Ben Kingsley on screen and stage

Kingsley at the 2012 Santa Barbara International Film Festival

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).

Filmography

Key

†	Denotes film or TV productions that have not yet been released

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1972	Fear Is the Key	Royale
1982	Gandhi	Mahatma Gandhi
1983	Betrayal	Robert
1985	Harem	Selim
1986	Turtle Diary	William Snow
1987	Maurice	Lasker-Jones
1988	Pascali's Island	Basil Pascali
	Without a Clue	Dr. John Watson
	Testimony — The Story of Shostakovich	Dmitri Shostakovich
1989	Slipstream	Avatar
1990	The 5th Monkey	Cunda
	A Violent Life	Governor
1991	Bugsy	Meyer Lansky
	Necessary Love	Ernesto
1992	Sneakers	Cosmo
	Freddie as F.R.O.7	Freddie the Frog	Voice
1993	Searching for Bobby Fischer	Bruce Pandolfini
	Dave	Vice-President Gary Nance
	Schindler's List	Itzhak Stern
1994	Death and the Maiden	Dr. Roberto Miranda
1995	Species	Xavier Fitch
1996	Twelfth Night	Feste
1997	The Assignment	Amos
	Photographing Fairies	Minister Templeton
1999	The Confession	Harry Fertig
	Parting Shots	Renzo Locatelli
	CNN Millennium	Narrator [2]
2000	Spooky House	The Great Zamboni
	What Planet Are You From?	Graydon
	Rules of Engagement	Ambassador Mourain
	Islam: Empire of Faith	Narrator	Voice; Documentary
	Sexy Beast	Don Logan
2001	A.I. Artificial Intelligence	Specialist	Voice
2002	The Triumph of Love	Hermocrates
	Tuck Everlasting	Man in the Yellow Suit
2003	House of Sand and Fog	Massoud Behrani
2004	Thunderbirds	"The Hood"
	Suspect Zero	Benjamin O'Ryan
2005	A Sound of Thunder	Charles Hatton
	Oliver Twist	Fagin
	BloodRayne	Kagan
2006	Lucky Number Slevin	The Rabbi
2007	You Kill Me	Frank Falenczyk
	The Last Legion	Ambrosinus
	The Ten Commandments	Narrator	Voice
2008	Elegy	David Kepesh
	War, Inc.	Walken
	The Love Guru	Guru Tugginmypudha
	The Wackness	Dr. Squires
	Transsiberian	Grinko
	China's Stolen Children	Narrator	Voice; Documentary
	Fifty Dead Men Walking	Fergus
2009	Noah's Ark: The New Beginning	Narrator	Voice
	Journey to Mecca		Voice; Documentary
2010	Shutter Island	Dr. John Cawley
	Teen Patti	Perci Trachtenberg
	Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time	Nizam
	1001 inventions and the library of secrets	The Librarian	Short Educational Film
2011	Hugo	Georges Méliès
	The Desert of Forbidden Art	Narrator	Voice; Documentary
	Beatles Stories	Himself	Documentary
2012	The Dictator	Tamir
	A Therapy	Therapist	Short film
	It Is No Dream	Narrator	Voice; Documentary
2013	Iron Man 3	Trevor Slattery / Mandarin
	Ender's Game	Mazer Rackham
	A Common Man	The Man
	Walking with the Enemy	Regent Horthy
	The Physician	Ibn Sina
	A Birder's Guide to Everything	Lawrence Konrad
2014	Marvel One-Shot: All Hail the King	Trevor Slattery	Short film
	War Story	Albert
	The Boxtrolls	Archibald Snatcher	Voice
	Learning to Drive	Darwan
	Stonehearst Asylum	Silas Lamb
	Exodus: Gods and Kings	Nun
	Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb	Merenkahre
	Robot Overlords	Robin Smythe
2015	Knight of Cups	The Voice	Voice
	Life	Jack L. Warner
	Dragonheart 3: The Sorcerer's Curse	Drago the Dragon	Voice [3] [4]
	Unity [5]	Narrator	Voice; Documentary
	Self/less	Damian
	The Walk	Papa Rudy
2016	The Jungle Book	Bagheera	Voice [6]
	Collide	Geran
2017	The Ottoman Lieutenant	Garrett Woodruff
	Security	Charlie
	War Machine	Hamid Karzai
	An Ordinary Man	The General	Also Producer
2018	Backstabbing for Beginners	Pasha
	Operation Finale	Adolf Eichmann
	Night Hunter	Michael Cooper
	Intrigo: Death of an Author	Henderson
2019	The Red Sea Diving Resort	Ethan Levin
	Spider in the Web	Adereth
2021	Locked Down	Solomon
	Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings	Trevor Slattery	[7]
2022	Dalíland	Salvador Dalí
2023	Jules	Milton Robinson	[8]
	The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar	Imdad Khan / The Dealer	Short film
	Poison	Dr. Ganderbai
2024	William Tell	King Albert
	The Killer's Game	Zvi
2025	The King of Kings	High Priest Caiaphas	Voice
	The Thursday Murder Club	Ibrahim Arif
	Desert Warrior †	Emperor Kisra	Post-production
2026	Young Washington †	Robert Dinwiddie	Filming
TBA	The Way of the Wind †	TBA	Post-production
	Deep Water †	TBA

