Ferdinand James M. Kingsley (born 13 February 1988) is a British actor. He is known for portraying the roles of
Hamza Bey
Hamza Bey (died 1460) was a 15th-century Ottoman admiral of Albanian origin, related to the Kastrioti family.İsmail Hâmi Danişmend, Osmanlı Devlet Erkânı, Türkiye Yayınevi, İstanbul, 1971, p. 9. (Turkish)
Biography
Hamza Bey first appea ...
in the film ''
Dracula Untold
''Dracula Untold'' is a 2014 American dark fantasy action-horror film directed by Gary Shore in his feature film debut and written by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless. A reboot of the ''Dracula'' film series, the plot creates an origin story f ...
'' (2014),
Mr. Francatelli in the television series ''
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
'' (2016–2019),
Irving Thalberg
Irving Grant Thalberg (May 30, 1899 – September 14, 1936) was an American film producer during the early years of motion pictures. He was called "The Boy Wonder" for his youth and ability to select scripts, choose actors, gather productio ...
in the film ''
Mank'' (2020), and
Hob Gadling
Hob Gadling, also known as Robert, Robbie, or Bobby, is a fictional character from the '' Sandman'' comic book series by Neil Gaiman. Gadling first appears in issue #13, "Men of Good Fortune". A soldier who has recently fought in the Hundred Years ...
in Netflix's adaptation of ''
The Sandman'' (2022).
Early life
Ferdinand James M. Kingsley was born on 13 February 1988 in
Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, the son of actor
Ben Kingsley
Sir Ben Kingsley (born Krishna Pandit Bhanji; 31 December 1943) is an English actor. He has received various accolades throughout his career spanning five decades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Grammy Award, and tw ...
and theatre director
Alison Sutcliffe. His paternal grandfather, Rahimtulla Harji Bhanji (1914–1968), was a Kenyan-born medical doctor from the
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
n city of
Jamnagar, being of
Khoja
The Khojas ( sd}; gu, ખોજા, hi, ख़ोजा) are a mainly Nizari Isma'ili Shia community of people originating in Gujarat, India.
Derived from the Persian Khwaja, a term of honor, the word Khoja is used to refer to Lohana Rajp ...
Gujarati
Gujarati may refer to:
* something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India
* Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat
* Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them
* Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub ...
descent.
His great-grandfather was an extremely successful
spice trader who had moved from India to
Zanzibar
Zanzibar (; ; ) is an insular semi-autonomous province which united with Tanganyika in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania. It is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of many small islan ...
, where his grandfather lived until moving to England at the age of 14. Kingsley's paternal grandmother was
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
; she was born out of wedlock, and "would loath to speak of her background". His other great-grandfather was believed by the family to have been of either
German-Jewish
The history of the Jews in Germany goes back at least to the year 321, and continued through the Early Middle Ages (5th to 10th centuries CE) and High Middle Ages (''circa'' 1000–1299 CE) when Jewish immigrants founded the Ashkenazi Jewish ...
or
Russian-Jewish descent, while his great-grandmother was English and worked in the garment district of
East London.
[: "The grandmother of the knighted Royal Shakespeare Company alum spoke Yiddish she picked up while a garment worker in London's East End a century ago. "She was violently opposed to talking about this, so my poor mother was at the receiving end of a rage attack every time my grandmother was asked about her husband, her lover, whoever it was, but it's believed that he was a Russian Jew or a German Jew called Goodman", Kingsley told ''The Jerusalem Post''".]
Kingsley attended
Warwick School
Warwick School is a selective, independent day and boarding school in Warwick, England in the public school tradition.
Known until about 1900 as King's School, Warwick, it is believed to have been founded by Æthelflæd of Mercia in 914 AD ...
and the
Guildhall School of Music and Drama
The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a conservatoire and drama school located in the City of London, United Kingdom. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz ...
.
Acting career
Kingsley's theatre credits include ''Troilus and Cressida'', and ''Little Eyolf'' for the
Royal Shakespeare Company.
[ He played Rosencrantz in the National Theatre's 2010–11 production of '']Hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
'', for which he received a commendation at the 2010 Ian Charleson Awards
The Ian Charleson Awards are theatrical awards that reward the best classical stage performances in Britain by actors under age 30. The awards are named in memory of the renowned British actor Ian Charleson, and are run by the ''Sunday Times'' ne ...
, and Phaeax in ''Welcome to Thebes
''Welcome to Thebes'' is a 2010 play by Moira Buffini. It premiered on 15 June 2010 in a production at the Olivier Theatre of the Royal National Theatre in London directed by Richard Eyre.
Plot
Set in 'a city named Thebes, somewhere in the 20 ...
''.[
In the film '']The Last Legion
''The Last Legion'' is a 2007 historical action adventure film directed by Doug Lefler and produced by Dino De Laurentiis. It is based on the 2002 novel of the same name by Valerio Massimo Manfredi. It stars Colin Firth, Ben Kingsley, Aishwarya ...
'' he played Young Ambrosinus in flashbacks to the younger days of the character Ambrosinus, played by his father Ben Kingsley
Sir Ben Kingsley (born Krishna Pandit Bhanji; 31 December 1943) is an English actor. He has received various accolades throughout his career spanning five decades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Grammy Award, and tw ...
. He took the part of Albert Aurier in the BBC production ''Vincent Van Gogh: Painted With Words''. He plays Bushy in '' Richard II'', which is part of the BBC's Shakespeare season to be aired in Summer 2012.
He played both Jesus and God the Father in the August 2012 production of the ''York Mystery Plays
The York Mystery Plays, more properly the York Corpus Christi Plays, are a Middle English cycle of 48 mystery plays or pageants covering sacred history from the creation to the Last Judgment. They were traditionally presented on the feast day ...
''. In 2013, Kingsley played the part of murdered Jewish anarchist Joshua Bloom in the BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
.
. In 2016, Kingsley starred in ITV's drama ''
.