Sir Ben Kingsley British actor/musician, born in December 1943 in Snainton, North Riding of Yorkshire. Kingsley is the son of a doctor Rahinthulla Harji Bhanji, and a famous actress as well as model Anna Lynna Mary. Ben Kingsley, In his 50 years of a movie career, he has played over 88 movies. Consequently, scoring one Oscar’s, one Gammy, one BAFTA, two golden globes, and a screen actor guild awards. Until now he is successful to grab 44 awards and nominated for 69 others.
Kinsley is famous for his performance as Mohandas Gandhi in the 1982 movie ‘Gandhi’; the hero of the Indian Independence movement. The movie ‘Gandhi’ helped him land the Academy Award for the best actor.
Other critically acclaimed Ben Kinsley’s movies are ‘Bugsy,’ ‘Schindler’s List,’ ‘House of Sand and Fog,’ ‘Hugo,’ ‘Iron man 3’, ‘Shutter Island,’ ‘Sexy Beach’ and many more.
Physical Appearance
Ben Kingsley is 74 years old, 5 foot 8 inch (1.73m) tall.
Networth
Sir Ben Kingsley makes approx. $ 48,484,000 annually. And the total net worth of Ben Kingsley is $60 million.
Star Sign
Ben’s star sign is ‘Capricorn’.
Social Media
Kingsley’s got 7.5k followers on Facebook and 1.2k followers on Twitter. Ben Kingsley is quite active on Facebook and Twitter. However, he doesn’t have an Instagram account.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/benkingsley?lang=en
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Sir-Ben-Kingsley-34770348640/
Early Life
Ben Kingsley Born on December 31, 1943, at Snainton, North Riding of Yorkshire, England, Named Krishna Pandit Bhanji. He was born on a well off family to Mother, Anna Lynna Mary (1914-2010), and father Rahinthulla Harji Bhanji(1914-1968).
His mother was a famous Model and Actress, active in the field of films in the 1920s and 1930s. While his father was a Kenyan born Doctor of Gujarati Descent. His paternal grandfather moved from India to Zanzibar in the process of business.
Kingsley’s mother was born out of wedlock and is assumed to be of Jew heritage while his father moved to Britain for education at the early age of 14. Ben stated that his parents were not very good at parenting. However, Ben also stated that his mother and father mocked him for his lack of studies and were never supportive. Even more, saying his mother didn’t like his acting till the time she died (2010).
Even though Kinsley was born in Sinton, he grew up in Pendlebury, near Manchester, and attended Manchester Grammar School. There he had a classmate named Robert Powell a big name in the acting sector as Kinsley himself.
Career
Kingsley began acting as a teenager while simultaneously developing his talent in the field of Music and Vocals. He wrote the music, sang, played guitar in his stage debut as a narrator in “A Smashing Boy” (1966). At the same time, The Beatle’s manager, John Lennon and Ringo Star advised him to enter the field of Music.
Furthermore, Dick James, a famous music producer noticed him and offered him the chance to record music as Guitarist/Singer. Instead, he chose to continue his career in acting. Ben Kingsley performed in Amateur Theatrical productions in Manchester, England, before joining Royal Shakespeare Company in 1967.
Ben’s staging career began with RSC, where he did all his hard work, training, and performances for the 15 years. Kingsley debuted on Broadway with his company in 1971. He performed as Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 1971 for the US audiences. In 1975, Ben appeared as Hamlet in Hamlet. Also, as Mosca in 1977 at the Royal National Theatre on the production of Peter Hall.
Kingsley officially made his big-screen debut in 1972 with the Alistair MacLean’s thriller ‘Fear is the Key’. The movie featured on the British TV program. However, At the same time, Ben Kingsley changed his original name from Krishna Pandit Bhanji to Ben Kingsley. He did this change in the fear that having a foreign name could hamper his movie career.
In 1982, Ben returned to a movie career. Actor and director Richard Attenbourg gave Kingsley the challenging and hard job of playing as Mohandas Ghandi in his movie. For ‘Gandhi’ movie, Kingsley outdid extensive research about Ghandi, even adapting his lifestyle, a vegetarian diet, and doing yoga. As a result, this turned out to be the reason which made Ghandi a box office hit. Also, making the performance of Ben Kingsley acclaimed and loved by both critics and moviegoers alike.
