Ben Kingsley Trivia

Just by the virtue of his role of Gandhi in the Richard Attenbourough movie "Gandhi" Ben Kingsley has become a legend. His acting, his characterization of complex individuals and his underplay of some non-regular individuals makes his roles worth being shown in acting classes. here are some trivia about him.

• Educated at Manchester Grammar School.

• Son of a GP.

• Knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in the New Year's Eve Honors List 2001.

• Derived his stage name from his grandfather's nickname, "Clove King." His grandfather was a spice trader in Zanzibar.

• Is of half Indian and half English descent. His father, Rahimtulla Harji Bhanji, was a Kenyan-born physician of Indian descent while his mother, Anna Lyna Mary Bhanji, was an English-born fashion model of Jewish-European extraction.

• Ben Kingsley's paternal family was from the Indian state of Gujarat, the same state Mahatma Gandhi was from.

• He has four children: Jasmine and Thomas Kingsley, with Angela Morant; and Edmund Kingsley and Ferdinand Kingsley, with Alison Sutcliffe.

• Made his London stage debut in 1966 as the narrator of "A Smashing Day" produced by The Beatles manager, Brian Epstein. He wrote the music for the production as well as sang and played guitar for same. After one performance, John Lennon and Ringo Starr came backstage and told him that he should go into music and that if he didn't, "he would regret it for the rest of his life." He was subsequently offered a deal by the same publishers who handled The Beatles, but he chose to remain an actor. The next year, he was invited to join the Royal Shakespeare Company and his choice was made.

• Was listed as a potential nominee on both the 2005 and 2006 Razzie Award nominating ballots. He was suggested in the Worst Supporting Actor category on the 2005 ballot for his role in the film Thunderbirds (2004). And he was suggested again the next year in the Worst Supporting Actor category of the 2006 Razzie nominating ballot for his performance in the film A Sound of Thunder (2005). He failed to receive either nomination. The very next year (2007) though, he got a Worst Supporting Actor Razzie Nomination for his performance in the film BloodRayne (2005).

• Head of jury at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1998

• Was originally cast as Ephraim in Munich (2005), but later had to withdraw from the project due to scheduling conflicts.
  

• His performance as Don Logan in Sexy Beast (2000) is ranked #97 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).

• Has three films on the American Film Institute's 100 Most Inspiring Movies of All Time: Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993) at #96, Gandhi (1982) at #29, and Schindler's List (1993) at #3.

• At the age of ten he went busking outside a cinema in Llanelli, South Wales, with his friend Shirley Edwards.

• The second actor of Asian descent to win an Academy Award. Miyoshi Umeki was the first.

• One of eight actors of Asian descent nominated for an Academy Award in an acting category. The others are Miyoshi Umeki who won Best Supporting Actress nominated for Sayonara (1957), Sessue Hayakawa nominated for The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), Mako nominated for The Sand Pebbles (1966), Haing S. Ngor who won Best Supporting Actor for The Killing Fields (1984), Pat Morita nominated for The Karate Kid (1984), Ken Watanabe nominated for The Last Samurai (2003) and Rinko Kikuchi nominated for Babel (2006).

• Married his fourth wife Daniela Barbosa de Carneiro at a country house in North Leigh in Oxfordshire in September 2007.
  

• Portrayed Mahatma Gandhi who was from the state of Gujrat in India and he is a Gujrati as well.