Ian McKellen

Acting · 4.6 popularity

Age

Movies

169

Born: May 25, 1939
From: Burnley, Lancashire, England, UK
Website: Visit site

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.

Works

169 films

Avengers: Doomsday

2026

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

20038.5

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

20018.4

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

20028.4

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

20147.3

X-Men: Days of Future Past

20147.5

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

20127.4

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

20137.6

Beauty and the Beast

20177.0

The Da Vinci Code

20066.7

Flushed Away

20066.3

The Golden Compass

20076.1

Ebenezer

2026

Stardust

20077.3

Last Action Hero

19936.5

Mr. Holmes

20156.5

The Shadow

19946.1

Cats

20194.1

The Keep

19835.6

The Christophers

20266.8

The Wolverine

20136.4

Apt Pupil

19986.5

The Good Liar

20196.7

The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum

2027

Animal Crackers

20186.4

Asylum

20056.0

The Critic

20245.8

Richard III

19956.8

Six Degrees of Separation

19936.4

All Is True

20186.1

Scandal

19896.0

The Magic Roundabout

20055.4

Gods and Monsters

19986.9

X-Men: The Mutant Watch

20007.0

Bent

19976.9

Infinitum: Subject Unknown

20215.4

The Wolverine: Path of a Ronin

20137.0

Dragfox

20249.0

The Dresser

20156.2

And the Band Played On

19936.5

The Making of 'The Two Towers'

20068.8

Plenty

19855.7

The Scarlet Pimpernel

19826.7

Restoration

19956.1

The Untold Tales of Armistead Maupin

20176.3

Jack & Sarah

19956.7

King Lear

20086.7

Beyond the Movie: The Return of the King

20038.1

Gladio

19927.0

The Betty Driver Story

201110.0

X-Men: Premieres Around the World

20035.5

Rasputin

19966.6

Du Fu: China's Greatest Poet

202010.0

The Roof

20166.3

The Promise

19699.0

I'll Do Anything

19945.6

On Broadway

20198.7

Ringers: Lord of the Fans

20056.5

Quest for the Ring

20015.7

Doctor Who: The Snowmen

20127.7

Neverwas

20056.4

The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot

20137.8

Swept from the Sea

19986.4

Muse of Fire

20136.5

Evolution X - The Making of X-Men

20033.7

Shakespeare Live! From the RSC

20167.2

Doogal

20064.9

An Evening with Lily Savage

199610.0

Frodo Is Great... Who Is That?!!

20047.5

Larry & Vivien: The Oliviers in Love

20018.0

Cold Comfort Farm

19956.8

Priest of Love

19815.0

Nelson Mandela Redrawn

201410.0

Schadenfreude

2025

Eighteen

20054.5

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

20018.0

Zina

19856.0

Emile

20036.2

X-Men

20007.0

A Touch of Love

19696.6

Alfred the Great

19694.7

Macbeth

19797.5

X-Men: The Last Stand

20066.4

Play the Devil: Making Richard III

2016

The Making of 'The Return of the King'

20068.9

National Theatre Live: King Lear

20188.1

McKellen: Playing the Part

20187.2

The Tragedy of King Richard II

19707.0

Hamlet

20247.8

Every Good Boy Deserves Favour

1979

The Fellowship of the Ring: From Book to Script

2002

The Egg Trick

20136.0

Frank and Percy

2026

National Theatre Live: No Man's Land

20167.5

The Art of Breaking Character

2007

A Filmmaker's Journey: Making 'The Return of the King'

20046.5

Hating Peter Tatchell

20214.1

The Ballad of Little Jo

19936.0

Theatreland

2009

The Fellowship of the Ring: The Fellowship of the Cast

2002

Judi Dench: All the World's Her Stage

20167.8

The Fellowship of the Ring: Scale

2002

Graceless Go I

197410.0

Knights of Classic Drama at the BBC

2015

Ken Dodd: A Legacy of Happiness

2025

Hedda Gabler

19728.0

Countdown to War

19896.7

Quintessentially British

20223.8

Ian McKellen: Acting Shakespeare

19827.0

The Fellowship of the Ring: Designing and Building Middle-earth + Weta Workshop + Costume Design

2002

The Real Ken Dodd: The Man I Loved

2024

Shakespeare on Film

20166.0

Miss in Her Teens

20143.0

Edward II

19704.9

The Hobart Shakespeareans

20056.0

20037.0

The Second Uncanny Issue of X-Men! Making X2

20037.0

Beyond the Movie: The Fellowship of the Ring

20016.6

LS Lowry: The Unheard Tapes

2026

To Die For

19942.6

Walter

19825.9

Walter and June

19836.7

A Simple Matter of Justice

1993

Scarfe's Follies

1988

The Quest Fulfilled: A Director's Vision

20036.4

Othello

19907.3

For the Love of God

20074.0

Cirque du Soleil: Journey of Man

20007.1

The Fellowship of the Ring: Cameras in Middle-earth

2002

London 2012: Paralympics Opening Ceremony

20127.5

A World War II Fairy Tale: The Making of Michael Mann's 'The Keep'

2025

Double Take: Xavier & Magneto

2014

The Paul O'Grady Story

20178.3

Süleyman the Magnificent

1987

Edmund the Magnificent

20177.3

Untitled Anthony Hopkins Documentary

2026

The World of Gods and Monsters: A Journey with James Whale

19996.5

The Life and Death of Lily Savage

20247.0

Hamlet

19708.0

The Fellowship of the Ring: The Road Goes Ever On..

2002

David Macaulay: Roman City

19949.0

Freedom: 50 Years of Pride

20228.0

Hamlet Within

2022

Now You See Him: 'The Invisible Man' Revealed!

20006.4

Camp Christmas

19932.7

The Trial and Torture of Sir John Rampayne

196510.0

Craven Arms

1972

Stonewall 25: Global Voices of Pride and Protest

1994

Age of Dissent

1994

After Stonewall

19995.6

How a Kite Flies

2017

Surviving Friendly Fire

19973.0

A Lost and Found Box of Human Sensation

20107.0

Ian McKellen on Stage: With Tolkien, Shakespeare, Others and YOU

20207.0

Dying Day

19808.0

All the World's a Screen: Shakespeare on Film

2016

A Bit Of Scarlet

19974.4

Dragged Through Time

2025

Richard II

2026

Looking for Lowry

2011

Small-Time Revolutionary

20103.0

Saint of 9/11

20065.7

Shakespeare on Stage, Screen and Elsewhere with Ian McKellen

20166.0

Guerrilla Distribution

2007

My First Time

20042.0

Peter Tatchell: Just Who Does He Think He Is?

20047.0

No Man's Land

2026

The One Note Man

20236.7

Armistead Maupin Is a Man I Dreamt Up

19939.0