His resemblance to Ghandi was something that helped 39 years old actor with Academy Award for Best Acting. The performance still is one of the most acclaimed characterizations of Kingsley. It was quite an achievement, as he was able to land his first academy award on his second big-screen film. Most importantly, his career blasted off after this movie. Even more, he appeared in many big and future hall of fame movies, which set him on a top bar. Also, Ben Kingsley appeared in several European films after “Ghandi.”
Ben Kingsley is one of the most versatile actors around. From Comedy roles to dark and depressing roles and from the roles of the protagonist to the antagonist, he has done it all and gained critics and viewers respect and love for all the types of characters.
Hollywood especially loves Ben Kingsley as a British villain, the role we have seen him too frequently in. From a Nazi war Criminal to Jewish Holocaust Survivor, From a quite British bookshop owner to a mysterious watchmaker to the Indian Hero of independence, Ben Kingsley has lived it all.
Being on all these highly rated movies, it may seem that Kingsley is already in many movies loved by people of different ages, sex and can be seen in classic and modern thrillers too. His performance has been acclaimed by critics to give life to the historical characters he plays. Ben Kingsley has performed as an Indian, British< American, Polish, German, and many more nationality, but he fits right into his role, which shows just how high his acting is.
Films And Television
In 1983 he appeared in an adaptation of Harold Pinter’s “Betrayal” alongside co-star Jeremy Irons in 1987. Also, on James Ivory’s “Maurice” as a supporting actor, making his Broadway return on “Edmund Kean” (1984). He finally made his Hollywood debut in 1988 in the movie “Without a Clue.”
Ben Kingsley appeared on critically acclaimed HBO feature biopic “Murderer’s among us: The Simon Wiesenthal Story” as the title character. Critics and movie lovers loved his performance as a Holocaust survivor soughing to have his revenge on Nazis. His performance as Jewish Gangster, Mayer Lansky in Warren Beatty’s “Bugsy” (1991) earned him his second academy award.
Furthermore, Kingsley also appeared in villainous performance as Cosmo in the thriller “Sneakers” (1992), as US vice president on comedy-drama/ Romance “Dave”. He also took the role of a child chess prodigy Josh Waitzkin played by the child actor Max Pomeranc’s chess coach Bruce on “Searching for Bobby Fischer” (1993).
Even more, his excellent performances were on Stephen Spielberg’s Award-winning, critically acclaimed black and white Holocaust movie “The Schindler’s List,” which saw Kingsley as the trusted Jew Friend, Itzhak Steven of the savior of many holocaust victims, Oskar Schindler played by the acting legend Liam Neeson. This was the best performance by Kingsley after his role in “Ghandi”. Everyone praised for his successful depiction of complicated characters of uncommon dignity and historical significance.
Kingsley also performed on highly rated “Death and the Maiden” (1994) as the victim of the paranoia of Paulina Escobar, played by Sigourney Weaver. He again appeared on Sci-fi thriller “Species” (1995) as government Scientist Xavier Fitch, Spy-drama “The Assignment” (1997) as Mossad operative Amos, alien-comedy “Which Planet are you from?” (2000) As Graydon and the Military thriller, “Rules of Engagement” (2000) alongside the star-filled cast with the likes of Samuel L. Jackson, Tommy Lee Jones, Guy Pearce as Ambassador Mourain.
He is still very active on Modern Movies appearing on High Budget movies like “The Last Legion” (2007) as Merlin , “The Wackness” (2008) co-starring Josh Peck as a therapist, Dr. Squires , “Journey to Mecca” (2008) alongside Chems Eddine Zinoune and Hassam Ghancy, “Prince of Persia: Sand of Times” (2010) as Nizam alongside the lead role played by Jake Gyllenhal and Gemma Arterton. He appeared as the doctor of Mental health, Dr. John Cawley treating Teddy Daniels in the 2010 Thriller/ Drama movie “Shutter Island” a film with a stunning storyline and cinematography, he was co-starring alongside Hollywood’s big guns Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo.
Kingsley also performed as Film trailblazer George Melies known for flares like 1902’s “A trip to the moon”. Even more, in the Oscar-nominated and multiple award-winning charming family movie “Hugo” (2011). He finally made his Comic Debut on the2013 MCU movie “Iron Man 3” alongside Robert Downey Jr as the actor and terrorist impersonator Ben Kingsley, a funny and silly role that landed him awards and nominations.
