Sir Ben Kingsley is a British actor known for his extensive career on stage and screen. He has received numerous accolades throughout his career which spans over five decades, including an Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Grammy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Screen Actors Guild Award, in addition to nominations for four Primetime Emmy Awards, and two Laurence Olivier Awards.
Kingsley started his career on stage when he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1967, where he starred in numerous productions of William Shakespeare including King Lear (1968), Bartholomew Fair (1969), Measure for Measure (1970), The Tempest (1970), Hamlet (1975), The Merry Wives of Windsor (1979), and Othello (1985). He made his Broadway debut playing Demetrius in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1971). He portrayed the title role in Edmund Kean (1983) on both the West End at the Aldwych Theatre and on Broadway at the Billy Rose Theater.
He is best known for starring as Mohandas Gandhi in the film Gandhi (1982), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. He expanded his career in film earning acclaim for his performances in Maurice (1987), Bugsy (1990), Schindler's List (1993), Sexy Beast (2000), House of Sand and Fog (2003), Elegy (2008), Shutter Island (2010), and Hugo (2011). Other notable films include Sneakers (1992), Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993), Dave (1993), Death and the Maiden (1994), Twelfth Night (1996), Tuck Everlasting (2002), and Learning to Drive (2014). He portrayed Trevor Slattery in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, acting in Iron Man 3 (2013), Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021), and the upcoming Disney+ series Wonder Man . [1] He also acted in the blockbusters Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010), Ender's Game (2013). He voiced roles in The Boxtrolls (2014), and The Jungle Book (2016).
On television, Kingsley has portrayed numerous real life figures including Simon Wiesenthal in the HBO film Murderers Among Us: The Simon Wiesenthal Story (1989), Potiphar in the TNT miniseries Joseph (1995), Otto Frank in the ABC miniseries Anne Frank: The Whole Story (2001), and Herman Tarnower in the HBO film Mrs. Harris (2005). He also played Sweeney Todd in the TV film The Tale of Sweeney Todd (1997), and Ay, the Grand Vizier in the miniseries Tut (2015).
† | Denotes works that have not yet been released |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1966 | Pardon the Expression | Roy | Episode: "The Switched-On Scene" |
Orlando | Peter Batterby | 6 episodes | |
1966–1967 | Coronation Street | Ron Jenkins | 5 episodes |
1973 | The Adventurer | Pierre | Episode: "The Good Book" |
Play for Today | Naseem | Episode: "Hard Labour" | |
Full House | "A Misfortune" Cast Member | Episode: "13 January 1973" | |
Wessex Tales | Lord Uplandtowers | Episode: "Barbara of the House of Grebe" | |
1974 | Antony and Cleopatra | Thidias | Television film |
1975 | The Love School | Rosetti | 5 episodes |
1976 | Dickens of London | Dr. John Elliotson | 2 episodes |
1977 | Velvet Glove | Chakravarti | Episode: "The Warrior's Return" |
1976–1979 | Crown Court | Jeremy Leigh | 5 episodes |
1978–1979 | BBC2 Playhouse | Ivanov Robert Cibrario | 2 episodes |
1982 | The Merry Wives of Windsor | Frank Ford | Television film |
1983 | Kean | Edmund Kean | |
1984 | Camille | Duval | |
Oxbridge Blues | Geoff Craven | Episode: "Sleeps Six" | |
1985 | Silas Marner | Silas Marner | Television movie |
1986 | Stanley's Vision | Stanley Spencer | Television film |
1988 | The Secret of the Sahara | Sholomon | 4 episodes |
Lenin: The Train | Lenin | Television film | |
1989 | Murderers Among Us: The Simon Wiesenthal Story | Simon Wiesenthal | |
1991 | The War That Never Ends | Pericles | |
1995 | Joseph | Potiphar | |
Moses | Moses | ||
1997 | Weapons of Mass Distraction | Julian Messenger | |
1998 | The Tale of Sweeney Todd | Sweeney Todd | |
Crime and Punishment | Porfiry | ||
1999 | Alice in Wonderland | Major Caterpillar | |
2001 | Anne Frank: The Whole Story | Otto Frank | 2 episodes |
2005 | Mrs. Harris | Herman Tarnower | Television movie |
2006 | The Sopranos | Himself | Episode: "Luxury Lounge" |
2014 | Garfunkel & Oates | Episode: "The Fadeaway" | |
2015 | Tut | Ay | 3 episodes |
2018 | All or Nothing: Manchester City | Narrator | Docuseries |
Watership Down | General Woundwort | Voice 4 episodes | |
2019 | Perpetual Grace, LTD | Pastor Byron Brown | 10 episodes |
Schindler: The Real Story [9] | Narrator | In the 1983 release the narrator was Dirk Bogarde. | |
2025 | Wonder Man | Trevor Slattery | Upcoming Disney+ series |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1995 | Kiyeko and the Lost Night | Storyteller | Voice role |
1997 | Ceremony of Innocence | Victor Frolatti | |
2010 | Fable III | Sabine | Voice role Credited as Sir Ben Kingsley |
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