english actor
not to be confused with Kingsley Ben-Adir
Sir Ben Kingsley ( bear Krishna Pandit Bhanji ; 31 December 1943 ) is an english actor. Throughout his career cross over five decades, he has garnered numerous accolades, including an Academy Award ( from four nominations ), a british Academy Film Award, two Golden Globe Awards, a screen Actors Guild Award, and a Grammy Award.

Born to an english beget and a Gujarati don with roots in Jamnagar, Kingsley began his career in field, joining the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1967 and spending the adjacent 15 years appearing chiefly on stage. His starring roles included productions of As You Like It ( his West end debut for the party at the Aldwych Theatre in 1967 ), Much Ado About Nothing, Richard III, The Tempest, A Midsummer Night’s Dream ( including Peter Brook ’ south 1970 RSC output of the play ), Hamlet and The Merry Wives of Windsor. In film, Kingsley is best known for his starring character as Mahatma Gandhi in Richard Attenborough ’ sulfur Gandhi ( 1982 ), for which he subsequently won the Academy Award for Best Actor and BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a conduct function. He besides appeared as Itzhak Stern in Steven Spielberg ’ south Schindler’s List ( 1993 ), receiving a nominating speech for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. subsequent roles have included Twelfth Night ( 1996 ), Sexy Beast ( 2000 ), House of Sand and Fog ( 2003 ), Thunderbirds ( 2004 ), Lucky Number Slevin ( 2006 ), Shutter Island ( 2010 ), Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time ( 2010 ), Hugo ( 2011 ), The Dictator ( 2012 ) , Iron Man 3 ( 2013 ), Ender’s Game ( 2013 ) and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings ( 2021 ). He has besides voiced Archibald Snatcher in The Boxtrolls ( 2014 ), and Bagheera in the live-action adaptation of Disney ‘s The Jungle Book ( 2016 ). Kingsley was appointed Knight Bachelor in 2002 for services to the british film industry. [ 1 ] In 2010, he was awarded a headliner on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. [ 2 ] In 2013, he received the Britannia Award for Worldwide Contribution to Filmed Entertainment. [ 3 ]

early on life sentence [edit ]

Kingsley was born as Krishna Pandit Bhanji on 31 December 1943 in Snainton, North Riding of Yorkshire, [ 4 ] [ 5 ] [ 6 ] the son of actress and model Anna Lyna Mary ( née Goodman ; 1914–2010 ) and Rahimtulla Harji Bhanji ( 1914–1968 ). [ 7 ] [ 8 ] His mother was english ; she was born out of marriage, and “ was loath to speak of her background ”. [ 9 ] [ 10 ] His beget was born in the East Africa Protectorate ( which later became, in 1920, the Colony and Protectorate of Kenya ) to a class from Jamnagar, of Gujarati Indian lineage. [ 11 ] Kingsley ‘s agnate grandfather was a successful zest trader who had moved from India to the Sultanate of Zanzibar, where Kingsley ‘s beget lived until moving to the UK at the senesce of 14. [ 12 ] [ 13 ] [ 14 ] Kingsley grew up in Pendlebury, Lancashire. He was educated at the Manchester Grammar School, where one of his classmates was actor Robert Powell. [ 15 ] Kingsley ‘s parental grandfather was believed by the family to have been of Russian- or German-Jewish origin, while his maternal grandma was english and worked in the dress district of London ‘s East End. [ 16 ] Kingsley stated in 1994, “ I ‘m not jewish, and though there might be some Russian-Jewish inheritance direction second on my mother ‘s side, the thread is indeed fine there ‘s no real attest. ” [ 17 ]

career [edit ]

Beginnings and stage work [edit ]

