Ian McKellen
Known for Acting · 225 credits
- Born
- 1939-05-25 (age 87)
- Place of birth
- Burnley, Lancashire, England, UK
- Also known as
- Sir Ian McKellen · Sir Ian Murray McKellen · Ian McKellern
Biography
Sir Ian Murray McKellen (born 25 May 1939) is an English actor. He has played roles on the screen and stage in genres ranging from Shakespearean dramas and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction. He is regarded as a British cultural icon and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1991. He has received numerous accolades, including a Tony Award, six Olivier Awards, and a Golden Globe Award, as well as nominations for two Academy Awards, five BAFTA Awards and five Emmy Awards.
McKellen made his stage debut in 1961 at the Belgrade Theatre as a member of its repertory company, and in 1965 made his first West End appearance. In 1969, he was invited to join the Prospect Theatre Company to play the lead parts in Shakespeare's Richard II and Marlowe's Edward II. In the 1970s, McKellen became a stalwart of the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre of Great Britain. He has earned five Olivier Awards for his roles in Pillars of the Community (1977), The Alchemist (1978), Bent (1979), Wild Honey (1984), and Richard III (1995). McKellen made his Broadway debut in The Promise (1965). He received the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his role as Antonio Salieri in Amadeus (1980). He was further nominated for Ian McKellen: Acting Shakespeare (1984). He returned to Broadway in Wild Honey(1986), Dance of Death (1990), No Man's Land (2013), and Waiting for Godot (2013), the latter two being a joint production with Patrick Stewart.
McKellen achieved worldwide fame for his film roles, including the titular King in Richard III (1995), James Whale in Gods and Monsters (1998), Magneto in the X-Men films, Cogsworth in Beauty and the Beast (2017) and Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings (2001–2003) and The Hobbit (2012–2014) trilogies. Other notable film roles include A Touch of Love (1969), Plenty (1985), Six Degrees of Separation (1993), Restoration (1995), Flushed Away (2006), Mr. Holmes (2015), and The Good Liar (2019).
McKellen came out as gay in 1988, and has since championed LGBT social movements worldwide. He was awarded the Freedom of the City of London in October 2014. McKellen is a cofounder of Stonewall, an LGBT rights lobby group in the United Kingdom, named after the Stonewall riots. He is also patron of LGBT History Month, Pride London, Oxford Pride, GayGlos, LGBT Foundation and FFLAG.
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Known For
TV Shows (56)
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
2015
as Self - Guest
Sesame Street
1969
as Self
Family Guy
1999
as Dr. Cecil Pritchfield (voice)
Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen
2009
as Self - Guest
Late Show with David Letterman
1993
as Self - Guest
The Simpsons
1989
as Ian McKellen (voice)
Late Night with Seth Meyers
2014
as Self - Guest
Coronation Street
1960
as Mel Hutchwright
Real Time with Bill Maher
2003
as Self
Saturday Night Live
1975
as Self - Host
The View
1997
as Self - Guest
The Graham Norton Show
2007
as Self - Guest
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
2003
as Self
The Talk
2010
as Self
Golden Globe Awards
1944
as Self - Presenter / Self - Winner
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
1993
as Self - Guest
Tony Awards
1956
as Self - Winner
The One Show
2006
as Self - Guest
Have I Got News for You
1990
as Self
American Playhouse
1982
as Archibald Anson Gidde
ted
2024
as Narrator (voice)
Playhouse
1974
as Alexander
BBC Play of the Month
1965
as Captain Plume / Simon Bliss / Ross / T.E. Lawrence / George Tesman
Omnibus
1967
as Self - Reading Poetry
The Wednesday Play
1964
as Wolf
The Oscars
1953
as Self
Variety Studio: Actors on Actors
2014
as Self
ITV Playhouse
1967
as Tony
The Paul O'Grady Show
2004
Film '72
1971
as Self
Parkinson
1998
as Self
Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway
2002
as Self
An Audience with...
1978
as Self
Vicious
2013
as Freddie Thornhill
Who Do You Think You Are?