The actor hit the big screens in 2014, as a Sikh Cabbie in the comedy/drama “Learning to Drive” with co’-stars Patricia Clarkson, a library agent whose husband left her. During the holiday’s he appeared on Ridley Scott’s Exodus: Gods and Kings which was a box office nightmare but had a very good cast with the likes of Christain Bale, Joel Edgerton, Aaron Paul, and John Turturro. Kingsley later returned to children’s book narrative depicting Bagheera in Jon Favreau’s 2016 Disney adaptation of “The Jungle Book” which earned more than 1 billion $ worldwide.
He also involved in many TV big-budget productions, working on TNT miniseries “Joshep “ (1995) co-starring Paul Mercurio (Joshep) as Potiphar, and “Moses” (1996) as the title character. On the drama/ musical “The Tale of Sweeny Todd” (1998) as the murderous English barber Sweeny Todd, also appearing in NBC movies Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment” (1998) starring Patric Dempsey and Julie Delpy as Porfiry ,and in 1999 Fantasy/ Adventure movie “Alice in Wonderland” (1999) as the caterpillar . In 2001 his outrageous and chilling performance on British Import “Sexy Beast” as the tightly wounded British Gangster Don Logan earned him rave reviews and critical acclaims along with the third Academy Award nomination.
He won an Emmy nod for his performance as Otto Frank on the ABC miniseries “Anne Frank” for the best supporting performance” He also narrated the Speilberg-diverted science fiction “A.I Artificial Intelligence” and also appeared on “The Triumph of Love” (2002) as Hermocrates. He appeared as the Iranian exiled colonel on “House of Sand and Fog,” a film adaptation of Andre Dubus III’s acclaimed novel, which earned him his fourth Oscar nomination.
In July 2006, Kingsley received an Emmy nomination for his portrayal of cardiologist Herman Tarnower as Jean Harris, on the TV-film “Mr. Harris”. Kingsley also appeared on “The Sopranos” as himself on the episode titled “ Luxury Lounge” he also later appeared on “You Can Kill Me,” a Mafia comedy film, as a Polish Mobster. He then appeared on the big screens as a notorious hitman on “War, Inc”.
Personal Life
Ben Kingsley married four times and has four children, including Ferdinand Kingsley, who’s also an actor. Kingsley has a son and a daughter, Thomas, and Jasmine, from his first wife, Angela Morant. He was in a relationship with her from 1966-1976. He also has two sons Edmund and Ferdinand from his second wife, Alison Sutcliffe, a British producer, with whom he was in a relationship from 1978-1992.
Even more, he married Alexandra Christmann as his third wife. He was in a relationship with her for just 15 months between 2003 and 2005. But the marriage broke when the photo of her kissing with another man became viral on the internet. He’s currently married to Daniela Lavender, a Brazilian actress working on different Brazilian movies and Tv shows. Kingsley and Daniela Lavender got married at a private ceremony.
Most importantly, he is widely criticized for his relationship with Daniela Lavender, who is half his age. After his 50 year career in the Movie industry, winning various awards, and playing roles in many box office hits, it is no surprise that the net worth of Ben Kinsley is $60 million.
Honour
Queen Elizabeth gave him the Knight Bachelor in 2002, December 31, for his services to the British Film Industries, which happen to be his 58th birthday. Ben Kingsley was pleased and excited about this knighthood while attracting some controversies surrounding this event. It was stated that Ben Kinsley acted like a total ass demanding to be called Sir. Ben Kingsley during the shooting of films and promotional events.
In 1984 he won Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word or Non-musical Recording for “The Words of Ghandi”. In 2010, he was given his own Hollywood walk of fame also in 2013 bagged the BAFTA Los Angeles Award for Worldwide Contribution to Filmed Entertainment which is one of the highest rewards an actor can get.
He has also been honored with the Indian “Padma Shree Award” by the Indian Government in 1984 for his stunning portrayal of Indian independence movement leader Gandhi in the Biopic movie “Gandhi,” which spread the name of Mohandas Ghandi even further through the film.
He was, funnily enough, Razzie nominated for the Worst Supporting Actor for his terrible and worst rated performance on BloodRayne (2005), which was the low point in his career. Still, he bounced back from it and won many awards after this performance.