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.
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.
External links
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/nm0005212
Wikipedia: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q170510
Facebook: https://facebook.com/ianmckellen
Instagram: https://instagram.com/ianmckellen
Filmography (Movies)
The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum
Character:Gandalf
Release Date:16/12/2027
Avengers: Doomsday
Character:Magneto
Release Date:16/12/2026
Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol
Character:
Release Date:12/11/2026
A World War II Fairy Tale: The Making of Michael Mann's 'The Keep'
Character:Himself (archive footage)
Release Date:10/09/2025
The Christophers
Character:Julian Sklar
Release Date:07/09/2025
Dragged Through Time
Character:
Release Date:26/07/2025
Ken Dodd: A Legacy of Happiness
Character:
Release Date:23/03/2025
The Critic
Character:Jimmy Erskine
Release Date:13/09/2024
Dragfox
Character:Ginger Snap the Fox (Speaking) (voice)
Release Date:31/08/2024
The Real Ken Dodd: The Man I Loved
Character:
Release Date:09/06/2024
The Life and Death of Lily Savage
Character:Self
Release Date:29/03/2024
Hamlet
Character:Hamlet
Release Date:27/02/2024
The One Note Man
Character:Narrator (voice)
Release Date:08/08/2023
Quintessentially British
Character:Self
Release Date:27/10/2022
Freedom: 50 Years of Pride
Character:Self
Release Date:02/07/2022
Hamlet Within
Character:
Release Date:21/05/2022
Hating Peter Tatchell
Character:Self
Release Date:01/11/2021
Infinitum: Subject Unknown
Character:Dr. Charles Marland-White
Release Date:03/03/2021
Ian McKellen on Stage: With Tolkien, Shakespeare, Others and YOU
Character:
Release Date:11/06/2020
Du Fu: China's Greatest Poet
Character:
Release Date:05/04/2020
Cats
Character:Gus, the Theatre Cat
Release Date:19/12/2019
The Good Liar
Character:Roy Courtnay
Release Date:08/11/2019
On Broadway
Character:Self
Release Date:12/10/2019
All Is True
Character:Earl of Southampton
Release Date:21/12/2018
National Theatre Live: King Lear
Character:King Lear
Release Date:27/09/2018
McKellen: Playing the Part
Character:Himself
Release Date:25/05/2018
Animal Crackers
Character:Horatio P. Huntington (voice)
Release Date:23/06/2017
The Paul O'Grady Story
Character:Self
Release Date:23/06/2017
How a Kite Flies
Character:Mr. Kite (voice)
Release Date:28/04/2017
Beauty and the Beast
Character:Cogsworth
Release Date:16/03/2017
The Untold Tales of Armistead Maupin
Character:Self
Release Date:11/03/2017
Edmund the Magnificent
Character:Self - Narrator (voice)
Release Date:01/03/2017
Judi Dench: All the World's Her Stage
Character:Self
Release Date:30/12/2016
National Theatre Live: No Man's Land
Character:Spooner
Release Date:15/12/2016
Shakespeare on Stage, Screen and Elsewhere with Ian McKellen
Character:
Release Date:31/05/2016
Shakespeare on Film
Character:
Release Date:31/05/2016
Play the Devil: Making Richard III
Character:
Release Date:31/05/2016
All the World's a Screen: Shakespeare on Film
Character:Prospero's Speech Reader (voice)
Release Date:24/04/2016
Shakespeare Live! From the RSC
Character:Self - Performer
Release Date:23/04/2016
The Roof
Character:And Even Yet Another Fan
Release Date:31/03/2016
Knights of Classic Drama at the BBC
Character:Self (archive footage)
Release Date:01/11/2015
The Dresser
Character:Norman
Release Date:31/10/2015
Mr. Holmes
Character:Sherlock Holmes
Release Date:19/06/2015
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Character:Gandalf the Grey
Release Date:10/12/2014
Nelson Mandela Redrawn
Character:Self
Release Date:18/07/2014
X-Men: Days of Future Past
Character:Magneto
Release Date:15/05/2014
Miss in Her Teens
Character:The Prologue
Release Date:15/04/2014
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Character:Gandalf the Grey
Release Date:11/12/2013
The Wolverine: Path of a Ronin
Character:Self
Release Date:03/12/2013
The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot
Character:Self
Release Date:23/11/2013
Muse of Fire
Character:Self
Release Date:26/09/2013
The Wolverine
Character:Erik Lehnsherr / Magneto (uncredited)
Release Date:21/07/2013
The Egg Trick
Character:Magician
Release Date:21/06/2013
Doctor Who: The Snowmen
Character:The Great Intelligence (voice)
Release Date:25/12/2012
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Character:Gandalf the Grey
