"When I choose a role it's either because I recognise the man, or that I'm very curious to know him. If I neither recognise nor know him, then it is better that I don't play him."
Sir Ben Kingsley is a British actor, born Krishna Pandit Bhanji to an Indian father and a British mother on 31 December 1943 in Snainton, England.
He is best known for his roles as the title character in Gandhi, Itzhak Stern in Schindler's List, and Georges Méliès in Martin Scorsese's Hugo. One of the truly great dramatic actors of cinema, he will also take on more lowbrow roles if he thinks he'll get to have fun.
His son, Ferdinand, is also an actor.
Notable Roles for Sir Ben Kingsley:
- Gandhi, where he plays the man himself, Mahatma Gandhi. His first major role, directed by Richard Attenborough.
- The title character of a movie adaptation of Silas Marner.
- Bruce Pandolfini in Searching for Bobby Fischer.
- Itzhak Stern in Schindler's List. Interestingly, when Gandhi won the Best Picture Oscar, Attenborough wanted Steven Spielberg to win for E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and Spielberg would later direct Kingsley in this film.
- The Caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland (1999)
- Lord Kagan in the first BloodRayne film. He always wanted to play a Vampire Lord.
- Don Logan in Sexy Beast, for which he was nominated for 16 awards, and won 11.
- The Hood in the live-action Thunderbirds movie, commonly cited as one of the better parts; per Jonathan Frakes, he took the role as it was less emotionally taxing compared to most of his work, and his kids urged him to take the part.
- Dr. Miranda, a doctor with a very dark past in Death and the Maiden
- Nizam in the Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time movie.
- Massoud Amir Behrani in House of Sand and Fog.
- Georges Méliès in Hugo.
- Robert in the film of Betrayal.
- O'Ryan, an FBI Agent turned psychic vigilante Serial-Killer Killer in Suspect Zero.
- Mysterious Grinko in Transsiberian.
- The sinister psychologist Dr. Cawley in Shutter Island.
- Treacherous Advisor Tamir in the Sacha Baron Cohen comedy The Dictator (not only did Cohen star in Hugo, but the role of Tamir is very similar to Nizam in Prince of Persia).
- Mazer Rackham in Ender's Game.
- Trevor Slattery in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
- Dr. Watson, but not The Watson, in Without a Clue.
- The villainous Archibald Snatcher in The Boxtrolls.
- Otto Frank in Anne Frank: The Whole Story.
- As Himself in The Sopranos, where Christopher Moltisanti tries to pitch him his idea for a gangster-horror movie.
- Billionaire industrialist Damian Hale in Self/Less.
- Bagheera in the 2016 live-action adaptation of The Jungle Book.
- Charlie in Security (2017)
- Adolf Eichmann in Operation Finale (2018)
- Watership Down (2018): General Woundwort
- Rapist-hunting vigilante Cooper in Night Hunter.
- The School for Good and Evil (2022)
- Dalíland as Salvador Dalí (older)
- The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar as Imdad Khan / the casino dealer
- Poison (2023) as Dr. Ganderbai
Tropes:
- Brownface: Kingsley darkened his skin for the title role in Gandhi; despite being half-Indian with parentage from the same region and ethnicity as the man, he's fair-skinned in real life.
- Fake Nationality: Sir Ben's played everything from Fake Americans, to Fake Arabs, to Fake Persians, to Fake Frenchmen, to a Fake Maori, a Fake German, and several Fake Jews. and a Fake French frog spy.
- Plays Great Ethnics: Because of his mixed Indian and British ancestry, Kingsley is often tapped to play various ethnic groups. Lampshaded with his role in Iron Man 3, in which he plays an alleged Asian terrorist who is actually a British actor hired to be a front man for the real villain.