Kingsley studied at De La Salle College in Salford, which late became home to The Ben Kingsley Theatre. While at college he became involved in amateur dramatics in Manchester, making his professional phase debut on commencement, aged 23. In 1966 he was spotted by music producer and coach Dick James ( The Beatles ‘ publisher ), who offered to mould Kingsley into a pop star topology, but Kingsley chose to join the Royal Shakespeare Company ( RSC ) in 1967 after an hearing before Trevor Nunn. [ 18 ] Devoting himself about entirely to stage work for the adjacent 15 years, he made his west end introduction for the ship’s company at the Aldwych Theatre in 1967 in a production of As You Like It. [ 19 ] Further productions for the RSC included Much Ado About Nothing, Richard III, The Tempest, A Midsummer Night’s Dream ( starring in Peter Brook ‘s applaud 1970 RSC output as Demetrius ), Hamlet and The Merry Wives of Windsor. [ 19 ] In the 1960s, he changed his appoint to Ben Kingsley, fearing that a foreign mention would hamper his career. [ 20 ] [ 21 ] On the impingement of adopting an english name, Kingsley told the Radio Times, “ american samoa soon as I changed my name, I got the jobs. I had one audition as Krishna Bhanji and they said, ‘Beautiful audition but we don ’ thyroxine quite know how to place you in our extroverted season. ‘ I changed my diagnose, crossed the road, and they said when can you start ? ” [ 22 ] Kingsley played Mosca in Peter Hall ‘s 1977 production of Ben Jonson ‘s Volpone for the Royal National Theatre. He besides starred in the function of Willy Loman in a 1982 Sydney product of Death of a Salesman reverse Mel Gibson .

transition to film and television [edit ]

Kingsley made the transition to film roles early on on, with his first role coming in Fear Is the Key, released in 1972. Kingsley continued starring in sting roles in both film and television receiver, including a character as Ron Jenkins on the soap opera Coronation Street from 1966 to 1967 and regular appearances as a refutation rede in the long-running british legal program Crown Court. In 1975, he starred as Dante Gabriel Rossetti in the BBCs historical drama The Love School and appeared in the television receiver miniseries Dickens of London the keep up year. He found fame as Mohandas Gandhi in Richard Attenborough ’ s Gandhi in 1982. The film was a critical and fiscal achiever, and Kingsley won the Academy Award for Best Actor, the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama, for his performance. [ 20 ] Kingsley has since appeared in a variety show of roles. His credits included the films Turtle Diary, Maurice, Pascali’s Island, Without a Clue ( as Dr. Watson alongside Michael Caine ‘s Sherlock Holmes ), Suspect Zero, Bugsy ( nominated for Best Supporting Actor ), Sneakers, Dave, Searching for Bobby Fischer, Schindler’s List, Silas Marner, Death and the Maiden, Sexy Beast, for which he received another Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, and House of Sand and Fog, which led to an Oscar nomination for Best Actor. He won a Crystal Globe award for outstanding aesthetic contribution to world cinema at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in 2001. [ 23 ]
Hugo in 2011 Kingsley at the premier ofin 2011

