Ian McKellen was born on May 25, 1939 in Burnley, England. After studying at the University of Cambridge he kept on studying theater working for a few years for small theater companies. In 1964 he was invited to join the National Theatre Company.

Ian McKellen’s participation in the movie “Apt Pupil” was his first work with director Bryan Singer, with whom he kept on collaborating when he played for the first time the character of Magneto in “X-Men” (2000). The actor reprised the role in various movies of the following years again for Bryan Singer except in “X-Men: The Last Stand”, directed by Brett Ratner. In 2001 the first movie of “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy was released, in which the actor plays Gandalf, a role reprised in the following decade in “The Hobbit” trilogy, with both trilogies directed by Peter Jackson.

Today Ian McKellen is very well known to the general public thanks to his roles in highly successful sagas but his reputation has been remarkable for decades. His name is linked to productions at the moment in various stages so even if he’s no longer a boy we can still see him in new roles.