1965–1985: National Theatre acclaim (Constanze Mozart) in
Amadeus, c. 1981 McKellen made his first professional appearance in 1961 at the
Belgrade Theatre in
Coventry, as Roper in
A Man for All Seasons, although an audio recording of the Marlowe Society's
Cymbeline had gone on commercial sale as part of the
Argo Shakespeare series. One of his first major roles on television was as the title character in
the BBC's 1966 adaptation of
David Copperfield, which achieved 12 million viewers on its initial airings. After some rebroadcasting in the late 60s, the master videotapes for the serial were
wiped, and only four scattered episodes (3, 8, 9 and 11) survive as
telerecordings, three of which feature McKellen as adult David. McKellen had taken film roles throughout his career—beginning in 1969 with his role of George Matthews in
A Touch of Love, and his first leading role was in 1980 as
D. H. Lawrence in
Priest of Love, but it was not until the 1990s that he became more widely recognised in this medium after several roles in blockbuster Hollywood films. For his performance, McKellen received the
Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play. In 1981, McKellen portrayed writer and poet
D. H. Lawrence in the
Christopher Miles directed biographical film,
Priest of Love. He followed up with
Michael Mann's horror film
The Keep (1983). In 1985, he starred in
Plenty, the film adaptation of the
David Hare play of the same name. The film was directed by
Fred Schepisi and starred
Meryl Streep,
Charles Dance,
John Gielgud, and
Sting. The film spans nearly 20 years from the early 1940s to the 1960s, around an Englishwoman's experiences as a fighter for the
French Resistance during
World War II when she has a one-night stand with a British intelligence agent. The film received mixed reviews with
Roger Ebert of
The Chicago Sun-Times praising the film's ensemble cast writing, "The performances in the movie supply one brilliant solo after another; most of the big moments come as characters dominate the scenes they are in".
1986–2000: Established actor In 1986, he returned to Broadway in the revival of
Anton Chekhov's first play
Wild Honey alongside
Kim Cattrall and
Kate Burton. The play concerned a local Russian schoolteacher who struggles to remain faithful to his wife, despite the attention of three other women. McKellen received mixed reviews from critics in particular
Frank Rich of
The New York Times who praised him for his "bravura and athletically graceful technique that provides everything except, perhaps, the thing that matters most—sustained laughter". He later wrote, "Mr. McKellen finds himself in the peculiar predicament of the star who strains to carry a frail supporting cast". In 1989 he played
Iago in production of
Othello by the
Royal Shakespeare Company. McKellen starred in the British drama
Scandal (1989) a fictionalised account of the
Profumo affair that rocked the government of British prime minister
Harold Macmillan. McKellen portrayed
John Profumo. The film starred
Joanne Whalley, and
John Hurt. The film premiered at the
1989 Cannes Film Festival and competed for the
Palme d'Or. When his friend and colleague,
Patrick Stewart, decided to accept the role of
Captain Jean-Luc Picard in the American television series,
Star Trek: The Next Generation, McKellen strongly advised him not to throw away his respected theatrical career to work in television. However, McKellen later conceded that Stewart had been prudent in accepting the role, which made him a global star and later followed his example such as co-starring with Stewart in the
X-Men superhero film series. From 1990 to 1992, he acted in a world tour of a lauded revival of
Richard III, playing the
title character. The production played at the
Brooklyn Academy of Music for two weeks before continuing its tour where Frank Rich of
New York Times was able to review it. In his piece, he praised McKellen's performance writing, "Mr McKellen's highly sophisticated sense of theatre and fun drives him to reveal the secrets of how he pulls his victims' strings whether he is addressing the audience in a soliloquy or not". For his performance he received the
Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor. In 1992, he acted in
Pam Gems's revival of Chekov's
Uncle Vanya at the
Royal National Theatre alongside
Antony Sher, and
Janet McTeer. In 1993, he starred in the film
Six Degrees of Separation based on the
Pulitzer Prize and
Tony Award nominated
play of the same name. McKellen starred alongside
Will Smith,
Donald Sutherland and
