Fifty Dead Men Walking

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Actor

Ben Kingsley

Bio

After earning an Academy Award, two Golden Globes and two BAFTA Awards for his riveting portrayal of Indian social leader Mahatma Gandhi, Sir Ben Kingsley continues to bring unequalled detail and nuance to each role. In 1984, Kingsley was awarded the Padma Sri by Indira Gandhi and the government of India. Kingsley went on to earn three additional Oscar nominations for Bugsy (1991), Sexy Beast (2000) and House of Sand and Fog (2003), his roles have been as diverse as his talents, from a sturdy vice president in Dave to the scheming Fagin in Oliver Twist. Since being knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in the New Year’s Eve Honors List 2001, Kingsley has continued to earn honors as a truly international star.

Two films recently screened at the Sundance Film Festival give further perspective to his work: The Wackness, in which he plays a drug-addled psychiatrist opposite Josh Peck, Famke Janssen, Olivia Thirlby and Mary-Kate Olsen; and the crime thriller Transsiberian, as a mysterious traveler opposite Woody Harrelson, Eduardo Noriega and Thomas Kretschmann. He is the star of the sexually charged Elegy which will premiere at the Berlin Film Festival.

Kingsley verifies his comedic chops opposite Mike Meyers, Jessica Alba and Justin Timberlake in Paramount’s The Love Guru, slated for summer 2008. Two other completed films include 50 Dead Men, a thriller set against the dangerous backdrop of 1980s Ireland, and the more lighthearted crime comedy War, Inc. Currently in pre-production is Martin Scorsese’s 1950s drama Shutter Island, with Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo and Michelle Williams.

Steeped in British theatre, Kingsley marked the beginning of his professional acting career with his acceptance by the Royal Shakespeare Company in l967. From roles in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Tempest, Brutus in Julius Caesar and the title roles in Othello and Hamlet, among others, his more recent and diverse stage roles include those in The Country Wife, The Cherry Orchard, A Betrothal and Waiting for Godot.

Kingsley’s film career began in l972 with the thriller Fear Is the Key, but his first major role came a decade later in the epic Gandhi, directed by Richard Attenborough. He followed this Oscar-winning performance with such early films as Betrayal, Turtle Diary, Harem, Pascali’s Island, Without A Clue (as Dr. Watson to Michael Caine’s Sherlock Holmes) and The Children opposite Kim Novak. During the ‘90s Kingsley distinguished himself through such roles as Mayer Lansky in Bugsy, Sneakers, Searching for Bobby Fischer and Dave. In 1994 he was nominated for a BAFTA Award for his memorable supporting role as Itzhak Stern in Steven Spielberg’s seven-time Oscar winner Schindler’s List.

During the past decade, Ben Kingsley has remained a coveted and ubiquitous talent. Beginning with such films as Rules of Engagement, What Planet Are You From? and an Oscar-nominated role as a brutal gangster in Sexy Beast, he received his most recent Oscar nomination in 2004 for his performance as a proud Iranian emigrant in the highly acclaimed House of Sand and Fog. Among his films in the last several years are Roman Polanski’s Oliver Twist, the crime drama Lucky Number Slevin, John Dahl’s You Kill Me and the Roman Empire saga The Last Legion.

After a fortuitous meeting with Gregg Araki in Los Angeles, he decided to cast her as Amy Blue in his black comedy The Doom Generation. Her portrayal of the troubled teen brought her to the attention of critics everywhere, and she was nominated for Best Debut Performance at the Independent Spirit Awards in 1996. McGowan was then cast in Wes Craven’s horror blockbuster Scream, starring alongside, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, and Matthew Lillard. In 1998, she appeared in the independent film Southie, which won Best Picture at the 2000 Seattle Film Festival. Then, in 1999 she co-starred in the comedy Jawbreaker as teen Courtney Shane and her performance earned her a nomination for Best Villain at the 1999 MTV Movie Awards.

In 2001, McGowan joined the popular television series Charmed as the long lost Halliwell sister Paige. She starred opposite Alyssa Milano and Holly Marie Combs until the show ended in 2006. Recently, she starred opposite Jonathan Rhys Meyers in the television mini-series Elvis playing Ann-Margaret and in The Black Dahlia alongside Hilary Swank, Josh Hartnett, and Scarlett Johansson. She was the star of both Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof and Robert Rodriguez’s Planet Terror. The combined horror film Grindhouse was released by The Weinstein Co.

Appearing as:

Fergus