With two Oscar nominations for his work on screen and the recipient of every major theatrical award in the UK and US, Sir Ian McKellen is widely considered to be one of the greatest actors of all time. The 85-year-old has gripped audiences both on screen and on stage, receiving international acclaim and becoming a household name across the globe. His largest mark on the big screen may be as Gandalf in The Lord Of The Rings trilogy.
Sir Ian McKellen in 2015 (Ian West/PA) On the stage, Sir Ian has been nominated for 12 Olivier Awards and won six for his roles in Pillars Of The Community, The Alchemist, Bent, Wild Honey, Richard III and his one-man show Ian McKellen On Stage. The actor was born in Burnley, Lancashire, in 1939 and, alongside his sister Jean, was raised by his mother Margery and father Denis. Sir Ian has often credited his parents for encouraging his interest in becoming a performer, previously claiming in a 2017 interview with the Irish Examiner: “Apparently she said, ‘If Ian decides to be an actor, it’s a good job, because it brings pleasure to people’.
” His mother died when he was just 12 and he would lose his father at the age of 22. Sir Ian acted at all the schools he attended. When at Bolton School he was able to take on his first Shakespeare performance at Hopefield Miniature Theatre when, as a 13-year-old Malvolio, he performed the letter scene from Twelfth Night.
He then won a scholarship to read English at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge an.