Sir Ian Murray McKellen is an English actor. His career spans seven decades, having performed in genres ranging from Shakespearean and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction. Regarded as a British cultural icon, he has received various accolades, including seven Laurence Olivier Awards, a Tony Award, and a Golden Globe Award
Ian McKellen siblings: Meet Jean McKellen
Sir Ian Murray McKellen was their second child, with a sister, Jean, five years his senior. Shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, his family moved to Wigan. They lived there until Ian was twelve years old, before relocating to Bolton in 1951 after his father had been promoted.
McKellen’s father was a civil engineer and lay preacher and was of Protestant Irish and Scottish descent. Both of McKellen’s grandfathers were preachers, and his great-great-grandfather, James McKellen, was a “strict, evangelical Protestant minister” in Ballymena, County Antrim. His home environment was strongly Christian but non-orthodox.
