Sir Ian Murray McKellen, CH, CBE (born May 25, 1939) is a highly acclaimed English actor on both stage and screen. His roles have spanned genres from serious Shakespearean and modern theatre to popular action movies. He is also known for his longtime portrayal of X-Men character Erik Lensherr (Magneto) in the movies based on the Marvel comic. He is also well known as a campaigner for gay rights. For over a decade he has lived in a five-story Victorian conversion in Narrow Street, within London.
McKellen played the role of the wizard Gandalf in Peter Jackson's three films that comprise the screen adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's novel trilogy The Lord of the Rings (The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King). For the first chapter, he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He reprised the role of Gandalf for the three-part film adaptation of The Hobbit, including The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the second-part, The Desolation of Smaug and the final-part of the trilogy, The Battle of the Five Armies.