Television

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 film
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 film
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.
2021	Marvel Studios: Assembled	Himself	Episode: The Making of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
2025	Wonder Man	Trevor Slattery	Upcoming Disney+ series

Theatre

Year	Title	Role(s)	Playwright	Venue(s)	Ref.
1967	The Taming of the Shrew	Huntsman	William Shakespeare	Royal Shakespeare Theatre	[10]
	The Revenger's Tragedy	Lord 3	Cyril Tourneur	Royal Shakespeare Theatre	[11]
	As You Like It	Lord 2	William Shakespeare	Royal Shakespeare Theatre	[12]
	The Relapse	Wigmaker, unnamed parts	John Vanbrugh	Aldwych Theatre, London	[13]
1968	As You Like It	Amiens	William Shakespeare	Ahmanson Theatre, Los Angeles	[14]
	King Lear	Oswald		Stratford-Upon-Avon, London	[15]
	Troilus and Cressida	Aeneas		Royal Shakespeare Theatre	[16]
	Much Ado About Nothing	Conrade		Royal Shakespeare Theatre	[17]
1969	Troilus and Cressida	Aeneas		UK tour	[18]
	Bartholomew Fair	Ned Winwife	Ben Jonson	Aldwych Theatre, West End	[19] [20]
	The Silver Tassie	The Croucher	Sean O'Casey	Aldwych Theatre, London	[21]
1970	Richard III	Richard Ratcliffe	William Shakespeare	Royal Shakespeare Theatre	[22]
	Measure for Measure	Claudio		Stratford-Upon-Avon, London	[23]
	The Tempest	Ariel			[24]
1971	A Midsummer Night's Dream	Demetrius		Billy Rose Theatre, Broadway	[25]
	Enemies	Sintsov	Maxim Gorky	Aldwych Theatre, London	[26]
	Occupations	Gramsci	Trevor Griffiths	UK tour	[27]
	Subject To Fits	Ippolit	Robert Montgomery	The Place, London	[28]
	The Oz Trial	Richard Neville	devised by David Illingworth and Geoffrey Roberton	The Place, London	[29]
1973	A Lesson in Blood and Roses	Fritz	John Wiles	The Place, London	[30]
1973	Hello and Goodbye	Johnnie Smit	Athol Fugard	The Place, London	[31]
1974	Statements Made After an Arrest Under the Immorality Act	Errol Philander	Athol Fugard	Royal Court Theatre, London	[32]
1975	Man Is Man	Bonze Wang	Bertolt Brecht	The Other Place, Stratford-Upon-Avon	[33]
	The Merry Wives of Windsor	Master Slender	William Shakespeare	Royal Shakespeare Theatre	[34]
1975–1976	Hamlet	Hamlet		Stratford-Upon-Avon, London	[35]
1979	Cymbeline	Iachimo		Royal Shakespeare Theatre	[36]
	Julius Caesar	Marcus Brutus		Royal Shakespeare Theatre	[37]
	Baal	Baal, music composer	Bertolt Brecht	The Other Place, Stratford-Upon-Avon	[38]
1979–1980	The Merry Wives of Windsor	Master Frank Ford	William Shakespeare	Aldwych Theatre, London	[39]
1980	The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby	Furious Gentleman, Mr Squeers, Mr Wagstaff	Charles Dickens, adapted by David Edgar	Aldwych Theatre, London	[40]
	Baal	Baal, music composer	Bertolt Brecht	Gulbenkian Studio, Newcastle-upon-Tyne; Warehouse, London	[41] [42]
1983	Edmund Kean	Edumnd Kean	Raymund Fitzsimons	Haymarket Theatre, West End
				Brooks Atkinson Theatre, Broadway	[43]
1984	Melons	Caracol	Bernard Pomerance	The Other Place, Stratford-Upon-Avon	[44]
1985–1986	Othello	Othello	William Shakespeare	Barbican Theatre, London	[45]

