[3] After small roles in Sidney Lumet's The Anderson Tapes (1971) and Born to Win (1971),[3] he did extensive television work in the 1970s.

A few notable exceptions were a major role in Barry Shear's Across 110th Street (1972), and smaller parts in Shear's western The Deadly Trackers (1973), Michael Campus' The Education of Sonny Carson (1974), Arthur Marks' Friday Foster (1975), Gordon Parks' biopic Leadbelly (1976), and Don Siegel's prison film Escape from Alcatraz (1979).

He acted in Some Kind of Hero (1982) opposite Richard Pryor, Martin Ritt's drama film Nuts (1987) starring Barbra Streisand, Pink Cadillac (1989) with Clint Eastwood, Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing (1989),[3] Robert Townsend's The Five Heartbeats (1991),[3] Bill Duke's Hoodlum (1997), and John Singleton's Rosewood (1997).

Benjamin also worked on the American Masters documentary of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ralph Ellison, which aired on PBS.

[3] After 2000, he acted mainly in independent films like Stanley's Gig, The Station Agent,[3] Deacons for Defense, and James Hunter's 2005 drama Back in the Day.