Ben Kingsley

Acting

Ben Kingsley

Born 1943-12-31 · Snainton, North Riding of Yorkshire, England, UK

Sir Ben Kingsley (born Krishna Pandit Bhanji; 31 December 1943) is an English actor. He has received accolades throughout his career spanning five decades, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Grammy Award, and two Golden Globe Awards, as well as nominations for four Primetime Emmy Awards and two Laurence Olivier Awards. Kingsley was appointed Knight Bachelor in 2002 for services to the British film industry. He was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2010 and received the Britannia Award in 2013. 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, Hamlet, and The Merry Wives of Windsor. Also known for his television roles, he received four Primetime Emmy Award nominations for his performances in Murderers Among Us: The Simon Wiesenthal Story (1989), Joseph (1995), Anne Frank: The Whole Story (2001), and Mrs. Harris (2006). 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. For his portrayal of Itzhak Stern in Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List (1993), he received a BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role nomination. He was Oscar-nominated for Bugsy (1990), Sexy Beast (2000), and House of Sand and Fog (2003). His other notable films include Maurice (1987), Sneakers (1992), Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993), Death and the Maiden (1994), Twelfth Night (1996), Tuck Everlasting (2002), Elegy (2008), Shutter Island (2010), and Hugo (2011). 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. He also acted in the blockbusters Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010) and Ender's Game (2013). Kingsley lent his voice to the films The Boxtrolls (2014) and The Jungle Book (2016).

Acting credits

Deep Water poster
7.1

A group of international passengers on a flight from Los Angeles to Shanghai is forced to make an emergency landing in shark-infested waters. The terrified group is forced to work together and overcome their differences if they hope to escape their sinking plane and the frenzy of sharks drawn to the wreckage.

Deep Water

2026

Schindler's List poster
8.6

The true story of how businessman Oskar Schindler saved over a thousand Jewish lives from the Nazis while they worked as slaves in his factory during World War II.

Schindler's List

1993

Iron Man 3 poster
6.9

When Tony Stark's world is torn apart by a formidable terrorist called the Mandarin, he starts an odyssey of rebuilding and retribution.

Iron Man 3

2013

Young Washington poster
7.8

Before he led a nation, George Washington was a young soldier thrown into a global conflict. With alliances crumbling and war closing in, he must choose who to trust and confront the leader he's becoming.

Young Washington

2026

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings poster
7.5

Shang-Chi must confront the past he thought he left behind when he is drawn into the web of the mysterious Ten Rings organization.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

2021

Shutter Island poster
8.2

World War II soldier-turned-U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels investigates the disappearance of a patient from a hospital for the criminally insane, but his efforts are compromised by troubling visions and a mysterious doctor.

Shutter Island

2010

Desert Warrior poster
6.1

In 7th-century Arabia, Princess Hind becomes a warrior to defy the ruthless Emperor Kisra. Forged into a warrior and aided by legendary bandit Hanzala, Hind unites warring tribes for a last stand—the historic Battle of Dhi Qar—that will change history.

Desert Warrior

2026

A.I. Artificial Intelligence poster
7.1

David, a robotic boy—the first of his kind programmed to love—is adopted as a test case by a Cybertronics employee and his wife. Though he gradually becomes their child, a series of unexpected circumstances make this life impossible for David.

A.I. Artificial Intelligence

2001

Exodus: Gods and Kings poster
5.9

The defiant leader Moses rises up against the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses, setting 400,000 slaves on a monumental journey of escape from Egypt and its terrifying cycle of deadly plagues.

Exodus: Gods and Kings

2014

The Jungle Book poster
6.9

After a threat from the tiger Shere Khan, Mowgli, a man-cub fostered by wolves, is forced to flee the jungle, and he embarks on a journey of self-discovery with the help of the panther, Bagheera, and the free-spirited bear, Baloo.

The Jungle Book

2016

Self/less poster
6.4

An extremely wealthy elderly man dying from cancer undergoes a radical medical procedure that transfers his consciousness to the body of a healthy young man but everything may not be as good as it seems when he starts to uncover the mystery of the body's origins and the secret organization that will kill to keep its secrets.

Self/less

2015

Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb poster
6.2

When the magic powers of The Tablet of Ahkmenrah begin to die out, Larry Daley spans the globe, uniting favorite and new characters while embarking on an epic quest to save the magic before it is gone forever.

Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb

2014

The Dictator poster
6.2

The heroic story of a dictator who risks his life to ensure that democracy would never come to the country he so lovingly oppressed.

The Dictator

2012

Sneakers poster
6.9

When shadowy U.S. intelligence agents blackmail a reformed computer hacker and his eccentric team of security experts into stealing a code-breaking 'black box' from a Soviet-funded genius, they uncover a bigger conspiracy. Now, he and his 'sneakers' must save themselves and the world economy by retrieving the box from their blackmailers.

Sneakers

1992

Hugo poster
7.2

Orphaned and alone except for an uncle, Hugo Cabret lives in the walls of a train station in 1930s Paris. Hugo's job is to oil and maintain the station's clocks, but to him, his more important task is to protect a broken automaton and notebook left to him by his late father. Accompanied by the goddaughter of an embittered toy merchant, Hugo embarks on a quest to solve the mystery of the automaton and find a place he can call home.

Hugo

2011

The Killer's Game poster
6.4

When top hitman Joe Flood is diagnosed with a terminal illness, he decides to take matters into his own hands – by taking a hit out on himself. But when the very hitmen he hired also target his ex-girlfriend, he must fend off an army of assassin colleagues and win back the love of his life before it's too late.

The Killer's Game

2024

Ender's Game poster
6.6

Based on the classic novel by Orson Scott Card, Ender's Game is the story of the Earth's most gifted children training to defend their homeplanet in the space wars of the future.

Ender's Game

2013

The Thursday Murder Club poster
6.6

A group of senior sleuths passionate about solving cold cases get plunged into a real-life murder mystery in this comic crime caper.

The Thursday Murder Club

2025

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time poster
6.3

A rogue prince reluctantly joins forces with a mysterious princess and together, they race against dark forces to safeguard an ancient dagger capable of releasing the Sands of Time – gift from the gods that can reverse time and allow its possessor to rule the world.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

2010

The Boxtrolls poster
6.7

An orphaned boy raised by underground creatures called Boxtrolls comes up from the sewers and out of his box to save his family and the town from the evil exterminator, Archibald Snatcher.

The Boxtrolls

2014

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 poster
NR

Sonic the Hedgehog, joined by a new hero named Amy, faces a new technological nemesis known as Metal Sonic.

Sonic the Hedgehog 4

2027

Lucky Number Slevin poster
7.5

Slevin is mistakenly put in the middle of a personal war between the city’s biggest criminal bosses. Under constant watch, Slevin must try not to get killed by an infamous assassin and come up with an idea of how to get out of his current dilemma.

Lucky Number Slevin

2006

Spielberg poster
7.5

A documentary on the life and career of one of the most influential film directors of all time, Steven Spielberg.

Spielberg

2017

Night Hunter poster
6.6

A Minnesota police officer crosses paths with a committed and tireless vigilante as he follows the trail of a ruthless predator responsible for several abductions and murders.

Night Hunter

2019