2004
as Self
ITV Saturday Night Theatre
1969
as Lyov
Extras
2005
as Ian McKellen
HARDtalk
1997
Trailblazer Honors
2014
as Self - Speaker
Reunited Apart
2020
as Self
David Copperfield
1999
as Creakle
The Prisoner
2009
as 2 / Curtis
Tales of the City
1993
as Archibald Anson Gidde
Perspectives
2011
Country Matters
1972
as David Masterman
Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras
1994
as Self
Solo
1970
Pillar of Fire
1981
as Narrator
Playing Shakespeare
1984
David Copperfield
1966
as David Copperfield
Amol Rajan Interviews
2021
as Self - Interviewed Guest
Inside the Actors Studio
1994
as Self
Churchill
2003
as Self - Narrator (voice)
Billy & Dom Eat the World
2025
as Self
Windmills of the Gods
1988
as Chairman
Great British Theatre
2021
Movies (169)
Avengers: Doomsday
2026
as Magneto
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
2003
as Gandalf
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
2001
as Gandalf
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
2014
as Gandalf the Grey
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
2002
as Gandalf
X-Men: Days of Future Past
2014
as Magneto
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
2013
as Gandalf the Grey
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
2012
as Gandalf the Grey
Beauty and the Beast
2017
as Cogsworth
The Da Vinci Code
2006
as Sir Leigh Teabing
The Christophers
2025
as Julian Sklar
Flushed Away
2006
as The Toad (voice)
Stardust
2007
as Narrator (voice)
The Golden Compass
2007
as Iorek Byrnison (voice)
Mr. Holmes
2015
as Sherlock Holmes
The Wolverine
2013
as Erik Lehnsherr / Magneto (uncredited)
Last Action Hero
1993
as Death
X-Men: The Mutant Watch
2000
as Self - 'Magneto'
Dragfox
2024
as Ginger Snap the Fox (Speaking) (voice)
Passage to Middle-Earth: The Making of 'The Lord of the Rings'
2001
as Self
The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum
2027
as Gandalf
I'll Do Anything
1994
as John Earl McAlpine
Cats
2019
as Gus, the Theatre Cat
All Is True
2018
as Earl of Southampton
Du Fu: China's Greatest Poet
2020
The Good Liar
2019
as Roy Courtnay
The Ballad of Little Jo
1993
as Percy Corcoran
The Promise
1969
The Betty Driver Story
2011
as Self
A Touch of Love
1969
as George
The Shadow
1994
as Dr. Reinhardt Lane
Apt Pupil
1998
as Kurt Dussander
And the Band Played On
1993
as Bill Kraus
Ringers: Lord of the Fans
2005
as Self
The Wolverine: Path of a Ronin
2013
as Self
Asylum
2005
as Dr. Peter Cleave
Muse of Fire
2013
as Self
Priest of Love
1981
as D.H. Lawrence
Plenty
1985
as Sir Andrew Charleson
Six Degrees of Separation
1993
as Geoffrey
The Roof
2016
as And Even Yet Another Fan
The Untold Tales of Armistead Maupin
2017
as Self
The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot
2013
as Self
Restoration
1995
as Will Gates
Alfred the Great
1969
as Roger
King Lear
2008
as King Lear
The Critic
2024
as Jimmy Erskine
Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol
2026
as Jacob Marley
Zina
1985
as Kronfeld
Jack & Sarah
1995
as William
Gladio
1992
as Aldo Moro (voice)
Shakespeare on Film
2016
The Magic Roundabout
2005
as Zebedee (voice)
Richard III
1995
as Richard III
Quest for the Ring
2001
as Self
The Egg Trick
2013
as Magician
X-Men: Premieres Around the World
2003
as Self
Infinitum: Subject Unknown
2021
as Dr. Charles Marland-White
Animal Crackers
2018
as Horatio P. Huntington (voice)
Scarfe's Follies
1988
Swept from the Sea
1998
as Dr. James Kennedy
Gods and Monsters
1998
as James Whale
The Scarlet Pimpernel
1982
as Chauvelin
The Keep
1983
as Dr. Theodore Cuza
The Fellowship of the Ring: From Book to Script
2002
as Self
The Dresser
2015
as Norman
Evolution X - The Making of X-Men
2003
Hating Peter Tatchell
2021
as Self
The Fellowship of the Ring: Scale
2002
as Self
Doctor Who: The Snowmen
2012
as The Great Intelligence (voice)
Emile
2003
as Emile
A World War II Fairy Tale: The Making of Michael Mann's 'The Keep'
2025
as Self (archive footage)
The Fellowship of the Ring: The Road Goes Ever On..
