Sir 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 two Golden Globe Awards. Kingsley was appointed Knight Bachelor in 2002 for services to the British film industry. In 2010, he was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2013, he received the Britannia Award for Worldwide Contribution to Filmed Entertainment.

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'' (including Peter Brook's 1970 RSC production of the play), ''Hamlet'' and ''The Merry Wives of Windsor''.

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. He also appeared as Itzhak Stern in Steven Spielberg's ''Schindler's List'' (1993), receiving a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. Subsequent roles have included ''Twelfth Night'' (1996), ''Sexy Beast'' (2000), '' House of Sand and Fog'' (2003), '' Thunderbirds'' (2004), ''Lucky Number Slevin'' (2006), ''Shutter Island'' (2010), '' Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time'' (2010), ''Hugo'' (2011), '' The Dictator'' (2012), and ''Ender's Game'' (2013). 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''. Kingsley also voiced the antagonistic Archibald Snatcher in ''The Boxtrolls'' (2014), and Bagheera in the live-action adaptation of Disney's ''The Jungle Book'' (2016).

Early life

Kingsley was born Krishna Pandit Bhanji (Gujarati: કૃષ્ણા પંડિત ભાણજી) on 31 December 1943, in Snainton, North Riding of Yorkshire. His mother, Anna Lyna Mary (''née'' Goodman), was an English actress and model; she was born out of wedlock, and "was loath to speak of her background". His father, Rahimtulla Harji Bhanji, was born in the East Africa Protectorate (which later became, in 1920, the Colony and Protectorate of Kenya) to a family from the Indian city of Jamnagar, of Khoja Gujarati descent. Kingsley's paternal grandfather, Harji Bhanji, was a successful spice trader who had moved from India to the Sultanate of Zanzibar, where Kingsley's father lived until moving to the United Kingdom at the age of 14. Kingsley's maternal grandfather was believed by the family to have been of Russian- or German-Jewish descent, while his maternal grandmother was English and worked in the garment district of London's East End.: "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 stated in 1994, "I'm not Jewish, and though there might be some Russian-Jewish heritage way back on my mother's side, the thread is so fine there's no real evidence." In a 2016 interview, he indicated that his maternal grandmother was impregnated by a Russian Jewish immigrant who later abandoned her, which led her to become a "vile anti-Semite."

Kingsley grew up in Pendlebury, Lancashire. Although Kingsley's father was a Gujarati Khoja who practiced Isma'ili Islam, Kingsley himself was not raised in his father's faith, and identifies as a Quaker. He was educated at the Manchester Grammar School, where one of his classmates was actor Robert Powell. Kingsley went on to study at De La Salle College in Salford, which later became home to The Ben Kingsley Theatre. While at college, he became involved in amateur dramatics in Manchester, making his professional stage debut on graduation, aged 23.

Career

1967–1981: Stage work and early career

After graduating, in 1966, Kingsley was approached by music producer and manager Dick James. James, who was the publisher of The Beatles, offered to mould Kingsley into a pop star. Kingsley declined James' offer, and instead chose to join the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) in 1967 after an audition before Trevor Nunn.

Devoting himself almost exclusively to stage work for the next 15 years, he made his West End debut for the company at the Aldwych Theatre in 1967 in a production of ''As You Like It''. Further productions for the RSC included ''Much Ado About Nothing'', ''Richard III'', '' The Tempest'', ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' (starring in Peter Brook's acclaimed 1970 RSC production as Demetrius), ''Hamlet'' and ''The Merry Wives of Windsor''.

In the 1960s, Kingsley anglicised his name to Ben Kingsley, fearing that a foreign name would hamper his career.Stated in interview on ''Inside the Actors Studio'' He told the ''Radio Times'', "As soon as I changed my name, I got the jobs. I had one audition as Krishna Bhanji and they said, 'Beautiful audition but we don't quite know how to place you in our forthcoming season.' I changed my name, crossed the road, and they said when can you start?" Kingsley went on to play Mosca in Peter Hall's 1977 production of Ben Jonson's ''Volpone'' for the Royal National Theatre. He also starred in the role of Willy Loman in a 1982 Sydney production of ''Death of a Salesman'' opposite Mel Gibson.

1982–1998: Transition to film and television

Kingsley began his transition to film roles early on, starting with '' Fear Is the Key'' in 1972. Kingsley continued to play small roles in both film and television, including a role as Ron Jenkins on the soap opera ''Coronation Street'' from 1966 to 1967 and regular appearances as a defence counsel in the long-running British legal programme ''Crown Court''. In 1975, he starred as Dante Gabriel Rossetti in the historical drama ''The Love School'' and appeared in the TV miniseries ''Dickens of London'' the following year.

A turning point in Kingsley's career came with the biographical film ''Gandhi'' (1982), directed by Richard Attenborough, in which Kingsley played the titular role of Gandhi. The film was a critical and financial success, and Kingsley won 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 for his performance.

Throughout the 80s, Kingsley appeared in a variety of films, including supporting roles in ''Turtle Diary'' (1985) and ''Maurice'' (1987). He played the main character of Basil Pascali in '' Pascali's Island'' (1988), and went on to portray Dr. John Watson alongside Michael Caine's Sherlock Holmes in ''Without a Clue'' that year. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of the organized crime figure Meyer Lansky in '' Bugsy'' (1991). Additional roles include the supporting character of Cosmo in the thriller film ''Sneakers'' (1992), Vice President Gary Nance in ''Dave'' (1993), and the chess teacher Bruce Pandolfini in ''Searching for Bobby Fischer'' (1993).

In Steven Spielberg's historical drama film ''Schindler's List'' (1993), Kingsley portrayed the Holocaust survivor Itzhak Stern alongside Liam Neeson as Oskar Schindler. The film was a critical and commercial success, and Kingsley received a nomination for BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. Further roles include the BBC
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