One of cinema’s greatest talents Sir Ben Kingsley is a celebrated English actor known for his extensive and diverse body of work in film, television, and theatre. With a career spanning over five decades, Kingsley has received numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Grammy Award, and two Golden Globe Awards.
Early Life
Ben Kingsley was born Krishna Pandit Bhanji on December 31, 1943, in Snainton, North Riding of Yorkshire, England. His mother Anna Lyna Mary, was an English actress and model. His father Rahimtulla Harji Bhanji, was a medical doctor of Indian origin. He attended Manchester Grammar School and later studied at Pendleton College and De La Salle College in Salford.
Kingsley began his acting career in theatre, joining the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1967. He spent the next 15 years honing his craft on stage. During this time he appeared in numerous productions of William Shakespeare’s plays, including “As You Like It,” “Much Ado About Nothing,” “Richard III,” “The Tempest,” “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” “Hamlet,” and “The Merry Wives of Windsor.”
Start of a Legendary Career
He began his TV career in 1965 with “Pardon the Expression” and acted in TV series like Orlando, Coronation Street, The Love School, and Crown Court.
In 1972, Ben Kingsley made his film debut with “Fear Is the Key.” However, the turning point in his career arrived with the biographical film Gandhi (1982), directed by Richard Attenborough. Kingsley portrayed the titular role of Gandhi, earning critical acclaim and widespread recognition. His stellar performance earned him the Academy Award for Best Actor, the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor—Motion Picture Drama.
After the super success of Gandhi, he continued to do memorable roles in both films and TV. Some of his notable films from that period include Betrayal (1983) with Jeremy Irons, Patricia Hodge, Giles Foster’s Silas Marner: The Weaver of Raveloe (1985), Turtle Diary (1985) with Glenda Jackson, Maurice (1987), Testimony (1988), Pascali’s Island (1988), Without a Clue (1988), Sneakers (1992), Dave (1993), and Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993), among others.
Continuing Success
Kingsley portrayed Meyer Lansky, a notorious mobster, in Bugsy” (1991),” earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Kingsley’s portrayal of Itzhak Stern, a Jewish accountant who helps Oskar Schindler save Jews during the Holocaust in Steven Spielberg’s “Schindler’s List (1993),” earned him a BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
He then starred in Roman Polanski’s Death and the Maiden (1994), Roger Donaldson’s Species (1995), Trevor Nunn’s adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night (1996), William Sachs’s Spooky House, and David Hugh Jones’s The Confession (1999).
Kingsley’s role as Don Logan, a violent and psychopathic gangster, in “Sexy Beast (2000)” earned him widespread critical acclaim and an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. In “House of Sand and Fog (2003),” Kingsley played the role of Massoud Amir Behrani, a former Iranian colonel struggling to make a new life in America. His performance earned him another Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.
Later Career
Some of his other notable films include Suspect Zero (2004), Oliver Twist (2005), BloodRayne (2005), You Kill Me (2007), The Last Legion (2007), Elegy (2008), Shutter Island (2010), and Hugo (2011), Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010), Iron Man 3 (2013), The Jungle Book (2016), Night Hunter (2018), Jules (2023), The Killer’s Game (2024), and many more.
Ben Kingsley also 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).
Kingsley won a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Gandhi in 1985. He was again gets a nomination for the same award for Schindler’s List in 1995.
Personal Life
Ben Kingsley has been married four times. His first marriage was to actress Angela Morant, with whom he has two children, Thomas and Jasmin. He later married theatre director Alison Sutcliffe, with whom he has two children, Edmund and Ferdinand. Kingsley’s third marriage was to German actress Alexandra Christmann. He married Brazilian actress Daniela Lavender in 2007.
Kingsley was appointed Knight Bachelor in 2002 for services to the British film industry. In 2010, he was gets a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2013, he received the Britannia Award for Worldwide Contribution to Filmed Entertainment. Indian government awarded him Padma Shri, fourth-highest civilian award.
Ben Kingsley on IMDB
