Benoît Charest (French pronunciation: [bənwa ʃaʁɛ]; born in 1964) is a Canadian guitarist and film score composer from Quebec.

He later discovered jazz and decided at 17 to undertake private lessons with Neil Smolar, a graduate from the Berklee School of Music in Boston.

[1] In the late 1990s, Charest co-founded Ben & Max Studios with musician Maxime Morin (better known as DJ Champion) — a company specializing in jingles and soundtracks.

Charest composed the score for the 2009 National Film Board of Canada animated short Runaway, written and directed by Cordell Barker.

[1] On October 22, 2013, Benoît Charest won the Félix in the category "Album of the year – original soundtrack" at the ADISQ Gala for his work on Mars et Avril.