2002
as Self
On Broadway
2019
as Self
Miss in Her Teens
2014
as The Prologue
The Fellowship of the Ring: Designing and Building Middle-earth + Weta Workshop + Costume Design
2002
as Self
An Evening with Lily Savage
1996
as Self
Scandal
1989
as John Profumo
Theatreland
2009
as Self
Bent
1997
as Uncle Freddie
Every Good Boy Deserves Favour
1979
as Alexander Ivanov
Hamlet
2024
as Hamlet
Cold Comfort Farm
1995
as Amos Starkadder
Craven Arms
1972
as David Masterman
Double Take: Xavier & Magneto
2014
as Self
The Quest Fulfilled: A Director's Vision
2003
as Self
Nelson Mandela Redrawn
2014
as Self
Hedda Gabler
1972
as George Tesman
Countdown to War
1989
as Adolf Hitler
Shakespeare Live! From the RSC
2016
as Self - Performer
Frank and Percy
as Percy
The Second Uncanny Issue of X-Men! Making X2
2003
as Self
Doogal
2006
as Zebedee (voice)
Edward II
1970
as King Edward
The Art of Breaking Character
2007
as Self
For the Love of God
2007
as The Jackdaw
Judi Dench: All the World's Her Stage
2016
as Self
Beyond the Movie: The Fellowship of the Ring
2001
as Self
Beyond the Movie: The Return of the King
2003
as Self
Edmund the Magnificent
2017
as Self - Narrator (voice)
The Fellowship of the Ring: The Fellowship of the Cast
2002
as Self
LS Lowry: The Unheard Tapes
2026
as L S Lowry
Schadenfreude
2025
as Continuity Announcer
The Fellowship of the Ring: Cameras in Middle-earth
2002
as Self
A Simple Matter of Justice
1993
as Self
McKellen: Playing the Part
2018
as Self
Camp Christmas
1993
Walter
1982
as Walter
Age of Dissent
1994
as Self
A Filmmaker's Journey: Making 'The Return of the King'
2004
as Self
The World of Gods and Monsters: A Journey with James Whale
1999
as Self
Rasputin
1996
as Tsar Nicholas II
The Making of 'The Two Towers'
2003
Saint of 9/11
2006
as Narrator
Play the Devil: Making Richard III
2016
To Die For
1994
as Quilt Documentary Narrator (voice)
The Life and Death of Lily Savage
2024
as Self
Frodo Is Great... Who Is That?!!
2004
as Self
Macbeth
1979
as Macbeth
Untitled Anthony Hopkins Documentary
as Self
About Ian McKellen
Sir Ian Murray McKellen (born 25 May 1939) is an English actor. He has played roles on the screen and stage in genres ranging from Shakespearean dramas and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction. He is regarded as a British cultural icon and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1991. He has received numerous accolades, including a Tony Award, six Olivier Awards, and a Golden Globe Award, as well as nominations for two Academy Awards, five BAFTA Awards and five Emmy Awards. McKellen made his stage debut in 1961 at the Belgrade T… With 225 credits spanning from 1944 to 2027, Ian McKellen has appeared in 169 films and 56 TV shows.
Fans searching for Ian McKellen movies, Ian McKellen filmography, or the latest projects starring Ian McKellen can stream many of these titles on Bowood.TV, free and in HD, with no subscription required.
Most Popular Ian McKellen Movies
- Avengers: Doomsday (2026) — as Magneto
- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) — as Gandalf
- The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) — as Gandalf
- The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014) — as Gandalf the Grey
- The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) — as Gandalf
Where to Watch Ian McKellen Films
Most Ian McKellen movies and series are available to stream on Bowood.TV in full HD, completely free and without signup. Browse the complete filmography above to jump directly to any title. For more films and the latest web series featuring Ian McKellen, check our movies catalogue and browse page.