Ben Kingsley
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- December 31, 1943
- Place of birth
- Snainton, North Riding of Yorkshire, England, UK
Biography
Sir Ben Kingsley (born Krishna Pandit Bhanji; 31 December 1943) is an English actor. He has received accolades throughout his career spanning five decades, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Grammy Award, and two Golden Globe Awards, as well as nominations for four Primetime Emmy Awards and two Laurence Olivier Awards. Kingsley was appointed Knight Bachelor in 2002 for services to the British film industry. He was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2010 and received the Britannia Award in 2013.
Born to an English mother and an Indian Gujarati father with roots in Jamnagar, Kingsley began his career in theatre, joining the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1967 and spending the next 15 years appearing mainly on stage. His starring roles included productions of As You Like It (his West End debut for the company at the Aldwych Theatre in 1967), Much Ado About Nothing, Richard III, The Tempest, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Hamlet, and The Merry Wives of Windsor. Also known for his television roles, he received four Primetime Emmy Award nominations for his performances in Murderers Among Us: The Simon Wiesenthal Story (1989), Joseph (1995), Anne Frank: The Whole Story (2001), and Mrs. Harris (2006).
In film, Kingsley is known for his starring role as Mahatma Gandhi in Richard Attenborough's Gandhi (1982), for which he subsequently won the Academy Award for Best Actor and BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role. For his portrayal of Itzhak Stern in Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List (1993), he received a BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role nomination. He was Oscar-nominated for Bugsy (1990), Sexy Beast (2000), and House of Sand and Fog (2003). His other notable films include Maurice (1987), Sneakers (1992), Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993), Death and the Maiden (1994), Twelfth Night (1996), Tuck Everlasting (2002), Elegy (2008), Shutter Island (2010), and Hugo (2011).
Kingsley played the character of Trevor Slattery in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, appearing in Iron Man 3 (2013), Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021), and the upcoming Disney+ series Wonder Man. He also acted in the blockbusters Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010) and Ender's Game (2013). Kingsley lent his voice to the films The Boxtrolls (2014) and The Jungle Book (2016).
Movies with Ben Kingsley
- Shutter Island 2010 · ★ 8.2
- Iron Man 3 2013 · ★ 6.9
- Schindler's List 1993 · ★ 8.6
- Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings 2021 · ★ 7.5
- The Jungle Book 2016 · ★ 6.9
- Hugo 2011 · ★ 7.2
- Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time 2010 · ★ 6.3
- A.I. Artificial Intelligence 2001 · ★ 7.1
- The Dictator 2012 · ★ 6.2
- Ender's Game 2013 · ★ 6.6
- Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb 2014 · ★ 6.2
- Exodus: Gods and Kings 2014 · ★ 5.9
- Lucky Number Slevin 2006 · ★ 7.5
- The Walk 2015 · ★ 7.0
- Self/less 2015 · ★ 6.4
- Gandhi 1982 · ★ 7.6
- Species 1995 · ★ 6.0
- The Boxtrolls 2014 · ★ 6.7
- Stonehearst Asylum 2014 · ★ 6.9
- The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar 2023 · ★ 7.3
- War Machine 2017 · ★ 5.6
- Oliver Twist 2005 · ★ 6.8
- The Physician 2013 · ★ 7.3
- The Thursday Murder Club 2025 · ★ 6.6
- Operation Finale 2018 · ★ 6.7
- Night Hunter 2019 · ★ 6.6
- Sneakers 1992 · ★ 6.9
- Security 2017 · ★ 6.3
- Sexy Beast 2001 · ★ 7.0
- House of Sand and Fog 2003 · ★ 7.1
- The Red Sea Diving Resort 2019 · ★ 6.8
- Dave 1993 · ★ 6.7
- The Last Legion 2007 · ★ 5.6
- TransSiberian 2008 · ★ 6.4
- Rules of Engagement 2000 · ★ 6.2
- The Love Guru 2008 · ★ 4.0
- Knight of Cups 2015 · ★ 5.7
- Deep Water 2026 · ★ 7.4
- Searching for Bobby Fischer 1993 · ★ 7.1
- Marvel One-Shot: All Hail the King 2014 · ★ 6.8