Video games

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

References

1. Johnston, Sheila (4 April 2009). "Ben Kingsley interview: dark soul of the knight". The Daily Telegraph (Review). pp. 10–11.
2. Shales, Tom (9 October 1999). "A Journey Of aThousand Years". Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved 24 August 2018.
3. "Sir Ben Kingsley explores his animated side in 'The Boxtrolls'". winnipegsun.com. 21 September 2014. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
4. "'The Boxtrolls': Ben Kingsley Talks Voicing a Villain; Will Trevor Slattery Return?". screenrant.com. 25 September 2014. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
5. Dave McNary (22 April 2015). "Documentary 'Unity' Set for Aug. 12 Release with 100 Star Narrators". Variety . Retrieved 1 May 2015.
6. "Ben Kingsley To Voice Bagheera In Disney's 'The Jungle Book'". Deadline. 25 June 2014. Archived from the original on 28 June 2014. Retrieved 25 June 2014.
7. Barnhardt, Adam (16 August 2021). "Shang-Chi Fans Are Hyped to See Ben Kingsley Back". ComicBook.com . Archived from the original on 17 August 2021. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
8. "Ben Kingsley, Jane Curtin & More Board Marc Turtletaub's Feature 'Jules'".
9. "Hernán, la serie sobre Cortés, encabeza los recomendados de series y películas para la semana". Clarín (in Spanish). 17 November 2019. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
10. "TAM196704 - The Taming of the Shrew". Royal Shakespeare Company. Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.
11. "REV196705 - The Revenger's Tragedy". Royal Shakespeare Company. Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
12. "AYL196706 - As You Like It". Royal Shakespeare Theatre. Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
13. "REL196708 - The Relapse". Royal Shakespeare Company. Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
14. "AYL196801 - As You Like It". Royal Shakespeare Company. Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
15. "King Lear (1968)". Abouttheartist. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
16. "TRO196808 - Troilus and Cressida". Royal Shakespeare Company. Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
17. "MUC196810 - Much Ado About Nothing". Royal Shakespeare Company. Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
18. "TRO196907 - Troilus and Cressida". Royal Shakespeare Company. Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
19. "Bartholomew Fair (1969)". Abouttheartist. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
20. "BAR196910 - Bartholomew Fair". Royal Shakespeare Company. Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
21. "SIL196909 - The Silver Tassie". Royal Shakespeare Company. Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
22. "RI3197004 - Richard III". Royal Shakespeare Company. Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
23. "Measure for Measure (1970)". Abouttheartist. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
24. "The Tempest (1970)". Abouttheartist. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
25. "A Midsummers Night's Dream (Broadway, 1971)". Playbill. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
26. "ENE197107 - Enemies". Royal Shakespeare Company. Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
27. "OCC197109 - Occupations". Royal Shakespeare Company. Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
28. "SUB197110 - Subject To Fits". Royal Shakespeare Company. Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
29. "OZT197111 - The Oz Trial". Royal Shakespeare Company. Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
30. "LER197311 - A Lesson in Blood and Roses". Royal Shakespeare Company. Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
31. "HEL197310 - Hello and Goodbye". Royal Shakespeare Company. Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
32. "Statements Made After an Arrest Under the Immorality Act". Abouttheartist. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
33. "MAO197509 - Man Is Man". Royal Shakespeare Company. Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
34. "MEW197508 - The Merry Wives of Windsor". Royal Shakespeare Company. Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
35. "Hamlet (1975)". Abouttheartist. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
36. "CYM197904 - Cymbeline". Royal Shakespeare Company. Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
37. "UL197911 - Julius Caesar". Royal Shakespeare Company. Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
38. "BAA197908 - Baal". Royal Shakespeare Company. Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
39. "The Merry Wives of Windsor (1979)". Abouttheartist. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
40. "NIC198006 - The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby". Royal Shakespeare Company. Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
41. "RSC Performances | BAA198002". Royal Shakespeare Company. Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
42. "BAA198008 - Baal". Royal Shakespeare Company. Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
43. "Edmund Kean (Broadway, 1983)". Playbill. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
44. "MAO197509 - Man Is Man". Royal Shakespeare Company. Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
45. "Othello (1985)". Abouttheartist. Retrieved 13 March 2024.

External links

• Ben Kingsley at IMDb