Who Is Riley Keough's Husband? All About Ben Smith-Petersen

Mar. 15, 2025

Photo: Frazer Harrison/Getty

Riley Keoughhas been married to Australian stuntman Ben Smith-Petersen since 2015.

The actress — who is the daughter of the lateLisa Marie Presleyand musicianDanny Keough— met Smith-Petersen while filmingMad Max: Fury Roadin 2012. The two were briefly introduced on set but didn’t start dating until a year later while doing re-shoots in Australia.

Keough’s romance with the Australian stuntman moved quickly, and the twoannounced their engagementin 2014. Less than a year later, the coupletied the knotin February 2015.

“My husband is such a good person,” wrote Keough in a 2022 essay forVogue Australia. “He’s calm and loyal and strong and sensitive. He’s my best friend.”

“I hope I can love my daughter the way you loved me, the way you loved my brother and my sisters,” Smith-Petersen said.

Here’s everything to know about Riley Keough’s husband, Ben Smith-Petersen.

He is a stuntman and an actor

Todd Williamson/Getty

He is also an actor. In 2014, he costarred alongside Keough in the filmSpark and Light. Smith-Petersen is also set to star in the upcoming indie horrorThe Dead Thing, according toDeadline.

He met Keough on the set ofMad Max: Fury Road

Michael Stewart/WireImage

Both Keough and Smith-Petersen starred in the 2015 filmMad Max: Fury Road, which is how they met. Keough portrayed Capable, one of Immortan Joe’s five wives, while Smith-Petersen was cast as the Doof Warrior, Immortan Joe’s blind musician.

However, it wasn’t until they did re-shoots for the film in Australia that Keough and Smith-Petersen began dating.

He has a cameo inDaisy Jones & the Six

Keough revealed thatSmith-Petersen has a cameoin her Amazon Prime Video series,Daisy Jones & the Six, during the show’s Feb. 23, 2023, Los Angeles premiere.

“I don’t want to like spoil it, but the producers thought it would be funny if he was in that scene,” she toldEntertainment Tonight. “They were like, ‘Do you want Ben to do this?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, that’s hilarious.’ "

In March 2023, while appearing onLate Night with Seth Meyers, Keough shared thatSmith-Petersen’s cameo involved a sex scene.

“The cameo came about because I have to have intercourse with a random person in the show, and the producers were like, ‘It would be so funny if it was your husband,’ " she said. “I think they were thinking it would be less awkward, and then we got there and they’re like, ‘This is really uncomfortable.’ "

The actress continued: “For one, I’ve never had pretend sex with my husband. For two, we were just giggling the whole time. It was so weird.”

He and Keough fell in love in Australia

Riley Keough Instagram

In a 2022 essay forVogue Australia, Keough chronicled the early days of her and Smith-Petersen’s romance. They reconnected in 2013 while doing re-shoots in Australia and Keough had a “realisation that I thought Ben was cute.”

She later invited the stuntman to her friend’s house in Sydney, writing, “We had a couple of drinks and I remember we had a connection. He started salsa dancing with me and teaching me, because he grew up dancing. It was such a fun night. A few of us went to one of the bays for a swim and it was really magic.”

Keough continued, “We ended up kissing that night and the next day we went to Camp Cove and got in the water and I hugged him and it felt like I didn’t want to be away from him. I just felt so comfortable.”

In 2016, Keough toldUSA Todaythat she was infatuated early on and told the outlet, “Two weeks into dating him, we were at a gas station and I was like, ‘I could see myself having kids with this person.’ It was kind of like I knew I was meeting my husband. It was very cool.”

He married Keough in 2015

Riley Keough and Ben Smith-Petersen in 2014.Dave M. Benett/amfAR14/WireImage

The coupleannounced their engagementin August 2014. Smith-Petersen shared a photo on Facebook of Keough wearing a diamond ring and simply captioned it, “So that happened.”

Keough and Smith-Petersen held their first wedding in Nepal, as the pair were building a school there a few weeks before their stateside nuptials. “The families knew we were getting married and they said, ‘Let us throw you a Hindu wedding,’ " Keough recalled in herVogue Australiaessay. “It was so beautiful and, in some ways, that wedding was a little more intimate and really special. That wedding, I cried. At my bigger wedding I was a little nervous, I wasn’t as present. But it was still equally as amazing.”

The pair got marriedin Napa Valley, California, on Feb. 4, 2015.

In February 2023, Keough appeared onThe Late Show with Stephen Colbertand shared that she knew early on that she’d marry Smith-Petersen.

“I don’t see the future, but I know certain things are going to happen,” theDaisy Jones & The Sixstar said. “Like when I met my husband, he came out of the gas station on our second date and I thought, ‘I’m going to marry him and have kids with him.’ "

She added: “I just knew. We didn’t even say ‘I love you’ yet.”

He and Keough have matching tattoos

Riley Keough and Ben Smith-Petersen in 2019.Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty

In her 2022 essay forVogue Australia, Keough revealed that the duo “got matching tattoos the third day we hung out, just for fun.”

Smith-Petersen has another tattoo honoring his wife as well: In September 2021, the stuntman shared a photo onInstagram, revealing the name “Riley” inked on his lower stomach.

He has a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu

In April 2021, Keough announced onInstagramthat her husband had earned his black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. She wrote of the accomplishment, “Ben got his black belt today in BJJ. He always wanted to get his black belt before he turned 30 and he did it!!! I’m so proud of you @isitmeurlooking4 ❤️🎉❤️😭.”

He and Keough welcomed a daughter in 2022

Riley Keough and Ben Smith-Petersen.Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty

During amemorial servicefor Lisa Marie Presley at Graceland in Memphis, Smith-Petersen revealed that he and Keough are parents to a daughter.

“I hope I can love my daughter the way you loved me, the way you loved my brother and my sisters. Thank you for giving me strength, my heart, my empathy, my courage, my sense of humor, my manners, my temper, my wildness, my tenacity. I’m a product of your heart, my sisters are a product of your heart, my brother is a product of your heart,” said Smith-Petersen of his mother-in-law, reading the words of his wife.

Tupelo’s first name comes from the name of the Mississippi city Elvis was born in, while her middle name is a nod to Keough’s late brother,Benjamin Storm Keough.

The actress also spoke about her decision to welcome her daughter via surrogate. She felt surrogacy was the “best choice for what I had going on physically with the autoimmune stuff,” referring to having Lyme disease.

In January 2025, Keough said that she and Smith-Petersen plan to parent their children differently than her mother parented her during an appearance on theCall Her Daddypodcast.

“I thinkshe was such an amazing parentand she wanted us to have, I think like her father did, these amazing experiences all the time,” she said. “For me personally, I think that the problem there could be for some that when you’re used to so much, it’s hard to find joy in simple things.”

Instead, she plans to make sure Tupelo is “able to find joy playing in the backyard and doing normal kids stuff and not need elephants and circus and all these things all the time.”

He and Keough have walked many red carpets together

Riley Keough and Ben Smith-Petersen attend the 81st Annual Golden Globe Awards on January 07, 2024 in Beverly Hills, California.Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

Smith-Petersen has been known tojoin Keough on the red carpet.

In February 2023, he accompanied his wife to the premiere of her Amazon Prime seriesDaisy Jones & The Six. A month later, Smith-Petersen and Keough attended theVanity FairOscars afterparty.

source: people.com