Ian Mckellen Biography Sir Ian Murray McKellen CH CBE (born 25 May 1939) is an English actor. With almost sixty years of experience, he is well-known for his roles on cinema and stage in a variety of genres ranging from Shakespearean tragedies and current theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction. He is considered as a cultural icon in Britain, and Queen Elizabeth II knighted him in 1991. He has garnered numerous awards, including a Tony, six Oliviers, and a Golden Globe, as well as nominations for two Academy Awards, five BAFTA Awards, and five Emmys. McKellen made his stage debut as a member of the Belgrade Theatre’s repertory company in 1961, and his first appearance in the West End came in 1965.
Ian Mckellen Biography 2025
Ian Murray McKellen was born on May 25, 1939 in Burnley, Lancashire, England, to Margery Lois (Sutcliffe) and Denis Murray McKellen, a civil engineer and lay preacher. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest stage and screen actors in his native Great Britain and internationally, having been nominated for an Oscar twice and receiving every major theatrical award in the UK and US. He is of Scots, Northern Irish, and English heritage. During his early youth, his parents relocated Ian and his older sister, Jean, to Wigan, a mill town. Young Ian spent his time during World War II in this little town. His parents pushed him to pursue his interest in acting and the theatre. They would take him to plays, especially those by William Shakespeare, and the amateur school productions fueled Ian’s burgeoning interest in theatre.
Ian Mckellen Biography 2025 Details
| Born |
Ian Murray McKellen
25 May 1939 (age 85)
Burnley, Lancashire, England
|
| Education |
St Catharine’s College, Cambridge (BA) |
| Occupation |
Actor |
| Years active |
1958–present |
| Partners |
- Brian Taylor (1964–1972)
- Sean Mathias (1978–1988)
|
| Awards |
Full list |
| Category |
Singers Bio |
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Ian Mckellen
Sir Ian Murray McKellen CH CBE is an English actor. With a career spanning more than sixty years, he is noted for his roles on the screen and stage in genres ranging from Shakespearean dramas and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction.
Born: 25 May 1939 (age 85 years), Burnley, United Kingdom
Plays: Ian McKellen On Stage: With Tolkien, Shakespeare, Others …And You!
Height: 1.8 m
Parents: Denis Murray McKellen, Margery Lois Sutcliffe
Siblings: Jean McKellen
Awards: Full list
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Profile
- Full Name: Sir Ian Murray McKellen
- Date of Birth: May 25, 1939
- Age: 85 years old
- Gender: Male
- Place of Birth: Burnley, Lancashire, England
- Nationality: British
- Profession: Actor
- Height: 1.8 m
- Parents: Margery Lois and Denis Murray McKellen
- Siblings: Jean McKellen (sister)
- Relationship Status: N/A
- Spouse: N/A
- Children: N/A
- Net Worth: $5 million
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Early life and education
McKellen was born in Burnley, Lancashire, on May 25, 1939, as the son of Margery Lois (née Sutcliffe) and Denis Murray McKellen. He was their second kid, and he had a sister named Jean who was five years older. His family relocated to Wigan shortly before the onset of World War II, in September 1939. They remained there until Ian was twelve before moving to Bolton in 1951, when his father was promoted. Living through the war as a young child had a lasting impression on him, and he subsequently stated that “only after peace resumed… did I realise that war wasn’t normal”.
McKellen’s father, a civil engineer and lay preacher, was of Protestant Irish and Scottish ancestry. McKellen’s two grandfathers were preachers, and his great-great-grandfather, James McKellen, was a “strict, evangelical Protestant minister” in Ballymena, County Antrim. His upbringing was predominantly Christian, but not strictly orthodox. “My upbringing was of low nonconformist Christians who felt that you led the Christian life in part by behaving in a Christian manner to everybody you met” .
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Career
McKellen made his first professional performance as Roper in A Man for All Seasons at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry in 1961, despite the fact that an audio recording of the Marlowe Society’s Cymbeline was commercially available as part of the Argo Shakespeare series. McKellen’s first West End appearance, in A Scent of Flowers, was considered as a “notable success” after four years in provincial repertory theatres. In 1965, he joined Laurence Olivier’s National Theatre Company at the Old Vic, which led to jobs at the Chichester Festival and elsewhere. McKellen had his breakthrough performances of Shakespeare’s Richard II (directed by Richard Cottrell) and Christopher Marlowe’s Edward II (directed by Toby Robertson) with the Prospect Theatre Company at the Edinburgh Festival in 1969.
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Personal life
McKellen’s first romance began in 1964 with Brian Taylor, a history teacher from Bolton. Their romance lasted eight years, coming to an end in 1972. McKellen continued to pursue his acting career when they lived on Earls Terrace in Kensington, London. Sean Mathias, his second collaborator, and he met at the Edinburgh Festival in 1978. This relationship lasted until 1988, and Mathias describes it as turbulent, with disagreements over McKellen’s acting success vs Mathias’ slightly less successful career. The two remained friends, and Mathias went on to direct McKellen in Waiting for Godot at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in 2009. The couple formed a business partnership with Evgeny Lebedev and bought the lease for The Grapes public house on Narrow Street.
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What is Ian McKellen’s Net Worth and Salary
Sir Ian McKellen, an English actor, has a net worth of $60 million. Ian McKellen is unquestionably one of history’s most accomplished performers, and he has become a true entertainment legend. Throughout his career, Ian has received numerous well-deserved prizes. Sir Ian has won every British acting award that exists. McKellen has a great reputation as a brilliant stage actor, although he is best known for his roles in popular films. Fans of the “Lord of the Rings” films will remember him as the actor who played Gandalf, while fans of the X-Men films would identify him as the man who played Magneto.
