Ian McKellen

Sir Ian Murray McKellen CBE is a well-known English actor. Throughout his seven-decade career, he has acted in genres ranging from Shakespearean and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction. He has garnered several prizes over his career, including seven Laurence Olivier Awards, a Tony Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. He has also been nominated for two Academy Awards, five Primetime Emmy Awards, and four British Academy Film Awards.

Gandalf is one of the two or three most recognizable fictional figures of all time. McKellen not only physically embodies the character, but he also lends deep emotion to a part that could have been purely surfacing. It's a stunning bit of performance that, like the Lord of the Rings films, stands the test of time.

Aside from that, McKellen has created a very extraordinary body of work. From his role as James Whale in Gods and Monsters to his long-running role as Magneto in the X-Men flicks, he is a generous actor. His depiction of an aged Sherlock Holmes is an excellent example of an actor gracefully accepting their age.