British Actors You Should Know: Ian McKellen

If you don’t know Sir Ian McKellen, hang your head and turn in your Anglophile card. McKellen is as synonymous with British stage and screen as fish and chips are with its cuisine. He has led numerous stage productions and has been a leading man on television since playing the titular David Copperfield in the 1966 BBC series. (His third TV role ever.) Yet, McKellen is probably best known for playing a wizard on the silver screen. McKellen has won a Tony, six Olivier Awards, and a Golden Globe, in addition to nominations for Oscars, BAFTAs, and Emmys. He even appeared in a Pet Shop Boys video.

He is well-known off-screen as an out and proud gay man and a champion of LGBTQ+ rights; he came out during the Thatcher years to help highlight the AIDS crisis. He also has the most adorable public bromance with fellow British actor and X-Men alum Sir Patrick Stewart.

McKellen’s first theater work was in 1950 when he was in secondary school, and he has appeared on stage nearly every year since, with his most recent credit in 2024 as Falstaff in Player Kings. (His official website has an exhaustive list of his stage roles; bless him, the site is something of a design relic, but it does harbor some great gems, such as a 1969 recording of McKellen playing the title role in Richard II.*) Though his film credits are profuse, McKellen didn’t really break out until the 1995 adaptation of another Shakespeare title, Richard III, where he again played the titular character.