Ben Kingsley
Born: 31st December 1943
Where: Scarborough, Yorkshire, UK
The distinguished British actor is probably best known for his breakthrough Oscar-winning portrayal of Gandhi in 1983.
However, other memorable Oscar-nominated roles have included the psychopathic Don Logan in Sexy Beast, Meyer Lansky in Bugsy and more recently Behrani in The House of Sand and Fog.
He also sublimely played Oskar Schindler's Jewish lieutenant Itzhak Stern in Schindler's List.
Of Indian descent, Krishna Bhanji was nicknamed Ben while attending college and the rest of his stage name came from his spice merchant grandfather's slang name "Clove King".
Raised in Salford, at the age of 21 he was turned down by RADA, but accepted into the Children's Theatre, a touring group.
Kingsley made his London stage debut in 1966 as the narrator of A Smashing Day produced by Beatles manager, Brian Epstein.
He wrote the music for the production as well as sang and played guitar, prompting John Lennon to advise him to go into music. If he didn't, "he would regret it for the rest of his life."
In 1967, he became a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, marking the real beginning of his professional acting career.
His first small film role, came with Fear Is the Key, and in the early 70s, he made his TV debut in the BBC series, The Love School.
Kingsley and first wife actress Angela Morant had two children together, then with second wife, Alison Sutcliffe, he had another two kids.
He made his breakthrough in 1982's Ghandi, directed by Richard Attenboroug, and went on to star in Maurice and Pascali's Island.
He earned a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for Bugsy and then appeared as the American vice president in the gentle comedy Dave.
Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List, one of his most impressive performances since Gandhi, saw him play the Jewish accountant who was the brains behind the empire of industrialist Oskar Schindler.
He followed this with Roman Polanski's Death and the Maiden and and sci-fi thriller Species.
In 1997, he returned to the stage in a West End production of Waiting for Godot, then gained an Emmy nomination for his role as Otto Frank in the powerful TV miniseries Anne Frank.
He gave a scene-stealing turn in the gangster film Sexy Beast and narrated Spielberg's A.I. Artificial Intelligence in 2001 - the same year he was knighted.
In The House of Sand and Fog, he plays an illegal immigrant focussed on giving his daughter the best education.
In 2004, he starred in the thriller Suspect Zero and the live action version of the hit TV series Thunderbirds where Kingsley plays the evil Hood.
Recent work includes the role of Fagin in Roman Polanski's adaptation of Oliver Twist.
