Ian Mckellen:
Is an English actor
Birth Name: Ian Murray Mckellen

Born: May 25, 1939 (age 76), Burnley, United Kingdom 

became an acclaimed thespian of the British stage with his performances in such works as Edward II. He also became a popular film actor, earning an Oscar nomination for his role in Gods and Monsters. The venerable actor has since cemented his iconic status by starring as Magneto in the X-Men films and Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings franchise.

Early Life:

McKellen attended the Bolton School -- of which he remains a supporter -- and his acting career began at Bolton Little Theatre. His parents and sister encouraged his early interest in acting, taking him to many theatrical productions, including Shakespearean plays.
In addition to his interest in acting, McKellen was a strong student. At the age of 18, he won a scholarship to study at the University of Cambridge's St. Catharine's College, where he befriended actor Derek Jacobi.

Acting Career:

He has three Shakespearean roles in common with Laurence Olivier: (1) Olivier played Hamlet in Hamlet (1948) while McKellen played him in Hamlet (1970), (2) Olivier played King Richard III in Ricardo III (1955) while McKellen played him in Ricardo III (1995) and (3) Olivier played King Lear in King Lear (1983) while McKellen played him in King Lear (2008), McKellen played Macbeth in A Performance of Macbeth (1979). Has appeared with Bruce Davison in four different films: Seis grados de separación (1993), El aprendiz (1998), and the same year he appeared in the film, Dioses y monstruos.

Appearing in such productions as Henry IV and Doctor Faustus. In 1961, he appeared in his first professional production, A Man for All Seasons. McKellen moved from regional repertory theaters to the West End, earning acclaim for the wide range of his performances. Also a commanding film actor, McKellen became widely recognized for his work on the silver screen in the 1990s, following several roles in Hollywood and television projects. In 1993, McKellen played a supporting role as a South African tycoon in Six Degrees of Separation. The same year, he appeared in the television movie And the Band Played On, about the AIDS epidemic, for which he garnered an Emmy Award nomination, also starred in the major studio film Apt Pupil, based on a Stephen King novel.

In 2000, he starred in the first of several X-Men movies as the villain Magneto, and also he has made six films with Hugh Jackman: X-Men (2000), X-Men 2 (2003), X-Men - La batalla final (2006), Lo que el agua se llevó (2006), Wolverine: Inmortal (2013) and X-Men: Días del futuro pasado (2014).  In 2006, then he appeared in the film adaptation of the best-selling book The Da Vinci Code. Then mcKellen was cast as the wizard Gandalf in Peter Jackson's trilogy The Lord of the Rings, for his work in the film series, he received the Screen Actors Guild Award for best supporting actor, as well as an Academy Award nomination:  El señor de los anillos: La comunidad del anillo (2001), El señor de los anillos: Las dos torres (2002), El señor de los anillos: El retorno del rey (2003), El Hobbit: Un viaje inesperado (2012), El Hobbit: La desolación de Smaug (2013) and El Hobbit: La batalla de los cinco ejércitos (2014).

In 2013, McKellen reunited with his old friend Jacobi on the British sitcom Vicious. Two years later, he brought his trademark gravitas to the big screen to play literature's most famous detective in Mr. Holmes.

Theatre:

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 appeared in a very popular revival of Waiting for Godot at London's Haymarket Theatre, directed by Sean Mathias, and playing opposite Patrick Stewart. He is Patron of English Touring Theatre and also President and Patron of the Little Theatre Guild of Great Britain, an association of amateur theatre organisations throughout the UK. In late August 2012, he took part in the opening ceremony of the London Paralympics, portraying Prospero from The Tempest. 

Was a member of the Marlowe Society, appearing in Henry IV (as Shallow) alongside Trevor Nunn and Derek Jacobi (March 1959), Cymbeline (as Posthumus, opposite Margaret Drabble as Imogen) and Doctor Faustus.  His first professional appearance was in 1961 at the Belgrade Theatre, 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.


Personal Life:

McKellen and his first partner, Brian Taylor, a history teacher from Bolton, began their relationship in 1964. Their relationship lasted for eight years, ending in 1972. They lived in London, where McKellen continued to pursue his career as an actor. For over a decade, he has lived in a five-storey Victorian conversion in Narrow Street, Limehouse.In 1978 he met his second partner, Sean Mathias, at the Edinburgh Festival. This relationship lasted until 1988. According to Mathias, the ten-year love affair was tempestuous, with conflicts over McKellen's success in acting versus Mathias's somewhat less-successful career. Mathias later directed McKellen in Waiting For Godot at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in 2009. The pair entered into a business partnership with Evgenyev, purchasing the lease on The Grapes public house in Narrow Street.