British of Indian descent, Ben Kingsley is a versatile theater and film actor. Throughout his 40-year career, he has embodied both positive and negative images. The actor played historical figures, detectives, doctors, politicians, gangsters and many other characters. For his contribution to the art of cinema he was awarded the title of knight-bachelor.
Ben Kingsley biography
Ben Kingsley, née Krishna Pandit Bhanji, was born on New Year's Eve, December 31, 1943, in the small resort town of Snainton, between Scarborough and Pickering, in North Yorkshire, UK. The actor has an older brother who became a doctor.
The Bhanji family, from their father's side, owned their own plantations in Gujarat, India, and then moved to Africa. Krishna's father was raised in Kenya, but at the age of 14 he moved to London to attend Dulwich College. Choosing a medical faculty, the future father of Krishna became a therapist. There he met Anna Lina Mary Goodman, a beauty with Russian Jewish roots, who was a model and actress.
At the age of two, the family of the future actor left Yorkshire and moved to Salford, Greater Manchester, where the boy later attended a regular high school. The actor recalled that he really liked that school. Different guys studied there, but Krishna was lucky to become popular and the soul of the company. The boy's father was constantly busy with work and did not devote much time to his son.
The first film that Krishna Pandit saw in his life at the age of 5 was the touching drama "Little Miracle". A film about how a small orphan child goes to the Vatican with a sick donkey to see the Pope.
As a child, Krishna was very fond of singing, was a member of the school choir and composed his own musical compositions. He also had physics, chemistry and biology among his favorite subjects.
As he grew older, Krishna Pandit joined an acting group and began to study dramatic art. The father did not oppose the choice of his son. At the beginning of his career, Krishna Pandit changed his name to a pseudonym - Ben Kingsley.
Ben Kingsley's career
In 1967 Ben Kingsley joined the famous Royal Shakespeare Theater Company. Soon he began to receive leading roles in the classic works of the English playwright "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and "Hamlet". Throughout the 1970s, along with his film work, the actor worked permanently at the National Theater in Great Britain.
The very first work on television was the series "Coronation Street" in the 1960s.
The actor first appeared on the big screen in 1972, in the thriller Fear Unlocks the Doors.
Ben Kingsley's real success came after playing the role of the leader of the independent movement in India - Mahatma Gandhi in the 1981 film of the same name. The actor fit so perfectly into the biographical image that he was awarded the most honorable cinematic award - "Oscar". To embody the appearance of the famous politician on the screen, the actor revised his diet and took up yoga.
Throughout 40 years of his career, Ben Kingsley has played various roles and played in all known genres.
In 1982, he starred in the melodrama Treason, where he portrayed Robert, a book publisher who is cheating on his wife. In 1987, the actor took part in the adventure series The Secret of the Sahara. The following year, Ben Kingsley appeared as Dr. Watson, opposite Michael Caine in the comedy detective No Evidence.
The second time Ben Kingsley was nominated for an Oscar for Excellent Supporting Acting in the gangster film Bugsy, in 1991.
This was followed by the highly successful film "Schindler's List", dedicated to the biography of a Nazi party member who saved more than a thousand Jews during World War II.
In 2003, the drama House of Sand and Fog with Jennifer Connelly in the lead female role was released. Ben Kingsley played Colonel Massoud Amir Bernie, a goodie.
Kingsley starred in the crime thriller Lucky Number Slevin alongside Josh Hartnett, Bruce Willis, Lucy Liu and Morgan Freeman.
Ben Kingsley's most successful films over the past decade include:
- thriller "Island of the Damned" with Leonardo DiCaprio;
- Adventures "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time";
- family film "Keeper of Time";
- comedy "The Dictator";
- thriller "Abode of the Damned";
- science fiction "Outside / myself";
- historical series "Here";
- biographical dramas "Walk" and "Operation Finale".
Ben Kingsley's four marriages
The actor has been married four times.
The first marriage to Angela Morant took place in 1966, but broke up ten years later. The couple had a daughter, Jasmine, and a son, Thomas.
The second wife was Alison Suetcliffe, a theater director, who gave birth to two more sons to Ben Kingsley: Edmund and Ferdinand. Both became actors. Currently, Ben Kingsley admits that he is very happy with how their fate has developed.
The third wife was Alexandra Christmann, with whom the actor divorced in 2005 after the publication of paparazzi photographs of her kissing another man.
Finally, the fourth chosen one was Daniela Lavender, a Brazilian actress who is 30 years younger than Ben Kingsley. The actor has been with her since 2007.
Ben Kingley title
For his services and contributions to cinematography, Ben Kingsley was awarded the title of "Knight Bachelor" in 2002. The ceremony took place at Buckingham Palace and was hosted by Queen Elizabeth of Great Britain. Ben Kingsley admitted that he had already met the Queen earlier, but still this moment was one of the most exciting in his life.
The actor is very proud of his title, and allows himself to be addressed only as "Sir Ben". In some film credits, the actor is also referred to as "Sir Ben Kingsley".
