Ben Kingsley
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).
Known For
The Rabbi
Lucky Number Slevin
Fagin
Oliver Twist
Itzhak Stern
Schindler's List
Specialist (voice)
A.I. Artificial Intelligence
Mahatma Gandhi
Gandhi
Dr. Roberto Miranda
Death and the Maiden
Cosmo
Sneakers
Self
To Be Hamlet
Charles Hatton
A Sound of Thunder
Potifar
Joseph
Self
C.S. Lewis: Dreamer of Narnia
Meyer Lansky
Bugsy
Graydon
What Planet Are You From?
Lenin
Lenin: The Train
Ambassador Mourain
Rules of Engagement
Behrani
House of Sand and Fog
Harry Fertig
The Confession
Vice-President Nance
Dave
Dr. Cawley
Shutter Island
Narrator (voice)
The Ten Commandments
Avatar
Slipstream
Grinko
TransSiberian
Don Logan
Sexy Beast
Major Caterpillar
Alice in Wonderland
Benjamin O'Ryan
Suspect Zero
Frank Falenczyk
You Kill Me
David Kepesh
Elegy
Royale
Fear Is the Key
Guru Tugginmypuddha
The Love Guru
Lasker-Jones
Maurice
Dr. John Watson
Without a Clue
Nizam
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Walken / The Viceroy
War, Inc.
Xavier Fitch
Species
Selim
Harem
Ambrosinus
The Last Legion
Perci Trachtenberg
तीन पत्ती
Emperor Kisra
Desert Warrior
Hermocrates
The Triumph of Love
Man in the Yellow Suit
Tuck Everlasting
Dr. Squires
The Wackness
Bruce Pandolfini
Searching for Bobby Fischer
Milton Robinson
Jules
The Hood
Thunderbirds
Martin Boyne
The Children
Self
50 Films to See Before You Die
Feste
Twelfth Night
Georges Méliès
Hugo
Imdad Khan / Croupier
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar
Fergus
Fifty Dead Men Walking
Self - Narrator
Islam: Empire of Faith
Amos
The Assignment
Trevor Slattery
Iron Man 3
Mazer Rackham
Ender's Game
Zvi Rabinowitz
The Killer's Game
Self - Narrator (2019) (voice)
Schindler
Tamir
The Dictator
Narator
A Force More Powerful
Herman Tarnower
Mrs. Harris
Silas Marner
Silas Marner
Voice
The Desert of Forbidden Art
Self
Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust
William Snow
Turtle Diary
Renzo Locatelli
Parting Shots
The Man
A Common Man
Freddie (voice)
Freddie As F.R.O.7.
Narrator
It Is No Dream: The Life Of Theodor Herzl
The Great Zamboni
Spooky House
Therapist
A Therapy
Dmitri Shostakovich
Testimony
Self
No Strings Attached: The Making of Thunderbirds
Basil Pascali
Pascali's Island
Self
Shoot the Moon: The Making of 'Hugo'
Self
The Mechanical Man at the Heart of 'Hugo'
Self
The Cinemagician, Georges Méliès
Self
Sacha Baron Cohen: Role of a Lifetime
Sweeney Todd
The Tale of Sweeney Todd
Robert
Betrayal
Merenkahre
Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb
Duval
Camille
Ibn Sina (Avicenna)
The Physician
Kagan
BloodRayne
Aral, the Lost Sea
Snatcher (voice)
The Boxtrolls
Lawrence Konrad
A Birder's Guide to Everything
The Many Lives of Richard Attenborough
Simon Wiesenthal
Murderers Among Us: The Simon Wiesenthal Story
Dr. Ganderbai
Poison
Narrator
Liberation
Self
Muse of Fire
Ivanov
Every Good Boy Deserves Favour
Damian
Self/less
Trevor Slattery / The Mandarin
Marvel One-Shot: All Hail the King
Robin Smythe
Robot Overlords
Albert
War Story
Thidias
Antony and Cleopatra
Narrator
Unlikely Heroes
Regent Miklos Horthy
Walking with the Enemy
Nun
Exodus: Gods and Kings
King Albrecht
William Tell
Rev. Templeton
Photographing Fairies
Narrator
Journey to Mecca: In the Footsteps of Ibn Battuta
Bagheera (voice)
The Jungle Book
Darwan
Learning to Drive
Cunda
O Quinto Macaco
Silas Lamb
Stonehearst Asylum
Self
Robin Williams: Laugh Until You Cry
Papa Rudy
The Walk
Jack Warner
Life
Julian Messenger
Weapons of Mass Distraction
Narrator
Peace Is Every Step
Deep Water
Geran
Collide
Drago (Voice)
Dragonheart 3: The Sorcerer's Curse
Self
Richard Attenborough: A Life in Film
Self (archive footage)
Nos Bastidores de Hollywood
Self
The Making of ‘Sneakers’
Magistrate Porfiry
Crime and Punishment
Self
Mais Bastidores de Hollywood
Narrator (voice)
Unity
Narrator
Winston Churchill: Walking with Destiny
Imdad Khan / The Dealer / Dr. Ganderbai (archive footage)
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Three More
Self (archive footage)
Knights of Classic Drama at the BBC
Ibrahim
The Thursday Murder Club
Storyteller (voice)
Knight of Cups
L'amore necessario
Self
The Making of Sexy Beast
Pericles
The War That Never Ends
High Priest Caiaphas (voice)
The King of Kings
Governor
Una vita scellerata
The General
An Ordinary Man
The Caller (voice)
Of Dogs and Men
President Karzai
War Machine
Woodruff
The Ottoman Lieutenant
Naseem
Hard Labour
Cooper
Night Hunter
King Herod
Mary
Charlie
Security
Ethan Levin
The Red Sea Diving Resort
Pasha
Backstabbing for Beginners
Self
Spielberg
Henderson
Intrigo: Death of an Author
Adolf Eichmann
Operation Finale
Adereth
Spider in the Web
Dalí
Dalíland
Father Capulet (voice)
Romeo.Juliet
Self
Who Killed British Cinema?
Self
Falls the Shadow: The Life and Times of Athol Fugard
Frank Ford
The Merry Wives of Windsor
Self
Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché
Self
Inside the Operation
Al-Jazari / Librarian
1001 Inventions and the Library of Secrets
Self
Je ne vous ai jamais oublié : la vie et l'héritage de Simon Wiesenthal
Malcolm
Locked Down
The Way of the Wind
Narrator (voice)
The Medicine Buddha
Self
Mr. Attenborough and Mr. Gandhi
The Life and Faith of CS Lewis
Self
The Road to Damascus: The Reinvention of Bugsy Siegel
Trevor Slattery
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Self
Michael Caine: Breaking the Mold
Narrator (voice)
Rabbit Ears - The Tiger and the Brahmin
Narrator (voice)
Rabbit Ears - Moses the Lawgiver
Narrator
Helena: First Pilgrim to the Holy Land
The Making of Slipstream
Self
Schindler's List: 25 Years Later
Robert Dinwiddie
Young Washington
Moses
Moses
Self (archive footage)
An Oral History of: Schindler's List
Fortitude
Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Known Credits
170
Gender
Male
Birthday
1943-12-31
Place of Birth
Snainton, North Riding of Yorkshire, England, UK
Also Known As
Sir Ben Kingsley