Sir Ian McKellen has been thrilling audiences for 40 years on both stage and screen, and has won more than 40 major international acting awards. For his performance as Gandalf the Grey in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring McKellen won a Screen Actors™ Guild Award as best supporting actor and was nominated for an Oscar. Since then he has starred on Broadway in Strindberg's Dance of Death and filmed X-Men 2 as, once again, Magneto, the Master of Magnetism. For the telefilm Rasputin, McKellen was nominated for an Emmy and won the Golden Globe Award.

Other recent films include Gods and Monsters (Academy Award nomination for Best Actor), Apt Pupil and Richard III (co-screenplay writer and executive producer). His many stage performances are legendary. He has acted in and produced classical and new plays for the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre in London and on tour. His solo shows, Acting Shakespeare and A Knight Out, have been acclaimed throughout the world.

Complete biography available on www.mckellen.com.