Ian McKellen

Acting

Born May 25, 1939

From Burnley, Lancashire, England, UK

Sir Ian Murray McKellen (born 25 May 1939) is an English actor. He has played roles on the screen and stage in genres ranging from Shakespearean dramas and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction. He is regarded as a British cultural icon and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1991. He has received numerous accolades, including a Tony Award, six Olivier Awards, and a Golden Globe Award, as well as nominations for two Academy Awards, five BAFTA Awards and five Emmy Awards. McKellen made his stage debut in 1961 at the Belgrade Theatre as a member of its repertory company, and in 1965 made his first West End appearance. In 1969, he was invited to join the Prospect Theatre Company to play the lead parts in Shakespeare's Richard II and Marlowe's Edward II. In the 1970s, McKellen became a stalwart of the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre of Great Britain. He has earned five Olivier Awards for his roles in Pillars of the Community (1977), The Alchemist (1978), Bent (1979), Wild Honey (1984), and Richard III (1995). McKellen made his Broadway debut in The Promise (1965). He received the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his role as Antonio Salieri in Amadeus (1980). He was further nominated for Ian McKellen: Acting Shakespeare (1984). He returned to Broadway in Wild Honey(1986), Dance of Death (1990), No Man's Land (2013), and Waiting for Godot (2013), the latter two being a joint production with Patrick Stewart. McKellen achieved worldwide fame for his film roles, including the titular King in Richard III(1995), James Whale in Gods and Monsters (1998), Magneto in the X-Men films, Cogsworth in Beauty and the Beast (2017) and Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings (2001–2003) and The Hobbit (2012–2014) trilogies. Other notable film roles include A Touch of Love (1969), Plenty (1985), Six Degrees of Separation (1993), Restoration (1995), Flushed Away (2006), Mr. Holmes (2015), and The Good Liar (2019). McKellen came out as gay in 1988, and has since championed LGBT social movements worldwide. He was awarded the Freedom of the City of London in October 2014. McKellen is a cofounder of Stonewall, an LGBT rights lobby group in the United Kingdom, named after the Stonewall riots. He is also patron of LGBT History Month, Pride London, Oxford Pride, GayGlos, LGBT Foundation and FFLAG. Description above from the Wikipedia article Ian McKellen, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Ian McKellen

Known For

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

Avengers: Doomsday

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Beauty and the Beast

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

X-Men: Days of Future Past

The Da Vinci Code

Filmography — Acting

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

Avengers: Doomsday

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Beauty and the Beast

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

X-Men: Days of Future Past

The Da Vinci Code

Stardust

Flushed Away

Doctor Who: The Snowmen

The Golden Compass

Cats

Last Action Hero

The Shadow

The Christophers

The Good Liar

Infinitum: Subject Unknown

Mr. Holmes

Apt Pupil

The Keep

Animal Crackers

Scandal

The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum

Gods and Monsters

Asylum

Six Degrees of Separation

Bent

Richard III

The Critic

The Magic Roundabout

Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol

Restoration

X-Men: The Mutant Watch

All Is True

The Wolverine

Hamlet

Neverwas

The Wolverine: Path of a Ronin

Priest of Love

And the Band Played On

Plenty

Swept from the Sea

The Scarlet Pimpernel

The Dresser

Jack & Sarah

Ringers: Lord of the Fans

Doogal

Rasputin

Muse of Fire

The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot

I'll Do Anything

Macbeth

Schadenfreude

Beyond the Movie: The Fellowship of the Ring

Evolution X - The Making of X-Men

Cold Comfort Farm

The Making of 'The Return of the King'

A Touch of Love

The Ballad of Little Jo

The Making of 'The Two Towers'

On Broadway

Passage to Middle-Earth: The Making of 'The Lord of the Rings'

Nelson Mandela Redrawn

Walter