Stockard Channing. The film was a critical success. That same year, he appeared in the western
The Ballad of Little Jo opposite
Bob Hoskins and the action comedy
Last Action Hero starring
Arnold Schwarzenegger. The following year, he appeared in the superhero film
The Shadow with
Alec Baldwin and the
James L. Brooks directed comedy ''
I'll Do Anything'' starring
Nick Nolte. In 1995, McKellen made his screenwriting debut with
Richard III, an ambitious adaptation of
William Shakespeare's
play of the same name, directed by
Richard Loncraine. The film reimagines the play's story and characters to a setting based on 1930s Britain, with Richard depicted as a fascist plotting to usurp the throne. McKellen stars in the title role alongside an ensemble cast including
Annette Bening,
Robert Downey Jr.,
Jim Broadbent,
Kristen Scott Thomas,
Nigel Hawthorne and
Maggie Smith. As executive producer he returned his £50,000 fee to complete the filming of the final battle. In his review of the film,
The Washington Post film critic Hal Hinson called McKellen's performance a "lethally flamboyant incarnation" and said his "florid mastery ... dominates everything". Film critic
Roger Ebert of the
Chicago Sun-Times praised McKellen's adaptation and his performance in his four star review writing, "McKellen has a deep sympathy for the playwright ... Here he brings to Shakespeare's most tortured villain a malevolence we are moved to pity. No man should be so evil, and know it. Hitler and others were more evil, but denied out to themselves. There is no escape for Richard. He is one of the first self-aware characters in the theatre, and for that distinction he must pay the price". His performance in the title role garnered
BAFTA and
Golden Globe nominations for Best Actor and won the
European Film Award for Best Actor. His screenplay was nominated for the
BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. That same year, he appeared in the historical drama
Restoration (1995) also starring Downey Jr., as well as
Meg Ryan,
Hugh Grant, and
David Thewlis. He appeared in the British romantic comedy
Jack and Sarah (1995) starring
Richard E. Grant,
Samantha Mathis, and
Judi Dench. In 1993, he appeared in minor roles in the television
miniseries Tales of the City, based on the novel by his friend
Armistead Maupin. Later that year, McKellen appeared in the
HBO television film
And the Band Played On based on the
acclaimed novel of the same name about the discovery of
HIV. For his performance as
gay rights activist Bill Kraus, McKellen received the
CableACE Award for Supporting Actor in a Movie or Miniseries and was nominated for the
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie. From 1993 to 1997 McKellen toured in a one-man show entitled,
A Knights Out, about coming out as a gay man. Laurie Winer from
The Los Angeles Times wrote, "Even if he is preaching to the converted, McKellen makes us aware of the vast and powerful intolerance outside the comfortable walls of the theatre. Endowed with a rare technique, he is a natural storyteller, an admirable human being and a hands-on activist". From 1997 to 1998, he starred as Dr. Tomas Stockmann in a revival of
Henrik Ibsen's
An Enemy of the People. Later that year he played Garry Essendine in the
Noël Coward comedy
Present Laughter at the
West Yorkshire Playhouse. In 1998, he appeared in the modestly acclaimed psychological thriller
Apt Pupil, which was directed by
Bryan Singer and based on a story by
Stephen King. McKellen portrayed a fugitive
Nazi officer living under a
false name in the US who is befriended by a curious teenager (
Brad Renfro) who threatens to expose him unless he tells his story in detail. That same year, he played
James Whale, the director of
Frankenstein in the
Bill Condon directed period drama
Gods and Monsters, a role for which he was subsequently nominated for the
Academy Award for Best Actor, losing it to
Roberto Benigni in
Life is Beautiful (1998). The following year he starred as
Tsar Nicholas II in the
HBO made-for-television movie
Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny (1996) starring
Alan Rickman as
Rasputin. For his performance, McKellen earned a
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie nomination and received a
Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film win. McKellen appeared as Mr Creakle in the
BBC series
David Copperfield (1999) based on the
Charles Dickens classic novel. The miniseries starred a pre-
Harry Potter Daniel Radcliffe,
Bob Hoskins, and
Maggie Smith.
