Ian McKellen
Acting
🎂 1939-05-25
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.
Cast credits(204)
Self
2014
Self - Guest
2009
Self - Guest
2007
Self
2007
Ian McKellen (voice)
1989
Dr. Cecil Pritchfield (voice)
1999
Mel Hutchwright
1960
Himself
1969
Self - Guest
1997
2003
Self
1990
Self - Presenter
1944
Captain Plume
1965
Simon Bliss
1965
Ross / T.E. Lawrence
1965
George Tesman
1965
Self
2004
Alexander
1974
Self - Reading Poetry
1967
2004
Self
2014
Self
1998
Ian McKellen
2005
Self - Host
1975
Self - Winner
1956
Self - Presenter
1956
Self
2003
Self
1978
Self
1953
Narrator (voice)
2024
Gandalf
2001
Self - Guest
2006
Self
2002
Freddie Thornhill
2013
Gandalf
2003
Archibald Anson Gidde
1993
Gandalf the Grey
2014
Creakle
1999
Gandalf
2002
Self
2020
Self - Speaker
2014
Gandalf the Grey
2012
Cogsworth
2017
Magneto
2014
Gandalf the Grey
2013
2 / Curtis
2009
Magneto
2026
Sir Leigh Teabing
2006
The Toad (voice)
2006
2011
Narrator
1981
Anthony Skipling
1978
David Masterman
1972
Narrator (voice)
2007
Death
1993
Self
1994
Himself - Narrator (voice)
2003
2021
Iorek Byrnison (voice)
2007
David Copperfield
1966
Chairman
1988
Roy Courtnay
2019
Gus, the Theatre Cat
2019
Dr. Reinhardt Lane
1994
Dr. Theodore Cuza
1983
Jimmy Erskine
2024
Horatio P. Huntington (voice)
2017
John Profumo
1989
Self - 'Magneto'
2000
Geoffrey
1993
Sherlock Holmes
2015
Kurt Dussander
1998
Dr. Charles Marland-White
2021
Hamlet
2024
Dr. Peter Cleave
2005
Earl of Southampton
2018
Bill Kraus
1993
James Whale
1998
1984
Will Gates
1995
Richard III
1995
Erik Lehnsherr / Magneto (uncredited)
2013
Zebedee (voice)
2004
Amos Starkadder
1995
Self (archive footage)
2025
Norman
2015
Tony
1974
Self
2003
Zebedee (voice)
2006
Gabriel Finch
2005
Uncle Freddie
1997
George
1969
John Earl McAlpine
1994
Dr. James Kennedy
1998
Percy Corcoran
1993
2003
Himself
2025
Chauvelin
1982
Self
2013
William
1995
King Lear
2008
Self
2019
Tsar Nicholas II
1996
Self
2005
Self
2013
Self
2001
The Great Intelligence (voice)
2012
Sir Andrew Charleson
1985
The Jackdaw
2007
Magneto
2000
Self
2014
Self
2021
Eric Lehnsherr / Magneto
2003
D.H. Lawrence
1981
Erik Lehnsherr / Magneto
2006
Self - Performer
2016
Self
2017
Self
2004
Narrator (voice)
2010
Self
1999
Self
2003
Walter
1982
Ginger Snap the Fox (Speaking) (voice)
2024
2016
Walter
1983
Self
1996
2025
Self
2022
2022
Self
2013
Roger
1969
Jason Anders (voice)
2005
Self
1999
And Even Yet Another Fan
2016
Self
2003
Augustus Caesar (voice)
1994
2003
Macbeth
1979
Narrator (voice)
2000
Adolf Hitler
1989
Himself
2018
Self
2017
Narrator (voice)
2001
Emile
2003
King Richard II
1970
Self
2004
Self - Narrator (voice)
2017
1994
Self
2001
Self
2016
King Lear
2018
2003
Self
2024
Self
2001
Antony Skipling
1980
2024
1997
Narrator
1997
Spooner
Quilt Documentary Narrator (voice)
1994
Richard II
Self
2003
Self
2011
Self
2004
George Tesman
1972
Continuity Announcer
Kronfeld
1985
Iago
1990
Narrator (voice)
2023
Self
2000
Self (archive footage)
2015
Spooner
2016
King Edward
1970
Self
2022
2020
1982
Aldo Moro (voice)
1992
1988
Himself
2005
1993
The Prologue
2014
2016
Mr. Kite (voice)
2017
Himself
2009
Alexander Ivanov
1979
Magician
2013
2016
Narrator
2006
2004
Himself
2011
Wolf
1965
1969
Self
2007
Narration (voice)
1993
Narrator
1987
2020
Self
Hamlet
1970
Prospero's Speech Reader (voice)
2016
2025
2010
Hamish Miller (voice)
2010
Self
2012