In 1997, he provided a spokesperson in the video game Ceremony of Innocence. In 1998, he was the heading of the jury at the 48th Berlin International Film Festival and starred in the family movie Spooky House, saying he had to choose a function in a unaccented film after acting in subsequent multiple roles that left him feeling traumatized. [ 24 ] [ 25 ] In July 2006, he received an Emmy nomination for his performance in the made-for-TV film Mrs. Harris, in which he played celebrated cardiologist Herman Tarnower, who was murdered by his jilted lover, Jean Harris. Later that year, Kingsley appeared in an episode of The Sopranos entitled “ Luxury Lounge “, playing himself. In 2007, Kingsley appeared as a polish american gangster in the Mafia drollery You Kill Me, and a gunman in War, Inc. In 2010, Kingsley worked voicing a character named Sabine in Lionhead Studios game Fable III and starred aboard Leonardo DiCaprio in Shutter Island, directed by Martin Scorsese. The lapp year Kingsley made his Bollywood introduction in the thriller Teen Patti. In 2011 he appeared in Scorsese ‘s following movie, Hugo, and signed up to appear in a fresh feature of speech by Neil Jordan and John Boorman entitled Broken Dream. [ 26 ] In 2013, he appeared as Trevor Slattery in Iron Man 3, and as the champion Mazer Rackham in Ender’s Game. Kingsley ‘s 2014 film roles included Exodus: Gods and Kings, as Nun, a Hebrew slave, and Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, as Merenkahre, a effigy of an egyptian pharaoh and church father of Ahkmenrah ( in one scene, the character discusses his Hebrew slaves ). [ 27 ] In 2015, Kingsley played a Sikh driving teacher in the film Learning to Drive. [ 28 ] He voiced Bagheera in the live-action adaptation of Disney ‘s The Jungle Book, directed by Jon Favreau [ 29 ] and recorded Yogananda ‘s Autobiography of a Yogi in book-on-tape format. In 2018, Kingsley was the narrator for Amazon Prime ‘s objective All or Nothing: Manchester City which followed Manchester City ‘s criminal record break 2017–18 Premier League political campaign. [ 30 ] In 2018 he was the voice of General Woundwort in the BBC adaptation of Watership Down. [ 31 ] He reprised his function as Trevor Slattery in the Marvel Cinematic Universe Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, which was released in September 2021. [ 32 ]

personal life and activism [edit ]

Kingsley has been married four times and has four children : Thomas Bhanji and artist Jasmin Bhanji, with actress Angela Morant, and Edmund Kingsley and Ferdinand Kingsley, both of whom became actors, with theatrical film director Alison Sutcliffe. [ 33 ] He divorced Alexandra Christmann in 2005, having been “ deeply, deeply shocked ” after pictures of her kissing another serviceman surfaced on the internet. On 3 September 2007, Kingsley married brazilian actress Daniela Lavender at Eynsham Hall in North Leigh, Oxfordshire. [ 35 ] Kingsley is a Quaker. [ 36 ] [ 37 ] Kingsley appeared in The Children’s Monologues on phase in London aboard Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hiddleston, Gemma Arterton and Eddie Redmayne. [ 38 ] It was performed on behalf of Dramatic Need, a UK-registered charity that sends international arts professionals ( such as musicians, artists and actors ) to host workshops in underprivileged and rural communities in Africa. [ 39 ]

Honours [edit ]

In 1984, Kingsley won a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word or Nonmusical Recording for The Words of Gandhi, received an honorary degree from the University of Salford, [ 40 ] and was awarded the indian civilian honor Padma Shri. [ 41 ] He was made a Knight Bachelor in the 2002 New Year Honours for services to the british film diligence. [ 1 ] [ 42 ] The prize was announced on 31 December 2001, which happened to be Kingsley ‘s 58th birthday. [ 43 ] After being knighted by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace, Kingsley stated :

I told the Queen that winning an academy award pales into insignificance—this is insurmountable. I ‘m fascinated by the ancient, by mythology, by these islands and their custom of floor telling. I feel that I am a history teller and to receive a knighthood is very recognition of that. [ 1 ]

His demand to be called ‘Sir ‘ in film and television show credits was documented by the BBC, to some criticism. [ 44 ] Since then, Kingsley appears to have altered his position ; credits for his latest films refer to him as Ben Kingsley. Co-star Penélope Cruz was reportedly diffident what to call him during the filming of Elegy as person had told her she needed to refer to him as “ Sir Ben ”. One day it slipped out as such, and she called him that for the remainder of the inject. [ 45 ] Kingsley has denied accusations that he prefers to be referred to by his entitle, saying, “ If I ‘ve always insisted on being called ‘Sir ‘ by colleagues on a film set then I am profoundly good-for-nothing. I do n’t remember always doing that and I tend not to forget. ” [ 46 ] In May 2010, Kingsley was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. [ 2 ] In April 2013, Kingsley was honoured with the Fellowship Award at The asian Awards in London. [ 47 ]

Filmography [edit ]

Awards and nominations [edit ]

References [edit ]