nope, he's an entirely different character and quite a bit older than leiden so we may have to figure out a different way for them to have met. his wife is a celebrity fitness trainer/class instructor so they could have met through her when leiden was still playing?
ben is going to be 39 (forever) and hails from galway, ireland. he moved to la in 2005 (ish) to follow his kid sister while she pursued her big dreams and he pursued his own. he's generally quiet but usually when he speaks up, you know it's a doozie of a comment. he deflects any sort of emotion with sarcasm or humor, generally only being genuinely open with animals and his family.
and as for being uk buds....he's from the republic of ireland so don't dare say he's from the uk! haha.