Benjamin Flores Jr. Bio
Benjamin Christopher Flores Jr. is an American actor and rapper who began performing publicly as a child and expanded into film and television roles for both young and adult audiences. He first gained attention for his work on Nickelodeon series and later moved into dramatic roles in streaming and premium television projects, building a varied resume across comedy, action, and thriller genres.
Early Life and Background
Benjamin Christopher Flores Jr. was born on July 24, 2002, in Memphis, Tennessee, and raised in that city during his early childhood. He came to wider public attention after a local Memphis Fox 13 television interview when he was seven years old, a moment that led to national appearances and early recording opportunities.
Under the stage name Lil’ P-Nut he performed his first rap single on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and released the single on September 25, 2010, beginning a parallel music identity later updated as BNJII. Those early music performances introduced him to television audiences and helped establish a public profile that bridged music and screen performance from a young age.
Flores’s formative exposure to performance combined live television, recorded music and small acting parts, providing a mix of experience in front of cameras and in studio work by his preteen years. His years active are documented as beginning in 2008, reflecting early public appearances and performance efforts that preceded his later television casting.
Path to Celebrity
Flores’s early visibility from televised interviews and music appearances positioned him for casting in screen roles, beginning with small television parts and voice work. He appeared in an episode of the TBS sitcom Are We There Yet? and provided the voice for Atticus the rapping penguin in the animated film Happy Feet 2 in 2011, showing early crossover between music and acting.
His on-screen presence continued with a cameo in the music video for Yo Gotti’s “Look In The Mirror” and a role in the 2014 film Ride Along, allowing him to develop experience in both music videos and mainstream feature films. The combination of youth-focused television exposure and occasional film appearances set the stage for series casting that would broaden his audience reach.
Flores’s dual profile as a performer and recording artist, credited variously as Lil’ P-Nut and BNJII, helped create a recognizably branded image that appealed to family and youth demographics while also opening opportunities for voice and ensemble work. This early path to celebrity integrated recorded music releases, national television appearances and incremental acting credits.
Benjamin Flores Jr. Career
Early Career (2008–2012)
From his documented start in 2008 through the early 2010s, Flores built a mixed résumé of television appearances and voice work that leveraged his music background. His performance as the rapping penguin Atticus in Happy Feet 2 and TV episode appearances provided on-set experience and industry exposure prior to larger recurring roles.
During this period he also made televised music performances and media appearances that broadened his familiarity with national audiences, laying groundwork for later casting in children’s and family programming. These early engagements reinforced his public profile and demonstrated an ability to perform both musical and acting material on camera.
Breakthrough (2013–2019)
Flores’s breakthrough came with his casting as Louie Preston on the Nickelodeon series The Haunted Hathaways, which premiered in 2013 and ran through 2015; the series placed him in a starring role on a national children’s network and substantially raised his profile. His portrayal of Louie, a young ghost living alongside a human family, was central to the show’s concept and brought him recognition among young viewers and industry casting professionals.
For his work on The Haunted Hathaways he received nominations for Favorite TV Actor at the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards in both 2014 and 2015, marking early industry acknowledgement tied directly to his Nickelodeon presence. The role established Flores as a reliable young comic performer and opened casting doors for further youth-centered series work.
Following that series Flores joined the cast of Dan Schneider’s Game Shakers in 2015, playing Triple G, the son of a famous fictional rapper, a role that further anchored him in Nickelodeon’s comedy slate. Game Shakers ran across multiple seasons and sustained his visibility on the network, allowing him to grow his television résumé and maintain a steady presence in youth entertainment through 2019.
Notable Works and Milestones
Beyond television, Flores expanded into feature films with a small role in the fantasy-action film Transformers: The Last Knight in 2017, demonstrating an ability to appear in big-budget studio pictures. He later co-starred in the Netflix adventure film Rim of the World, released in 2019, and moved into darker dramatic material with parts in Your Honor and the Fear Street trilogy released for Netflix, demonstrating a deliberate broadening of his screen persona.
Recent Work and Range (2020–2021 and beyond)
In 2020 Flores took on dramatic television with the role of Eugene Jones in the Showtime series Your Honor, acting opposite established performers and engaging with complex material on a premium cable series. The part signaled a transition from leading youth comedy roles to supporting dramatic work with older casts and more mature themes.
In 2021 Flores portrayed Josh in the Netflix Fear Street trilogy, a set of horror films that reached a wide streaming audience and showcased his ability to work within genre material aimed at older teen and adult viewers. Those releases, paired with earlier film credits, positioned him as a versatile performer capable of moving between family programming and darker, ensemble-driven projects.
Across the late 2010s and early 2020s Flores’s career shows a pattern of steady progression from child star to a multi-genre actor whose credits include voice work, network comedy, studio features and streaming dramas. His professional name variations—Lil’ P-Nut in his earliest music career and BNJII in later music releases—remain part of his public identity alongside his acting credits.
Benjamin Flores Jr. Award Nominations
Flores received verified nominations for Favorite TV Actor at the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards in 2014 and 2015 for his role on The Haunted Hathaways, indicating early peer and audience recognition during his breakout period on that network. Those nominations are the principal documented awards recognition in his publicly available record to date.
Benjamin Flores Jr. Family
Benjamin Christopher Flores Jr. was born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee, which is recorded as his place of birth and the city associated with his early life and first public performances. Publicly documented records and verified biographical summaries identify his birthplace but do not provide detailed family names or extended family background in the available sources.