2000–2011: International stardom '' in
Wellington, 1 December 2003 In 1999, McKellen was cast, again under the direction of Bryan Singer, to play the comic book supervillain
Magneto in the 2000 film
X-Men and its sequels
X2: X-Men United (2003) and
X-Men: The Last Stand (2006). While filming the first
X-Men film in 1999, McKellen was cast as the
wizard Gandalf in
Peter Jackson's film trilogy adaptation of
The Lord of the Rings (consisting of
The Fellowship of the Ring,
The Two Towers, and
The Return of the King), released between 2001 and 2003. He won the
Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture for his work in
The Fellowship of the Ring and was nominated for the
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the same role. He provided the voice of Gandalf for several video game adaptations of the
Lord of the Rings films. McKellen returned to the Broadway stage in 2001 in an
August Strindberg play
The Dance of Death alongside
Helen Mirren and
David Strathairn at the
Broadhurst Theatre.
The New York Times Theatre critic
Ben Brantley praised McKellen's performance writing, "[McKellen] returns to Broadway to serve up an Elysian concoction we get to sample too little these days: a mixture of heroic stage presence, actorly intelligence, and rarefied theatrical technique". McKellen toured with the production at the
Lyric Theatre in London's West End and to the Sydney Art's Festival in Australia. On 16 March 2002, he hosted
Saturday Night Live. In 2002 McKellen appeared in a solo performance at the
Beverly Hills Canon Theatre, where he performed his personally written scene from a Shakespeare annex piece. In 2003 McKellen made a guest appearance as himself on the American cartoon show
The Simpsons in a special British-themed episode entitled "
The Regina Monologues", along with the then UK Prime Minister
Tony Blair and author
J. K. Rowling. In April and May 2005, he played the role of
Mel Hutchwright in
Granada Television's long-running British soap opera,
Coronation Street, fulfilling a lifelong ambition, where in 2015 he was gifted a
cobble from the
soap's exterior set for his seventy-sixth birthday. He narrated
Richard Bell's film
Eighteen as a grandfather who leaves his World War II memoirs on audio-cassette for his teenage grandson. at the
60th British Academy Film Awards in 2007 He has appeared in limited release films, such as
Emile (which was shot in three weeks following the
X2 shoot),
Neverwas and
Asylum. In 2006, he appeared as Sir Leigh Teabing in
The Da Vinci Code opposite
Tom Hanks as
Robert Langdon. During a 17 May 2006 interview on
The Today Show with the
Da Vinci Code cast and director
Ron Howard,
Matt Lauer posed a question to the group about how they would have felt if the film had borne a prominent disclaimer that it is a work of fiction, as some religious groups wanted. McKellen appeared in the 2006 BBC series of
Ricky Gervais's comedy series
Extras, where he played himself directing Gervais's character
Andy Millman in a play about gay lovers. McKellen received a 2007
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor – Comedy Series nomination for his performance. In 2007, McKellen narrated the romantic fantasy adventure film
Stardust starring
Charlie Cox and
Claire Danes, which was a critical and financial success. That same year, he lent his voice to the armoured bear
Iorek Byrnison in the
Chris Weitz-directed fantasy film
The Golden Compass based on the acclaimed
Philip Pullman novel
Northern Lights and starred
Nicole Kidman and
Daniel Craig. The film received mixed reviews but was a financial success. In 2007, he returned to the
Royal Shakespeare Company, in productions of
King Lear and
The Seagull, both directed by
Trevor Nunn. In 2009 he portrayed Number Two in
The Prisoner, a remake of the 1967 cult series
The Prisoner. In 2009, he appeared in a very popular revival of
Waiting for Godot at London's
Haymarket Theatre, directed by
Sean Mathias, and playing opposite
Patrick Stewart. From 2013 to 2014, McKellen and Stewart starred in a double production of
Samuel Beckett's
Waiting for Godot and
Harold Pinter's ''
No Man's Land on Broadway at the Cort Theatre. Variety theatre critic Marilyn Stasio praised the dual production writing, "McKellen and Stewart find plenty of consoling comedy in two masterpieces of existential despair". In both productions of Stasio claims, "the two thespians play the parts they were meant to play". In late August 2012, he took part in the opening ceremony of the London Paralympics, portraying Prospero from The Tempest''.
