
Ian McKellen
3 FOLLOWERS • 65 CREDITS • MAY 25, 1939 • 86
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, and he has been nominated 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), 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 co-founded Stonewall, an LGBT rights lobby group in the United Kingdom named after the Stonewall riots. He also patronises LGBT History Month, Pride London, Oxford Pride, GayGlos, LGBT Foundation and FFLAG.
Known For

Saturday Night Live

Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen

Tony Awards

The Graham Norton Show

Golden Globe Awards

Late Night with Seth Meyers

Doctor Who

The Oscars

Family Guy

Jimmy Kimmel Live!

BBC Play of the Month

The Simpsons

Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway

Sesame Street

Omnibus

Real Time with Bill Maher

Parkinson

Who Do You Think You Are?

The One Show

Extras

ted

Coronation Street

The Wolverine

Stardust

Avengers: Doomsday

David Copperfield

Deadpool & Wolverine

Last Action Hero

Beauty and the Beast

Judi Dench: All the World's Her Stage

Cold Comfort Farm

Cats

X-Men: The Mutant Watch

The Golden Compass

Shakespeare Live! From the RSC

The Keep

X-Men: Days of Future Past

Scandal

X2

X-Men: The Last Stand

Knights of Classic Drama at the BBC

Larry & Vivien: The Oliviers in Love

The Da Vinci Code

X-Men

The Second Uncanny Issue of X-Men - Making X2

Flushed Away

Asylum

Windmills of the Gods

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Armistead Maupin Is a Man I Dreamt Up

All the World's a Screen: Shakespeare on Film

David Copperfield

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

The Good Liar

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Hedda Gabler

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Gods and Monsters

The Tragedy of King Richard II

The Dresser

Hamlet

The Prisoner

Marley

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
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