Ian McKellen
Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Known Credits
214
Gender
Male
Birthday
1939-05-25 (86 years old)
Place of Birth
Burnley, Lancashire, England, UK
Ian McKellen
Biography
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.
Known For
The Simpsons
Family Guy
Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen
Saturday Night Live
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Late Night with Seth Meyers
Golden Globe Awards
Golden Globe Awards
Sesame Street
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
The Graham Norton Show
The Graham Norton Show
The View
Real Time with Bill Maher
Coronation Street
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
The One Show
Avengers: Doomsday
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Have I Got News for You
Variety Studio: Actors on Actors
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Parkinson
The Oscars
Playhouse
Beauty and the Beast
BBC Play of the Month
BBC Play of the Month
BBC Play of the Month
BBC Play of the Month
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
X-Men: Days of Future Past
Omnibus
The Paul O'Grady Show
Scandal
ted
Apt Pupil
Who Do You Think You Are?
The Da Vinci Code
Neverwas
Extras
Eighteen
The Wednesday Play
Jack & Sarah
An Audience with...
Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway
Stardust
Asylum
Zina
Flushed Away
Walter
David Macaulay: Roman City
Reunited Apart
King Lear
Graceless Go I
Emile
Tales of the City
I'll Do Anything
The Golden Compass
Bent
Richard III
A Touch of Love
Priest of Love
Trailblazer Honors
Muse of Fire
Vicious
Last Action Hero
The Christophers
Looking for Lowry
Macbeth
David Copperfield
Othello
Alfred the Great
National Theatre Live: King Lear
Quintessentially British
Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol
Cats
Hamlet
The Scarlet Pimpernel
The Shadow
Plenty
The Magic Roundabout
Untitled Anthony Hopkins Documentary
The Prisoner
Nelson Mandela Redrawn
My First Time
The Good Liar
Hamlet
McKellen: Playing the Part
Mr. Holmes
Theatreland
Camp Christmas
Perspectives
Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras
David Copperfield
Hedda Gabler
Playing Shakespeare
Six Degrees of Separation
The Keep
The Critic
Animal Crackers
Lady Grey London
The Wolverine
The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum
The Promise
Dragfox
Infinitum: Subject Unknown
Armchair Thriller
Doogal
An Evening with Lily Savage
And the Band Played On
X-Men: The Mutant Watch
Doctor Who: The Snowmen
Restoration
Cold Comfort Farm
All Is True
Frank and Percy
Country Matters
Pillar of Fire
Gods and Monsters
Rasputin
The Dresser
Scarfe's Follies
Inside the Actors Studio
The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot
Swept from the Sea
The Wolverine: Path of a Ronin
The Hobart Shakespeareans
Churchill
Great British Theatre
Shakespeare Live! From the RSC
The Roof
Passage to Middle-Earth: The Making of 'The Lord of the Rings'
Windmills of the Gods
Evolution X - The Making of X-Men
Billy & Dom Eat the World
The Quest Fulfilled: A Director's Vision
Miss in Her Teens
The Ballad of Little Jo
X-Men
Every Good Boy Deserves Favour
Quest for the Ring
The Second Uncanny Issue of X-Men! Making X2
The Untold Tales of Armistead Maupin
Edward II
Ringers: Lord of the Fans
On Broadway
X-Men: The Last Stand
Cirque du Soleil: Journey of Man
Beyond the Movie: The Fellowship of the Ring
A Lost and Found Box of Human Sensation
Hating Peter Tatchell
Beyond the Movie: The Return of the King
Judi Dench: All the World's Her Stage
X2
Now You See Him: 'The Invisible Man' Revealed!
The Making of 'The Two Towers'
Hamlet Within
A Filmmaker's Journey: Making 'The Return of the King'
X-Men: Premieres Around the World
Gladio
Guerrilla Distribution
Schadenfreude
The Art of Breaking Character
Countdown to War
The Making of 'The Return of the King'
Ian McKellen: Acting Shakespeare
The Real Ken Dodd: The Man I Loved
Knights of Classic Drama at the BBC
The Betty Driver Story
Edmund the Magnificent
For the Love of God
Richard II
After Stonewall
The World of Gods and Monsters: A Journey with James Whale
National Theatre Live: No Man's Land
The Tragedy of King Richard II
Small-Time Revolutionary
Becoming Victoria Wood
How a Kite Flies
Play the Devil: Making Richard III
London 2012: Paralympics Opening Ceremony
The Egg Trick
To Die For
A World War II Fairy Tale: The Making of Michael Mann's 'The Keep'
Larry & Vivien: The Oliviers in Love
All the World's a Screen: Shakespeare on Film
A Bit Of Scarlet
Armistead Maupin Is a Man I Dreamt Up
Age of Dissent
Süleyman the Magnificent
Dying Day
The Paul O'Grady Story
Frodo Is Great... Who Is That?!!
Amol Rajan Interviews
Shakespeare on Film
Dragged Through Time
Walter and June
The One Note Man
Saint of 9/11
The Life and Death of Lily Savage
Du Fu: China's Greatest Poet
Freedom: 50 Years of Pride
Mutant vs. Machine: The Making of 'X-Men: Days of Future Past'
Ian McKellen on Stage: With Tolkien, Shakespeare, Others and YOU
No Man's Land
Shakespeare on Stage, Screen and Elsewhere with Ian McKellen
Stonewall 25: Global Voices of Pride and Protest
Ken Dodd: A Legacy of Happiness
Surviving Friendly Fire
The Trial and Torture of Sir John Rampayne
Peter Tatchell: Just Who Does He Think He Is?
