Ian McKellen | English Literature

At this point, it would be quite challenging to find someone who hasn’t heard of Ian McKellen before. Born on May 25, 1939, he discovered his love for acting at a young age. This was due to his parents bringing him along to a theater production of Peter Pan when he was three years old. Along with watching a couple of other plays, he eventually tried his hand at acting.

While studying English literature at Cambridge’s St. Catharine’s College, McKellen had appeared in more than a couple of stage productions, many of which, to this day, are still considered among the best performances in the theater community. Besides the stage, though, the actor has undoubtedly garnered worldwide acclaim for his work in movies. This, of course, is thanks to his acting credit as Magneto in the X-Men films and Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings movies.