Since 2012: Career expansion and
Patrick Stewart promoting
Waiting for Godot and ''
No Man's Land'' (2013) McKellen reprised the role of Gandalf on screen in Peter Jackson's three-part film adaptation of
The Hobbit starting with
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012), followed by
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013), and finally
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014). Despite the series receiving mixed reviews, it emerged as a financial success. McKellen reprised his role as Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto in
James Mangold's
The Wolverine (2013), and Singer's
X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014). In November 2013, McKellen appeared in the
Doctor Who 50th anniversary comedy homage
The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot. From 2013 to 2016, McKellen co-starred in the
ITV sitcom
Vicious as Freddie Thornhill, alongside
Derek Jacobi. The series revolves around an elderly gay couple who have been together for 50 years. The show's original title was "Vicious Old Queens". There are ongoing jokes about McKellen's career as a relatively unsuccessful character actor who owns a tux because he stole it after doing a guest spot on "Downton Abbey" and that he holds the title of "10th Most Popular 'Doctor Who' Villain". Liz Shannon Miller of
IndieWire noted that while the concept seemed "weird as hell", "Once you come to accept McKellen and Jacobi in a multi-camera format, there is a lot to respect about their performances; specifically, the way that those decades of classical training adapt themselves to the sitcom world. Much has been written before about how the tradition of the multi-cam, filmed in front of a studio audience, relates to theatre, and McKellen and Jacobi know how to play to a live crowd". In 2015, McKellen reunited with director Bill Condon playing an elderly
Sherlock Holmes in the mystery film
Mr. Holmes alongside
Laura Linney. In the film based on the novel
A Slight Trick of the Mind (2005), Holmes now 93, struggles to recall the details of his final case because his mind is slowly deteriorating. The film premiered at the
65th Berlin International Film Festival with McKellen receiving acclaim for his performance.
Rolling Stone film critic
Peter Travers praised his performance writing, "Don't think you can take another Hollywood version of Sherlock Holmes? Snap out of it. Apologies to Robert Downey Jr. and
Benedict Cumberbatch, but what Ian McKellen does with Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional detective in Mr Holmes is nothing short of magnificent ... Director Bill Condon, who teamed superbly with McKellen on the Oscar-winning Gods and Monsters, brings us a riveting character study of a lion not going gentle into winter". In October 2015, McKellen appeared as Norman to
Anthony Hopkins's Sir in a
BBC Two production of
Ronald Harwood's
The Dresser, alongside
Edward Fox,
Vanessa Kirby, and
Emily Watson. Television critic Tim Goodman of
The Hollywood Reporter praised the film and the central performances writing, "there's no escaping that Hopkins and McKellen are the central figures here, giving wonderfully nuanced performances, onscreen together for their first time in their acclaimed careers". For his performance McKellen received a
British Academy Television Award nomination for his performance. In 2017, McKellen portrayed in a supporting role as
Cogsworth (originally voiced by
David Ogden Stiers in the
1991 animated film) in the live-action adaptation of
Disney's
Beauty and the Beast, directed by Bill Condon (which marked the third collaboration between Condon and McKellen, after
Gods and Monsters and
Mr. Holmes) and co-starred alongside
Emma Watson and
Dan Stevens. The film was released to positive reviews and grossed $1.2billion worldwide, making it the highest-grossing live-action musical film, the
second highest-grossing film of 2017, and the
17th highest-grossing film of all time. In 2017, McKellen appeared in the documentary
McKellen: Playing the Part, directed by director Joe Stephenson. The documentary explores McKellen's life and career as an actor. In October 2017, McKellen played
King Lear at the
Chichester Festival Theatre, a role that he said was likely to be his "last big Shakespearean part". He performed the play at the
Duke of York's Theatre in London's West End during the summer of 2018. McKellen voiced Dr. Cecil Pritchfield the
child psychiatrist for
Stewie Griffin in the
Family Guy episode "
Send in Stewie, Please" in 2018. He appeared in
Kenneth Branagh's historical drama
All is True (2018) portraying
Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton, opposite Branagh and Judi Dench.
