Ben Kingsley
Born: 1943-12-31 in Snainton, North Riding of Yorkshire, England, UK
Known For: Acting
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).
Filmography
2026
- Deep Water
- Young Washington as Robert Dinwiddie
- Wonder Man as Trevor Slattery
2025
- William Tell as King Albrecht
- The Thursday Murder Club as Ibrahim
- The King of Kings as High Priest Caiaphas (voice)
- Desert Warrior as Emperor Kisra
2024
- The Killer's Game as Zvi Rabinowitz
- The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Three More as Imdad Khan / The Dealer / Dr. Ganderbai (archive footage)
2023
- Jules as Milton Robinson
- The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar as Imdad Khan / Croupier
- Poison as Dr. Ganderbai
2022
- Dalíland as Dalí
- Robin Williams: Laugh Until You Cry as Self
2021
- Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings as Trevor Slattery
- Marvel Studios Legends as Trevor Slattery / The Mandarin (archive footage)
- Marvel Studios Assembled as Self
- Locked Down as Malcolm
2019
- Night Hunter as Cooper
- Perpetual Grace LTD as Pastor Byron 'Pa' Brown
- Spider in the Web as Adereth
- The Red Sea Diving Resort as Ethan Levin
- The Medicine Buddha as Narrator (voice)
2018
- Operation Finale as Adolf Eichmann
- Backstabbing for Beginners as Pasha
- An Oral History of: Schindler's List as Self (archive footage)
- Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché as Self
- Intrigo: Death of an Author as Henderson
- Watership Down as General Woundwort (voice)
- Who Killed British Cinema? as Self
- Inside the Operation as Self
- All or Nothing: Manchester City as Narrator (voice)
- Schindler's List: 25 Years Later as Self
2017
- Security as Charlie
- War Machine as President Karzai
- The Ottoman Lieutenant as Woodruff
- Spielberg as Self
- An Ordinary Man as The General
2016
- The Jungle Book as Bagheera (voice)
- Collide as Geran
- Of Dogs and Men as The Caller (voice)
2015
- Lip Sync Battle as Self
- Unity as Narrator (voice)
- Knight of Cups as Storyteller (voice)
- Self/less as Damian
- Dragonheart 3: The Sorcerer's Curse as Drago (Voice)
- Tut as Ay
- The Walk as Papa Rudy
- Robot Overlords as Robin Smythe
- Life as Jack Warner
- Knights of Classic Drama at the BBC as Self (archive footage)
2014
- Late Night with Seth Meyers as Self
- Exodus: Gods and Kings as Nun
- Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb as Merenkahre
- War Story as Albert
- The Boxtrolls as Snatcher (voice)
- Marvel One-Shot: All Hail the King as Trevor Slattery / The Mandarin
- Learning to Drive as Darwan
- Stonehearst Asylum as Silas Lamb
- Garfunkel and Oates as Ben Kingsley
- Walking with the Enemy as Regent Miklos Horthy
- Richard Attenborough: A Life in Film as Self
2013
- Iron Man 3 as Trevor Slattery
- Ender's Game as Mazer Rackham
- A Birder's Guide to Everything as Lawrence Konrad
- The Physician as Ibn Sina (Avicenna)
- A Common Man as The Man
- Muse of Fire as Self
2012
- The Dictator as Tamir
- It Is No Dream: The Life Of Theodor Herzl as Narrator
- The Cinemagician, Georges Méliès as Self
- Shoot the Moon: The Making of 'Hugo' as Self
- The Mechanical Man at the Heart of 'Hugo' as Self
- Sacha Baron Cohen: Role of a Lifetime as Self
- A Therapy as Therapist
- Falls the Shadow: The Life and Times of Athol Fugard as Self
2011
- Hugo as Georges Méliès
- The Desert of Forbidden Art as Voice
2010
- Shutter Island as Dr. Cawley
- Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time as Nizam
- Teen Patti as Perci Trachtenberg
- 1001 Inventions and the Library of Secrets as Al-Jazari / Librarian
- Winston Churchill: Walking with Destiny as Narrator
- Aral, the Lost Sea
2009
- Journey to Mecca as Narrator
2008
- War, Inc. as Walken / The Viceroy
- The Wackness as Dr. Squires
- Elegy as David Kepesh
- The Love Guru as Guru Tugginmypuddha
- Fifty Dead Men Walking as Fergus
- TransSiberian as Grinko
2007
- The Last Legion as Ambrosinus
- The Ten Commandments as Narrator (voice)
- You Kill Me as Frank Falenczyk
