Kingsley was born KrishnaPandit Bhanji on 31 December 1943, in Snainton, North Riding of Yorkshire.[4][5][6] His mother, Anna Lyna Mary (née Goodman) (1914–2010), was an English actress and model, and she later gave birth to a second son called Sadru Bhanji, who later worked as a psychiatrist in Devon. She was born out of wedlock and "was loath to speak of her background".[7][8][9][10] His father, Rahimtulla Harji Bhanji (1914–1968), was born in Zanzibar (now part of Tanzania) to a family originating from the Indian city of Jamnagar, of KhojaGujarati descent.[11][12] Kingsley's paternal grandfather, Harji Bhanji, was a successful spice trader who had moved from India to the Sultanate of Zanzibar, where Kingsley's father lived until moving to the United Kingdom at the age of 14.[13][14][15] Kingsley's maternal grandfather was believed by the family to have been of Russian- or German-Jewish descent, while his maternal grandmother was English and worked in the garment district of London's East End.[16] Kingsley stated in 1994, "I'm not Jewish, and though there might be some Russian-Jewish heritage way back on my mother's side, the thread is so fine there's no real evidence."[17] In a 2016 interview, he indicated that his maternal grandmother was impregnated by a Russian-Jewish immigrant who later abandoned her, which led her to become a "vile anti-Semite."[18]
In 1996 he portrayed Feste in Twelfth Night, a film adaptation of the William Shakespeare play. Kingsley starred alongside Helena Bonham Carter, Nigel Hawthorne, and Richard E. Grant. In a mixed review, Todd McCarthy of Variety noted his performance as a highlight writing, "Ben Kingsley brings some nice readings to his rather mysterious role of Feste, the commentator on the convoluted proceedings."[35] The following film he provided a voice in the video game Ceremony of Innocence. In 1998, he was the head of the jury at the 48th Berlin International Film Festival and starred in the family film Spooky House, saying he had chosen a role in a lighter film after acting in roles that left him feeling traumatised.[36][37]
1999–present: Further success
Kingsley took on the role of Don Logan, a violent psychopath and recruiter for London's underworld, in Jonathan Glazer's Sexy Beast (2000), a psychologicalblack comedycrime film acting with Ray Winstone and Ian McShane.[38] Critic Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian praised his performance writing, "The role of Don Logan is perfectly suited to Ben Kingsley's gifts for control and stillness. There is something a little baroque and stylised about his approach - it is arguably a little actorly and unlike the behaviour of any real villain. But it is a very funny, intelligent performance nonetheless, beautifully scripted and acted, and Kingsley tops it off with a bravura show of pure sociopathic cunning".[39] Kingsley's role as Logan earned him another Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. A year later, he won a Crystal Globe award for having an outstanding artistic contribution to world cinema at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.[40] In 2003 he portrayed Colonel Massoud Amir Behrani in the Vadim Perelman directed House of Sand and Fog acting opposite Jennifer Connelly and Shohreh Aghdashloo. Critic Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly wrote of his performance, "Kingsley, carrying his body like armor, sculpting each line into a bitter dart of pride, plays fierceness with a powerful tug of sorrow."[41] For his role he earned nominations for the Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, and Independent Spirit Award for Best Actor.[42][43] The following year he played a supporting role as Benjamin O'Ryan in the psychological thriller Suspect Zero (2004). Although the film received negative reviews from critics, reservations were made for Kingsley's performance.
Kingsley has been announced as playing Ibrahim Arif in the upcoming film of Richard Osman's multi-award winning Thursday Murder Club series.[56] Filming is due to begin in summer 2024.
Personal life
Marriage and family
Kingsley has been married four times and has four children: Thomas Bhanji and artist Jasmin Bhanji, with first wife, actress Angela Morant, and Edmund Kingsley and Ferdinand Kingsley, both of whom became actors, with second wife, theatrical director Alison Sutcliffe.[57] He divorced his third wife Alexandra Christmann in 2005, having been "deeply, deeply shocked" after pictures of her kissing another man surfaced on the internet.[58] On 3 September 2007, Kingsley married Brazilian actress Daniela Lavender at Eynsham Hall in North Leigh, Oxfordshire.[59]
I told the Queen that winning an Oscar pales into insignificance—this is insurmountable. I'm fascinated by the ancient, by mythology, by these islands and their tradition of story telling. I feel that I am a story teller and to receive a knighthood is really recognition of that.[1]
His demand to be called 'Sir' in film and TV show credits was documented by the BBC, to some criticism.[66] Co-star Penélope Cruz was reportedly unsure what to call him during the filming of Elegy as someone had told her she needed to refer to him as "Sir Ben". One day it slipped out as such, and she called him that for the remainder of the shoot.[67] Kingsley has denied accusations that he prefers to be referred to by his title, saying, "If I've ever insisted on being called 'Sir' by colleagues on a film set then I am profoundly sorry. I don't remember ever doing that and I tend not to forget."[68]
In May 2010, Kingsley was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.[2] In April 2013, Kingsley was honoured with the Fellowship Award at The Asian Awards in London.[69]
^Bennetts, Leslie (13 December 1982). "Ben Kingsley's Journey From Hamlet to Gandhi". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 April 2022. Although born and raised in England, Mr. Kingsley is half Indian: his mother was an English model and his father, a physician, was Indian.
^"Sir Ben Kingsley's gold turban". A History of the World in 100 Objects. BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 27 April 2018. ...[H]is grandfather (a spice trader) [...] was a prominent member of the Ismaili Koja community in Zanzibar (in the Indian Ocean). Ismaili's are Shi'a Muslims, and followers of the Aga Khan (a descendent of the prophet Muhammad).
^Krieger, Hilary Leila (10 April 2005). "'Gandhi' brings his 'truth-force' to Palestinian audiences". The Jerusalem Post. Archived from the original on 5 November 2012.: "The grandmother of the knighted Royal Shakespeare Company alum spoke Yiddish she picked up while a garment worker in London's East End a century ago. "She was violently opposed to talking about this, so my poor mother was at the receiving end of a rage attack every time my grandmother was asked about her husband, her lover, whoever it was, but it's believed that he was a Russian Jew or a German Jew called Goodman", Kingsley told The Jerusalem Post".
^Pollack, Joe (3 January 1994). "He's No Stranger to Holocaust". St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved 28 November 2011. I'm not Jewish," he said, "and though there might be some Russian-Jewish heritage way back on my mother's side, the thread is so fine there's no real evidence...
^Ben Kingsley (2020). Spooky House (Extras–Interviews–Ben Kingsley) (DVD-ROM). I was looking at the roles that I've done over the last five, just five years. They include a serial killer, a concentration camp victim, a total tyrant, a lunatic, a man whose child dies in his arms and he takes revenge by killing the three people responsible – so I noticed I was going into some pretty dark areas, and I was pretty well carrying the moral agenda of every film I was in on my own shoulders. And given that I have a fairly wide choice most of my career on what to do next, I decided I had to do something that did not involve me being traumatized to any extent by the role. I would choose to do something much lighter – that doesn't mean any easier, it means lighter, not necessarily have the whole moral agenda of the holocaust, or serial killing, or crime and punishment on my shoulders. Just to do something that was without that particular agenda, that's why I chose this role.