Sir Ian Murray McKellen is an English actor.
He is regarded as a British cultural icon.
Best known as Gandalf in the film adaptation series of Lord of the Rings and Magneto in the 2000 X Men movie series.
Born May 25, 1959 in Burly, Lancashire, England.
He is the son of Margery Lois (née Sutcliffe) and Denis Murray McKellen, a civil engineer.
He is the recipient of six Laurence Olivier Awards, a Tony Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a BIF Award, two Saturn Awards, four Drama Desk Awards, and two Critics' Choice Awards.
He has received two Oscar nominations, four BAFTA nominations and five Emmy Award nominations.
A recipient of every major theatrical award in the UK.
McKellen was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1979 Birthday Honors.
Was knighted in the 1991 New Year Honors for services to the performing arts.
He has been openly gay since 1988.
Continues to be a champion for LGBT social movements worldwide.
He was made a Freeman of the City of London in October 2014.
The experience of living through the second world war as a young child had a lasting impact on him, and he later said that "only after peace resumed ... did I realize that war wasn't normal."
An interviewer talked to him about him being calm after the September 11th attacks happened.
In response he said "Well, darling, you forget—I slept under a steel plate until I was four years old.
Personal Life
McKellen attended Bolton School (Boys' Division).
When he was 12, his mother died of breast cancer.
When he was 24 is father died.
His first relationship was with Brian Taylor from 1964 to 1972.
His second relationship was with Sean Mathias from 1978 to 1988.
He is an Atheist.
Since the late 1980's he has since followed a mainly pescetarian diet.
In 2001, Ian McKellen received the Artist Citizen of the World Award (France).
He has a tattoo on his shoulder of the Elvish number nine, written using J. R. R Tolkien's Constructed script of Tengwar.
In 2006 he was diagnosed with prostate cancer.
McKellen stated on his blog in 2012 that "There is no cause for alarm. I am examined regularly and the cancer is contained. I've not needed any treatment."
In early 2013, in order to preside over the marriage of his friend and X-Men co-star Patrick Stewart to the singer Sunny Ozell, he became an ordained minister of the Universal Life Church.
McKellen was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Letters by Cambridge University on 18 June 2014.
Career
His career started at the Bolton Little Theater.
He had an early fascination with theater.
His parents encourage this and took him to Peter Pan at the Opera House in Manchester when he was three.
When he was nine his Christmas present was a fold-away wood and bake-lite Victorian theater.
His sister took him to his first Shakespeare play, Twelfth Night.
She took him to numerous other plays, some she acted in.
At the age of 18, won a scholarship to St. Catharine's College, Cambridge,
While there he was a member of the Marlowe Society, where he appeared in 23 plays over the course of 3 years.
He has since been made an Honorary Fellow of the College.
He made his first professional appearance in 1961 at the Belgrade Theater.
After four years in regional repertory theaters he made his first West End appearance, in A Scent of Flowers.
In 1965 he was a member of Laurence Olivier's National Theater Company at the Old Vic.
In 1969 he made his breakthrough performances of Richard III (directed by Richard Cottrell) and Marlowe's Edward II (directed by Toby Robertson) at the Edinburgh festival in 1969.
In the 1970's and 1980's McKellen became a well-known figure in British theater, performing frequently at the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theater.
In 2007 he returned to the Royal Shakespeare Company.
He is Patron of English Touring Theater and also President and Patron of the Little Theater Guild of Great Britain,
In August 2012, he took part in the opening ceremony of the London Paralympics.
In October 2017, McKellen played King Lear at Chichester Festival Theater,
His first film role was in 1969 as George Matthews in "A Touch of Love."
He became more widely known in film in the 90's with the films "Six Degrees of Separation ", "Last Action Hero", and
the television miniseries "Tales of the City".
He won a Cable ACE Award for Supporting Actor in a Movie or Miniseries and was nominated for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie in the television film And the Band Played On.
He co-produced and co-wrote the film, Richard III.
His performance in the title role garnered BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations for Best Actor and won the European Film Award for Best Actor.
And his screenplay was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.
He was subsequently nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his roles in "Gods and Monsters", "Show Boat", and "Frankenstein".
He received honors from the Screen Actors Guild for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for for his work in "The Fellowship of the Ring".
He reprises his role in the "Hobbit" film adaptation.
He hosted Saturday Night Live in 2002.
In 2003 he made a few appearances on "The Simpsons".
In 2005, he played the role of Mel Hutchwright in long running British soap opera, Coronation Street.
He has appeared in limited release films, such as "Emile", "Neverwas" and "Asylum".
He appeared in "The Da Vinci Code".
He appeared in the 2006 BBC series of Ricky Gervais' comedy series "Extras".
He received a 2007 Prime time Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor - Comedy Series nomination for his performance.
In 2009 he was in the remake of the 1967 cult series The Prisoner.
In 2013, McKellen co-starred in the ITV sitcom "Vicious".
Also in 2013 he appeared in the "Doctor Who 50th anniversary" comedy homage The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot.
In October 2015, McKellen appeared in a BBC Two production of Ronald Harwood's "The Dresser".
In 2017, McKellen voiced Cogsworth in a live-action adaptation of Disney's "Beauty and the Beast".
LGBT Activism and Charity Work.
He is a co-founder of Stonewall and is also patron of LGBT History Month,Pride London, Oxford Pride, GAY-GLOS, The Lesbian & Gay Foundation, and FFLAG.
In 1994, at the closing ceremony of the Gay Games, he briefly took the stage to address the crowd, saying, "I'm Sir Ian McKellen, but you can call me Serena"
In 2002, he was the Celebrity Grand Marshal of the San Francisco Pride Parade.
In 2006, McKellen spoke at the pre-launch of the 2007 LGBT History Month in the UK.
He became a patron of Oxford Pride in 2006, stating:
In 2007, he became a patron of The Albert Kennedy Trust.
In December 2008, he was named in Out's annual Out 100 list.
In 2010, McKellen extended his support for Liverpool's Homotopia festival.
In 2014, he was named in the top 10 on the World Pride Power list.
McKellen appeared in a series of TV advertisements to support Age UK, the charity recently formed from the merger of Age Concern and Help the Aged in 2010.
McKellen umpired in March 2011 for a charity cricket match in New Zealand to support earthquake victims of the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake.
He is an honorary board member for the New York and Washington, DC based organization Only Make Believe.
In 2012 he was honored by the organisation.
He hosted their annual Make Believe on Broadway Gala in November 2013.
In 2012, he announced a special New Zealand tour "Shakespeare, Tolkien, and You!", with proceeds going to help save the Isaac Theater Royal.
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