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Ben Kingsley
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| Ben Kingsley | |
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 Kingsley at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival |
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| Born | Krishna Pandit Bhanji 31 December 1943 Snainton, Scarborough, Yorkshire, England |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1966–present |
| Spouse(s) | Angela Morant (1966-1972) Alison Sutcliffe (1978-1992) Alexandra Christmann (2003-2005) Daniela Lavender (2007-) |
Sir Ben Kingsley, CBE (born 31 December 1943) is an English actor. He has won four major motion picture acting awards, receiving Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards throughout his career. He is known for starring as Mohandas Gandhi in the film Gandhi in 1982, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor.
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Early life
Kingsley was born Krishna Pandit Bhanji1 in Snainton, near Scarborough, Yorkshire, England, the son of Annalyna Mary (née Goodman), an actress and model, and Rahimtulla Harji Bhanji, a medical doctor.2
Kingsley's father was born in Kenya of Indian Khoja Muslim Gujarati descent, as Kingsley's paternal grandfather was a spice trader who had moved from India to Zanzibar, where Kingsley's father lived until moving to England at the age of 14.345 Kingsley's mother, born out of wedlock, was "loath to speak of her background"; she was the daughter of an English East London garment worker mother and a father who was believed by the family to have been a Russian or German Jew.6789
Kingsley grew up in Pendlebury, near Salford, where he studied at University of Salford. He studied at Pendleton College, which later became home to the Ben Kingsley Theatre. Kingsley began his acting career on the stage at Manchester Grammar School, alongside Robert Powell, but made a transition to film roles early on.9 Despite this focus on film, he continued to act on the stage, playing Mosca in Peter Hall's 1977 production of Ben Jonson's Volpone for the Royal National Theatre, and in Peter Brook's acclaimed production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. At about this time, he changed his name from Krishna Bhanji to Ben Kingsley, fearing that a foreign name would hamper his career.910
Film and television career
Kingsley's first film role was a supporting turn in Fear Is the Key, released in 1972. Kingsley continued starring in bit 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 BBCs historical drama The Love School. He found fame only years later, starring as Mohandas Gandhi in the Academy Award-winning film Gandhi in 1982, his best-known role to date.9 The audience also agreed with the critics, and Gandhi was a box-office success. Kingsley won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal.9
Kingsley has since appeared in a variety of roles. His credits included the films Turtle Diary, Maurice, Pascali's Island, Without a Clue (as Dr. Watson alongside Michael Caine's Sherlock Holmes), Suspect Zero, Bugsy, which led to an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor, Sneakers, Dave, Searching for Bobby Fischer, Schindler's List, Silas Marner, Death and the Maiden, Sexy Beast, for which he received another Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, and House of Sand and Fog, which led to yet another Oscar nomination for Best Actor. He won a Crystal Globe award for outstanding artistic contribution to world cinema at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in 2001.
In 1997, he provided voice talent for the video game Ceremony of Innocence. In July 2006, he received an Emmy nomination for his performance in the made-for-TV film Mrs. Harris, in which he played famed cardiologist Herman Tarnower, who was murdered by his jilted lover, Jean Harris. Later that year, Kingsley appeared in an episode of The Sopranos entitled "Luxury Lounge", playing himself. In the show, Christopher Moltisanti and Carmine Lupertazzi offer him a role in the fictional slasher film "Cleaver", which he turns down. Lupertazzi offers him the role on the basis of Kingsley's real-life performance in Sexy Beast. In 2007, Kingsley appeared as a Polish American mobster in the Mafia comedy You Kill Me, and a Middle Eastern oil minister in War, Inc. Kingsley was asked to play Vulture in Spider-Man 3, but was cut out of the storyline.citation needed
Kingsley announced SBK-Pictures is bringing the story of the Native American Conley Sisters to the big screen in Whispers Like Thunder. Kingsley will be playing the role of Charles Curtis, the first part-Native American to become vice-president of the United States.11
Honours
Kingsley was named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2000. He was knighted in the 2001 New Years Honours list. On promotional material for the 2006 film Lucky Number Slevin, Kingsley was referred to as "Sir Ben Kingsley." At first, the actor was singled out for some criticism, as such titles had generally come to be omitted from professional credits by that time.citation needed It was claimed that the inclusion of "Sir" was a mistake by a studio executive.citation needed
His demand to be called 'Sir' was documented by the BBC, to some criticism.12 Since then, Kingsley appears to have altered his stance; credits for his latest films refer to him only as 'Ben Kingsley'. Penelope Cruz was unsure what to call him during the filming of Elegy as someone had told her she needed to refer to him as "Sir Ben". One day it slipped out as such, and she called him that for the rest of the shoot.13
In 1984, he won a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word or Nonmusical Recording for The Words of Gandhi. He was awarded the Indian civilian honor Padma Shri in 1985.14
In addition, in 2008, Kingsley was awarded the "Cinema for Peace Honorary Award", for the portrayal of the humanitarian role-models Simon Wiesenthal, Itzhak Stern and Gandhi.
