Sir Ian McKellen is a
famous British actor. While he's not a world acclaimed
movie star he's certainly famous in the world of
theater, and he has no less than over forty international
awards for his performance both on
stage and
screen. His acting career began while he went to
school and studied
English Literature, during the course of his
education he appeared in 21 stage productions. His professional debut was in 1961 at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry, the next three years he worked as an
apprentice for other regional companies.
He had his first
London appearance in A Scent of Flowers (1964), it won him the Clarence Derwent Award and he was afterwards invited by Sir Laurence Olivier to join the new National Theatre Company at the Old Vic Theatre. In 1969 he played Shakespeare's Richard II and Marlowe's Edward II, both these shows where
sold out for two full seasons in
London. While he worked with the Royal Shakespear Company in London (1974-78) he played in plays from; Brecht, Chekov, Ibsen] Marlowe, Shaw, Stoppard and Wedekin. And he played:
Romeo,
Macbeth, Leontes, Toby Belch and Iago for Trevor Nunn.
When he was on
Broadway he won all the available awards, including the Tony for Best Actor. After touring the world with Richard III, he then stared in the world known movie version, which he co-scripted.
"David Copperfield" (BBC 1966) was his first appearance on
television, and his first
cinema appearance was in Priest of Love (1980). Later he has starred in
Apt Pupil, by Bryan Singer, and he will appear in the upcoming
X-MEN movie by the same director. Additionaly he will also
play Gandalf in the upcoming
movie version of
Lord of the Rings.
Sir Ian was
knighted in 1991 for his services to the performing
arts.