Sir Ian's life Story

Ian Murray Mckellen was born on May 25th 1939 in the wonderful Burnley, Lancashire (Wohoo!), to parents father, Denis Murray, a civil engineer, and mother, Margery Lois. His primary school was Wigan Primary and then he went on the the renowned (well, it is here anyway) Bolton School, of which he became head boy. He took part in many school plays, then he obtained a scholorship to study English in St. Catherine's College, Cambridge.
His professional acting debut was in 1961, when he was the tender age of 22! This took place at the Belgrave Theatre, Coventry. But his London acting Debut was in 1964 in "A Scent of Flowers" at the Duke of York's.
In 1972 he he founded the "Actors Company" with Edward Petherbridge, and this lead to him performing in the Royal Shakespeare company in 1974. The first of many. He became well known and he even received the Olivier Award five times. Now that's pretty good, I can tell you!
Before this time, he was only acting on stage. His first film starring role was in "Priest of Love" in 1981, as D.H Lawrence. Also in this year he won Broadway's Tony Award for his role in "Amadeus" (one of my favourite films) as Salieri.
In 1988, he publicly announced he was gay when he joined the Arts Lobby against section 28. He then co-founded Stonewall. He has been a an activist for gay rights ever since, taking part in events all over the world.
And he officialy became Sir Ian Mckellen at his knighthood in 1989. Very well deserved may I add.

He is not only an actor!
He wrote "Before, Now and In Between" in the 1994 collection of essays "Stonewall 25"; he is listed as one of the top gay heroes; and in 1998 he was awarded an honourary degree from Leeds Metropolitan University.

Sir Ian Mckellen became known and loved to a whole new generation of fans through his portrayal of Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings trilogy and Magneto in the X-men films!