Personal life
Kingsley has been married four times and has four children. Thomas Bhanji and artist Jasmin Bhanji are his children with actress Angela Morant; Edmund Kingsley and Ferdinand Kingsley, both of whom became actors, with theatrical director Alison Sutcliffe. In 2005 he divorced German-born Alexandra Christmann, after pictures of her kissing another lover surfaced on the internet.15 The actor was "deeply, deeply shocked" that his wife was seen kissing a man in a nightclub.15 On 3 September 2007, Kingsley married Daniela Barbosa de Carneiro, a Brazilian actress, in North Leigh, Oxfordshire.16
He currently lives in Spelsbury, Oxfordshire, England, where he has lived for over ten years.17
Filmography
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | Gandhi | Mohandas Gandhi | film debut Academy Award for Best Actor |
| 1983 | Betrayal | Robert | the film version of Harold Pinter's play |
| 1985 | Silas Marner: The Weaver of Raveloe | Silas Marner | |
| Harem | Selim | ||
| 1986 | Turtle Diary | William Snow | screenplay by Harold Pinter |
| 1987 | The Secret of the Sahara (TV) | Sholomon | |
| Maurice | Lasker-Jones | ||
| 1988 | Pascali's Island | Basil Pascali | |
| Without a Clue | Dr. John Watson | ||
| Testimony - The Story of Shostakovich | Dmitri Shostakovich | ||
| 1989 | Murderers Among Us: The Simon Wiesenthal Story | Simon Wiesenthal | |
| 1990 | The 5th Monkey | Cunda | |
| 1991 | Bugsy | Meyer Lansky | Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor |
| 1992 | Sneakers | Cosmo | |
| Freddie as F.R.O.7 | Freddie The Frog | Voice | |
| 1993 | Searching for Bobby Fischer | Bruce Pandolfini | |
| Dave | Vice President Gary Nance | ||
| Schindler's List | Itzhak Stern | ||
| 1994 | Death and the Maiden | Dr. Roberto Miranda | |
| 1995 | Species | Xavier Fitch | |
| Joseph | Potiphar | ||
| Moses | Moses | ||
| 1996 | Twelfth Night | Feste | from the play by William Shakespeare |
| 1997 | Weapons of Mass Distraction (TV) | Julian Messenger | |
| The Assignment | Amos | ||
| 1998 | The Tale of Sweeney Todd (TV) | Sweeney Todd | Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for Best Actor |
| 1999 | Alice in Wonderland (TV) | Major Caterpillar | |
| The Confession | Harry Fertig | ||
| 2000 | What Planet Are YOU From? | Graydon | |
| Rules of Engagement | Ambassador Mourain | ||
| Islam: Empire of Faith | Narrator | voice only | |
| 2001 | Anne Frank: The Whole Story | Otto Frank | Won Screen Actor's Guild Award |
| Sexy Beast | Don Logan | Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor | |
| AI: Artificial Intelligence | Specialist | voice | |
| 2002 | The Triumph of Love | Hermocrates | Marivaux's play |
| Tuck Everlasting | Man in the Yellow Suit | ||
| 2003 | House of Sand and Fog | Massoud Behrani | Academy Award nomination for Best Actor |
| 2004 | Thunderbirds | "The Hood" | loosely based on the super-marionation programme created by Gerry Anderson and Sylvia Anderson |
| Suspect Zero | Benjamin O'Ryan | ||
| 2005 | A Sound of Thunder | Charles Hatton | |
| Oliver Twist | Fagin | ||
| Mrs. Harris | Herman Tarnower | ||
| BloodRayne | Kagan | ||
| 2006 | The Sopranos (TV) | Appearance as himself | Season 6, Episode 72 - "Luxury Lounge" |
| Lucky Number Slevin | The Rabbi | ||
| 2007 | You Kill Me | Frank Falenczyk | |
| The Last Legion | Ambrosinus | ||