- I Have Never Forgotten You: The Life & Legacy of Simon Wiesenthal as Self
2006
- Mrs. Harris as Herman Tarnower
- Lucky Number Slevin as The Rabbi
- The Road to Damascus: The Reinvention of Bugsy Siegel as Self
- 50 Films to See Before You Die as Self
- C.S. Lewis: Dreamer of Narnia as Self
- The Life and Faith of CS Lewis
- Mais Bastidores de Hollywood as Self
2005
- The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson as Self
- Oliver Twist as Fagin
- BloodRayne as Kagan
- A Sound of Thunder as Charles Hatton
- Peace Is Every Step as Narrator
- Nos Bastidores de Hollywood as Self (archive footage)
2004
- Suspect Zero as Benjamin O'Ryan
- Thunderbirds as The Hood
- Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust as Self
- No Strings Attached: The Making of Thunderbirds as Self
- Religion of the World as Narrator
2003
- House of Sand and Fog as Behrani
- The Many Lives of Richard Attenborough
- The Making of ‘Sneakers’ as Self
- Unlikely Heroes as Narrator
- Helena: First Pilgrim to the Holy Land as Narrator
2002
- Tuck Everlasting as Man in the Yellow Suit
- Spooky House as The Great Zamboni
2001
- A.I. Artificial Intelligence as Specialist (voice)
- The Triumph of Love as Hermocrates
- Anne Frank: The Whole Story as Otto Frank
- Sexy Beast as Don Logan
- Islam: Empire of Faith as Narrator
- The Making of Sexy Beast as Self
- Islam: Empire of Faith as Self - Narrator
2000
- Rules of Engagement as Ambassador Mourain
- What Planet Are You From? as Graydon
1999
- The Sopranos as Ben Kingsley
- The Confession as Harry Fertig
- Alice in Wonderland as Major Caterpillar
- Rove as Self
- Parting Shots as Renzo Locatelli
- CNN Millennium as Narrator
- A Force More Powerful as Narator
1998
- Crime and Punishment as Magistrate Porfiry
- The Tale of Sweeney Todd as Sweeney Todd
- Religions of the World as Narrator
1997
- Photographing Fairies as Rev. Templeton
- The Assignment as Amos
- Weapons of Mass Distraction as Julian Messenger
1996
- Moïse as Moses
- Twelfth Night as Feste
- Moses as Moses
1994
- Death and the Maiden as Dr. Roberto Miranda
- Liberation as Narrator
- Michael Caine: Breaking the Mold as Self
- Inside the Actors Studio as Self
1993
- Schindler's List as Itzhak Stern
- Searching for Bobby Fischer as Bruce Pandolfini
- Dave as Vice-President Nance
1992
- Sneakers as Cosmo
- Freddie As F.R.O.7. as Freddie (voice)
1991
- Necessary Love
- The War That Never Ends as Pericles
- Bugsy as Meyer Lansky
- Rabbit Ears - The Tiger and the Brahmin as Narrator (voice)
- Rabbit Ears - Moses the Lawgiver as Narrator (voice)
1990
- Romeo.Juliet as Father Capulet (voice)
- The Children as Martin Boyne
- The Fifth Monkey as Cunda
- Lenin: The Train as Lenin
- Cellini: A Violent Life as Governor
1989
- Slipstream as Avatar
- Murderers Among Us: The Simon Wiesenthal Story as Simon Wiesenthal
- The Making of Slipstream
1988
- Testimony as Dmitri Shostakovich
- Without a Clue as Dr. John Watson
- Pascali's Island as Basil Pascali
- The Secret of the Sahara as Sholomon
- Lenin... The Train as Wladimir Iljitsch Lenin
1987
- Maurice as Lasker-Jones
- Seitenblicke as Self
1985
- Turtle Diary as William Snow
- Silas Marner as Silas Marner
- Harem as Selim
- To Be Hamlet as Self
1984
- Goldene Kamera as Self
- Camille as Duval
- Oxbridge Blues as Geoff Craven
- Playing Shakespeare
1983
- Schindler as Self - Narrator (2019) (voice)
- Betrayal as Robert
- Mr. Attenborough and Mr. Gandhi as Self
1982
- Gandhi as Mahatma Gandhi
- The Merry Wives of Windsor as Frank Ford
1981
- Wetten, dass..? as Self
- Entertainment Tonight as Self
1979
- Every Good Boy Deserves Favour as Ivanov
1976
- Dickens of London as Dr. John Elliotson
1975
- The Love School as Dante Gabriel Rossetti
- Antony and Cleopatra as Thidias
1974
- Playhouse as Ivanov
1973
- Hard Labour as Naseem
- Wessex Tales
1972
- Pebble Mill at One
- The Adventurer as Pierre
- Fear Is the Key as Royale
1953
- The Oscars as Self - Presenter
1951
- Hallmark Hall of Fame as Duval
1948
- Bambi as Self
1944
- Golden Globe Awards as Self - Nominee