Peter Bradshaw of
The Guardian wrote that Judi Dench and he "offer solid support" and added that his role is a "colossal, emphatically wigged cameo". To celebrate his 80th birthday, in 2019 McKellen performed in a one-man stage show titled
Ian McKellen on Stage: With Tolkien, Shakespeare, Others and YOU celebrating the various performances throughout his career. The show toured across the UK and Ireland (raising money for each venue and organisation's charity) before a
West End run at the
Harold Pinter Theatre and was performed for one night only on
Broadway at the
Hudson Theatre. In 2019, he reunited with Condon for a fourth time in the mystery thriller
The Good Liar opposite
Helen Mirren, who received praise for their onscreen chemistry. That same year, he appeared as
Gus the Theatre Cat in the movie musical adaptation of
Cats directed by
Tom Hooper. The film featured performances from
Jennifer Hudson,
James Corden,
Rebel Wilson,
Idris Elba, and Judi Dench. The film was widely panned for its poor visual effects, editing, performances, screenplay, and was a
box office disaster. In 2021, he played the title role in an age-blind production of
Hamlet (having previously played the part in a UK and European tour in 1971), followed by the role of Firs in Chekov's
The Cherry Orchard at the
Theatre Royal, Windsor. Since November 2021, McKellen and ABBA member
Björn Ulvaeus have posted
Instagram videos featuring the pair
knitting Christmas jumpers and other festive attire. In 2023, it was revealed that Ulvaeus and McKellen would be knitting stagewear for Kylie Minogue as part of her
More Than Just a Residency concert residency at Voltaire at
The Venetian Las Vegas. In 2023, he starred in the period thriller
The Critic directed by
Anand Tucker. The film is written by
Patrick Marber adapted off the 2015 novel
Curtain Call by Anthony Quinn. The film premiered at the
2023 Toronto International Film Festival. In April 2024, McKellen starred as
John Falstaff in
Player Kings (an adaptation of
Shakespeare's Henry IV Parts 1 and 2) opposite
Richard Coyle and
Toheeb Jimoh at the
Noël Coward Theatre in
London's West End and received rave reviews (following runs at
New Wimbledon Theatre and
Manchester Opera House). The production was scheduled to run until 22 June before touring to
Bristol, Birmingham,
Norwich and
Newcastle upon Tyne, however during the performance on 17 June, McKellen fell off the front of the stage during a fight scene and called for assistance; the performance was cancelled and the audience dismissed. He was later reported to have recovered and to be "in good spirits." He subsequently pulled out of the remaining West End and tour performances on medical advice. The 2025 Christmas pantomime at the
Pleasance Theatre, Islington, features a
cameo appearance on video of McKellen as the dog
Toto in
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz-lington, a show derived from
Wicked and
The Wizard of Oz. McKellen is set to reprise his role as Magneto in
Avengers: Doomsday (2026). He is also attached to return as Gandalf in the
Andy Serkis directed
The Hunt for Gollum (2027). ==Personal life==