| The Ten Commandments | Narrator (voice) | ||
| 2008 | Elegy | David Kepesh | |
| War, Inc. | Walken | ||
| The Love Guru | Guru Tugginmypudha | ||
| The Wackness | Dr. Squires | ||
| Transsiberian | Grinko | ||
| Fifty Dead Men Walking | Fergus | ||
| 2009 | Noah's Ark: The New Beginning | Narrator (voice) | post-production |
| Whispers Like Thunder18 | Vice President Charles Curtis | pre-production | |
| Teen Patti | Perci Trachtenberg | post-production | |
| Journey to Mecca | Narrator (voice) | ||
| 2010 | Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time19 | Nizam | post-production |
| Shutter Island | Dr. John Cawley | post-production |
References
- ^ Johnston, Sheila (2009-04-04), "Ben Kingsley interview: dark soul of the knight", The Daily Telegraph (Review): 10–11, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/starsandstories/5099945/Ben-Kingsley-interview-dark-soul-of-the-knight.html.
- ^ Film Reference.com Biography
- ^ Bennetts, Leslie. Ben Kingsley’s Journey From Hamlet to Gandhi. New York Times: Best Pictures. 13 December 1982.
- ^ von Busack, Richard. Sexy Beast. Metroactive movies. March 2005.
- ^ Pathak, Rujul. Ben Kingsley's Chameleon Characters. Little India.com. 15 June 2005.
- ^ Krieger, Hilary Leila (2005-04-10). "'Gandhi' brings his 'truth-force' to Palestinian audiences". The Jerusalem Post. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-107274645.html. Retrieved 2007-12-09.
- ^ Pfefferman, Naomi. Shoah dramas continue to compel actor Ben Kingsley. L.A. Jewish Journal. 18 May 2001.
- ^ Tugend, Tom. Incidental Intelligence. JewishJournal.com. 13 April 2001.
- ^ a b c d e Stated in interview on Inside the Actors Studio
- ^ Sir Ben's Sexy honour. BBC News. 31 December 2001.
- ^ Ben Kingsley's SBK announces slate-Variety Nov 17, 2008
- ^ "Lord Puttnam dubs Sir Ben 'barmy'". http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4732688.stm.
- ^ Cruz Baffled By Kingley's Title - WENN News
- ^ "Padma Awards". Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. http://india.gov.in/myindia/advsearch_awards.php?start=0&award_year=&state=&field=3&p_name=Kingsley&award=All. Retrieved 2009-07-10.
- ^ a b "Kingsley Admits Devastation at Adulterous Wife Photos". Contact Music News. 2005-11-16. http://www.contactmusic.com/new/xmlfeed.nsf/story/kingsley-admits-devastation-at-adulterous-wife-photos. Retrieved 2007-08-15.)
- ^ "Kingsley weds Brazilian actress". BBC. 2007-09-07. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6983562.stm.
- ^ Johnson, Richard. "Dear Sir". Sunday Telegraph. 15 August 2007.
- ^ Siegal, Tatiana (2008-11-17). "Ben Kingsley's SBK announces slate". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117996028.html?categoryid=13&cs=1. Retrieved 2008-11-17.
- ^ Reynolds, Simon (2008-06-03). "Molina, Kingsley join 'Prince Of Persia'". Digital Spy. http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/movies/a97309/molina-kingsley-join-prince-of-persia.html. Retrieved 2008-06-03.
External links
- Ben Kingsley at the Internet Movie Database
- Ben Kingsley at TV.com
- Ben Kingsley's SBK announces slate, By TATIANA SIEGEL, Mon., Nov. 17, 2008
- Interview, 9/27/05, Cinema Confidential
- Interview, 9/22/05, Dark Horizons
- Interview, 7/28/04, IGN Films
- Interview, 12/16/93, Charlie Rose (Kingsley talks about his experience making "Schindler's List" with director Steven Spielberg).