revealed on Interview Magazine that they had been together since 2016.
For many years, Skinner was best known for his social media username, Benny Drama. Even as Overcompensating premieres, the actor and comedian's Instagram handle is still @bennydrama7.
Skinner was born in Boise, Idaho, and attended a Catholic high school, Bishop Kelly High School, where he played football. "I didn't go full method, but I definitely had a deeper voice,' he told The Guardian. 'Sometimes I'll watch my older videos and be like: 'Oh, that's not your voice, that's about 12 octaves too deep, babes.' I did it for so long."
He left his home state and went to college at Georgetown in Washington, DC. Moving away from home allowed him to come out in his senior year of college.
As a kid, Skinner would perform songs like "Oops!... I Did It Again" and "Stronger" by Britney Spears and "Survivor" by Destiny's Child for his family.
"When the 'Oops!... I Did It Again' video came out, I learned all the dance moves, including that middle interlude where she talks about the lady jumping in the ocean — I had that whole scene memorized," he told Paper. "I'd perform it for my whole family wearing a bucket hat and a vest — a whole look."
In college, after he came out, he started writing sketches. When he was closeted, he felt like expressing his love for performing might've outed him.
"I've always loved performing, acting, doing impressions, and entertaining people. But then I definitely started getting made fun for it, so I sort of hid it away. I just locked that shit up for most of my young life, which was really sad," he said to Paper, adding, "I knew I wanted to do something in film, but I was too scared to be in front of the camera, because I was like, "'The internet's gonna say I'm gay.'"
Eventually, Skinner started posting videos on social media like Instagram, where he would play original characters, like Jenni the TMI Hairdresser, and other times he would do celebrity impressions of people like Billie Eilish and Kim Kardashian.
His impressions and original characters caught a lot of attention on the internet, often going viral. He eventually built up an audience of 1.3 million Instagram followers, including celebrities like Dua Lipa and Madonna.
Skinner made his television acting debut in 2019 in the series Hitbox, followed by appearances in Search Party, the Queer as Folk reboot, Chelsea Peretti's movie First Time Female Director, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and the film Idiotka.
- YouTube
Overcompensating is loosely based on Skinner's own experience as a college freshman. In it, he stars as Benny, who was a closeted football-playing homecoming king at his Idaho high school before moving away to go to college.
Now in his freshman year of college, he is trying to figure out who he wants to be, and if that includes coming out or staying closeted.
Overcompensating is a hilarious, unapologetically queer, unapologetically horny, and pleasantly heartwarming comedy starring Skinner, Wally Baram, Mary Beth Barone, Adam DiMarco, and Rish Shah. It also features recurring and guest stars like Connie Britton, Kyle MacLachlan, Charli XCX, Kaia Gerber, Megan Fox, and James Van Der Beek, to name a few.
