Ian McKellen
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.
214 acting credits
Acting · 214
The Simpsons
1989
Family Guy
1999
Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen
2009
Late Night with Seth Meyers
2014
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
2015
The Graham Norton Show
2007
Saturday Night Live
1975
Late Show with David Letterman
1993
Real Time with Bill Maher
2003
Sesame Street
1969
Coronation Street
1960
Golden Globe Awards
1944
The View
1997
The One Show
2006
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
2003
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
2003
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
2001
Tony Awards
1956
Variety Studio: Actors on Actors
2014
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
1993
Have I Got News for You
1990
ted
2024
BBC Play of the Month
1965
Playhouse
1974
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
2014
Omnibus
1967
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
2002
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
2012
The Oscars
1953
An Audience with...
1978
The Wednesday Play
1964
ITV Playhouse
1967
Avengers: Doomsday
2026
Who Do You Think You Are?
2004
The Christophers
2026
The Paul O'Grady Show
2004
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
2013
Beauty and the Beast
2017
X-Men: Days of Future Past
2014
The Da Vinci Code
2006
Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway
2002
Extras
2005
Parkinson
1998
Reunited Apart
2020
Flushed Away
2006
Stardust
2007
The Golden Compass
2007
ITV Saturday Night Theatre
1969
Last Action Hero
1993
Tales of the City
1993
Vicious
2013
The Prisoner
2009
David Copperfield
1999
Cats
2019
Trailblazer Honors
2014
HARDtalk
1997
The Shadow
1994
Playing Shakespeare
1984
Perspectives
2011
Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras
1994
David Copperfield
1966
Country Matters
1972
The Good Liar
2019
Mr. Holmes
2015
Apt Pupil
1998
Restoration
1995
Scandal
1989
Animal Crackers
2018
Gods and Monsters
1998
The Wolverine
2013
Six Degrees of Separation
1993
The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum
2027
The Magic Roundabout
2005
Asylum
2005
The Keep
1983
Amol Rajan Interviews
2021
Richard III
1995
And the Band Played On
1993
The Making of 'The Return of the King'
2004
All Is True
2018
Bent
1997
X-Men: The Mutant Watch
2000
Hamlet
2024
The Critic
2024
Inside the Actors Studio
1994
Doogal
2006
A Filmmaker's Journey: Making 'The Return of the King'
2004
I'll Do Anything
1994
Billy & Dom Eat the World
2025
The Wolverine: Path of a Ronin
2013
Windmills of the Gods
1988
Pillar of Fire
1981
The Dresser
2015
Plenty
1985
Judi Dench: All the World's Her Stage
2016
The Second Uncanny Issue of X-Men! Making X2
2003
Schadenfreude
2025
Jack & Sarah
1995
On Broadway
2019
Beyond the Movie: The Fellowship of the Ring
2001
Macbeth
1979
Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol
2026
Shakespeare Live! From the RSC
2016
Beyond the Movie: The Return of the King
2003
Ringers: Lord of the Fans
2005
Churchill
2003
The Quest Fulfilled: A Director's Vision
2003
The Scarlet Pimpernel
1982
Cold Comfort Farm
1995
Neverwas
2005
Rasputin
1996
The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot
2013
Quest for the Ring
2001
Doctor Who: The Snowmen
2012
Hating Peter Tatchell
2021
Muse of Fire
2013
Evolution X - The Making of X-Men
2003
Swept from the Sea
1998
The Making of 'The Two Towers'
2003
The Untold Tales of Armistead Maupin
2017
Cirque du Soleil: Journey of Man
2000
The World of Gods and Monsters: A Journey with James Whale
1999
Passage to Middle-Earth: The Making of 'The Lord of the Rings'
2001
Infinitum: Subject Unknown
2021
Zina
1985
The Ballad of Little Jo
1993
King Lear
2008
Knights of Classic Drama at the BBC
2015
Priest of Love
1981
The Life and Death of Lily Savage
2024
Alfred the Great
1969
Eighteen
2005
Countdown to War
1989
Great British Theatre
2021
The Real Ken Dodd: The Man I Loved
2024
National Theatre Live: King Lear
2018
After Stonewall
1999
X-Men: The Last Stand
2006
Othello
1990
X-Men
2000
A Touch of Love
1969
The Trial and Torture of Sir John Rampayne
1965
Scarfe's Follies
1988
Emile
2003
Frank and Percy
—
Nelson Mandela Redrawn
2014
Walter
1982
McKellen: Playing the Part
2018
The Roof
2016
Ken Dodd: A Legacy of Happiness
2025
A World War II Fairy Tale: The Making of Michael Mann's 'The Keep'
2025
National Theatre Live: No Man's Land
2016
Edward II
1970
Du Fu: China's Greatest Poet
2020
The Tragedy of King Richard II
1970
X2
2003
To Die For
1994
David Macaulay: Roman City
1994
A Lost and Found Box of Human Sensation
2010
Now You See Him: 'The Invisible Man' Revealed!
2000
Edmund the Magnificent
2017
For the Love of God
2007
Ian McKellen on Stage: With Tolkien, Shakespeare, Others and YOU
2020
X-Men: Premieres Around the World
2003
The Art of Breaking Character
2007
Dragfox
2024
Walter and June
1983
Hamlet Within
2022
The One Note Man
2023
The Hobart Shakespeareans
2005
Frodo Is Great... Who Is That?!!
2004
Stonewall 25: Global Voices of Pride and Protest
1994
The Betty Driver Story
2011
Dying Day
1980
An Evening with Lily Savage
1996
The Paul O'Grady Story
2017
Camp Christmas
1993
Armistead Maupin Is a Man I Dreamt Up
1993
Peter Tatchell: Just Who Does He Think He Is?
2004
Saint of 9/11
2006
All the World's a Screen: Shakespeare on Film
2016
Every Good Boy Deserves Favour
1979
Craven Arms
1972
Looking for Lowry
2011
Shakespeare on Stage, Screen and Elsewhere with Ian McKellen
2016
The Promise
1969
Quintessentially British
2022
Hamlet
1970
Graceless Go I
1974
Untitled Anthony Hopkins Documentary
—
A Bit Of Scarlet
1997
LS Lowry: The Unheard Tapes
2026
No Man's Land
—
Freedom: 50 Years of Pride
2022
How a Kite Flies
2017
Miss in Her Teens
2014
Larry & Vivien: The Oliviers in Love
2001
Ian McKellen: Acting Shakespeare
1982
Age of Dissent
1994
Gladio
1992
Surviving Friendly Fire
1997
My First Time
2004
Theatreland
2009
Süleyman the Magnificent
1987
Play the Devil: Making Richard III
2016
Small-Time Revolutionary
2010
Guerrilla Distribution
2007
Hedda Gabler
1972
The Egg Trick
2013
Dragged Through Time
2025
London 2012: Paralympics Opening Ceremony
2012
Shakespeare on Film
2016
A Simple Matter of Justice
1993
Richard II
—