Release Date:12/12/2012
London 2012: Paralympics Opening Ceremony
Character:Self
Release Date:29/08/2012
Looking for Lowry
Character:Himself
Release Date:24/04/2011
The Betty Driver Story
Character:Self
Release Date:01/02/2011
Lady Grey London
Character:
Release Date:08/12/2010
Small-Time Revolutionary
Character:Hamish Miller (voice)
Release Date:22/07/2010
A Lost and Found Box of Human Sensation
Character:Narrator (voice)
Release Date:25/06/2010
Theatreland
Character:Himself
Release Date:01/01/2009
King Lear
Character:King Lear
Release Date:06/08/2008
The Golden Compass
Character:Iorek Byrnison (voice)
Release Date:04/12/2007
Stardust
Character:Narrator (voice)
Release Date:10/08/2007
The Art of Breaking Character
Character:Self
Release Date:26/03/2007
For the Love of God
Character:The Jackdaw
Release Date:28/02/2007
Guerrilla Distribution
Character:Himself
Release Date:17/01/2007
Flushed Away
Character:The Toad (voice)
Release Date:22/10/2006
X-Men: The Last Stand
Character:Erik Lehnsherr / Magneto
Release Date:24/05/2006
The Da Vinci Code
Character:Sir Leigh Teabing
Release Date:17/05/2006
Saint of 9/11
Character:Narrator
Release Date:27/04/2006
Doogal
Character:Zebedee (voice)
Release Date:24/02/2006
Neverwas
Character:Gabriel Finch
Release Date:09/09/2005
Asylum
Character:Dr. Peter Cleave
Release Date:09/09/2005
The Hobart Shakespeareans
Character:Himself
Release Date:06/09/2005
Ringers: Lord of the Fans
Character:Self
Release Date:21/01/2005
Eighteen
Character:Jason Anders (voice)
Release Date:01/01/2005
A Filmmaker's Journey: Making 'The Return of the King'
Character:Self
Release Date:14/12/2004
The Magic Roundabout
Character:Zebedee (voice)
Release Date:24/10/2004
My First Time
Character:Narrator
Release Date:12/10/2004
Frodo Is Great... Who Is That?!!
Character:Self
Release Date:23/07/2004
The Making of 'The Return of the King'
Character:Self
Release Date:01/04/2004
Peter Tatchell: Just Who Does He Think He Is?
Character:
Release Date:27/03/2004
The Quest Fulfilled: A Director's Vision
Character:Self
Release Date:26/12/2003
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Character:Gandalf
Release Date:17/12/2003
Beyond the Movie: The Return of the King
Character:Self
Release Date:12/12/2003
The Second Uncanny Issue of X-Men! Making X2
Character:
Release Date:25/11/2003
X2
Character:Eric Lehnsherr / Magneto
Release Date:27/04/2003
The Making of 'The Two Towers'
Character:
Release Date:01/04/2003
Evolution X - The Making of X-Men
Character:
Release Date:11/02/2003
X-Men: Premieres Around the World
Character:Self
Release Date:11/02/2003
Emile
Character:Emile
Release Date:01/01/2003
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Character:Gandalf
Release Date:18/12/2002
Beyond the Movie: The Fellowship of the Ring
Character:Self
Release Date:23/12/2001
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Character:Gandalf
Release Date:18/12/2001
Passage to Middle-Earth: The Making of 'The Lord of the Rings'
Character:Self
Release Date:09/12/2001
Quest for the Ring
Character:Self
Release Date:29/11/2001
Larry & Vivien: The Oliviers in Love
Character:Narrator (voice)
Release Date:13/09/2001
Now You See Him: 'The Invisible Man' Revealed!
Character:Self
Release Date:29/08/2000
X-Men
Character:Magneto
Release Date:13/07/2000
X-Men: The Mutant Watch
Character:Self - 'Magneto'
Release Date:02/07/2000
Cirque du Soleil: Journey of Man
Character:Narrator (voice)
Release Date:05/05/2000
The World of Gods and Monsters: A Journey with James Whale
Character:Self
Release Date:08/06/1999
After Stonewall
Character:Self
Release Date:06/06/1999
Apt Pupil
Character:Kurt Dussander
Release Date:23/10/1998
Gods and Monsters
Character:James Whale
Release Date:12/09/1998
Swept from the Sea
Character:Dr. James Kennedy
Release Date:23/01/1998
Bent
Character:Uncle Freddie
Release Date:26/11/1997
Surviving Friendly Fire
Character:
Release Date:21/06/1997
A Bit Of Scarlet
Character:Narrator
Release Date:20/06/1997
An Evening with Lily Savage
Character:Self
Release Date:11/11/1996
Rasputin
Character:Tsar Nicholas II
Release Date:23/03/1996
Richard III
Character:Richard III
Release Date:29/12/1995
Restoration
Character:Will Gates
Release Date:29/12/1995
Jack & Sarah
Character:William
Release Date:02/06/1995
Cold Comfort Farm
Character:Amos Starkadder
Release Date:01/01/1995
To Die For
Character:Quilt Documentary Narrator (voice)
Release Date:02/12/1994
Stonewall 25: Global Voices of Pride and Protest
Character:Self
Release Date:23/09/1994
The Shadow
Character:Dr. Reinhardt Lane
Release Date:01/07/1994
David Macaulay: Roman City
Character:Augustus Caesar (voice)
Release Date:15/02/1994
I'll Do Anything
Character:John Earl McAlpine
Release Date:04/02/1994
Camp Christmas
Character:
Release Date:24/12/1993
Six Degrees of Separation
Character:Geoffrey
Release Date:08/12/1993
And the Band Played On
Character:Bill Kraus
Release Date:11/09/1993
The Ballad of Little Jo
Character:Percy Corcoran
Release Date:20/08/1993
Armistead Maupin Is a Man I Dreamt Up
Character:Narration (voice)
Release Date:23/06/1993
Last Action Hero
Character:Death
Release Date:18/06/1993
Gladio
Character:Aldo Moro (voice)
Release Date:10/07/1992
Othello
Character:Iago
Release Date:23/06/1990
Countdown to War
Character:Adolf Hitler
Release Date:07/04/1989
Scandal
Character:John Profumo
Release Date:03/03/1989
Scarfe's Follies
Character:
Release Date:28/01/1988
Süleyman the Magnificent
Character:Narrator
Release Date:01/01/1987
Zina
Character:Kronfeld
Release Date:01/11/1985
Plenty
Character:Sir Andrew Charleson
Release Date:20/09/1985
The Keep
Character:Dr. Theodore Cuza
Release Date:16/12/1983
Walter and June
Character:Walter
Release Date:30/04/1983
The Scarlet Pimpernel
Character:Chauvelin
Release Date:09/11/1982
Walter
Character:Walter
Release Date:02/11/1982
Ian McKellen: Acting Shakespeare
Character:
Release Date:25/04/1982
Priest of Love
Character:D.H. Lawrence
Release Date:11/10/1981
Dying Day
Character:Antony Skipling
Release Date:12/02/1980
Every Good Boy Deserves Favour
Character:Alexander Ivanov
Release Date:14/11/1979
Macbeth
Character:Macbeth
Release Date:02/02/1979
Graceless Go I
Character:Tony
Release Date:08/10/1974
Hedda Gabler
Character:George Tesman
Release Date:20/10/1972
Hamlet
Character:Hamlet
Release Date:07/11/1970
Edward II
Character:King Edward
Release Date:06/08/1970
The Tragedy of King Richard II
Character:King Richard II
Release Date:30/07/1970
The Promise
Character:
Release Date:01/12/1969
Alfred the Great
Character:Roger
Release Date:08/10/1969
A Touch of Love
Character:George
Release Date:01/09/1969
The Trial and Torture of Sir John Rampayne
Character:Wolf
Release Date:10/11/1965
Television Appearances
Billy & Dom Eat the World
Character:Himself
ted
Character:Narrator (voice)
Great British Theatre
Character:
Reunited Apart
Character:Self
Variety Studio: Actors on Actors
Character:Self
Trailblazer Honors
Character:Self - Speaker
Late Night with Seth Meyers
Character:Self
Vicious
Character:Freddie Thornhill
Perspectives
Character:
The Prisoner
Character:2 / Curtis
Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen
Character:Self - Guest
The Graham Norton Show
Character:Self - Guest
The Graham Norton Show
Character:Self
The One Show
Character:Self - Guest
Extras
Character:Ian McKellen
Who Do You Think You Are?
Character:Self
The Paul O'Grady Show
Character:
Churchill
Character:Himself - Narrator (voice)
Real Time with Bill Maher
Character:Self
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Character:Self
Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway
Character:Self
David Copperfield
Character:Creakle
Family Guy
Character:Dr. Cecil Pritchfield (voice)
Parkinson
Character:Self
The View
Character:Self - Guest
Inside the Actors Studio
Character:Self
Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras
Character:Self
Tales of the City
Character:Archibald Anson Gidde
Have I Got News for You
Character:Self
The Simpsons
Character:Ian McKellen (voice)
Windmills of the Gods
Character:Chairman
Playing Shakespeare
Character:
Pillar of Fire
Character:Narrator
Armchair Thriller
Character:Anthony Skipling
An Audience with...
Character:Self
Saturday Night Live
Character:Self - Host
Playhouse
Character:Alexander
Country Matters
Character:David Masterman
Sesame Street
Character:Self
Omnibus
Character:Self - Reading Poetry
David Copperfield
Character:David Copperfield
BBC Play of the Month
Character:Captain Plume
BBC Play of the Month
Character:Simon Bliss
BBC Play of the Month
Character:Ross / T.E. Lawrence
BBC Play of the Month
Character:George Tesman
The Wednesday Play
Character:Wolf
Coronation Street
Character:Mel Hutchwright
Tony Awards
Character:Self - Winner
Tony Awards
Character:Self - Presenter
The Oscars
Character:Self
Golden Globe Awards
Character:Self - Presenter
Golden Globe Awards
Character:Self - Winner
Images
