Sir Ian McKellen has had a pretty astounding career over the many years that he’s been in the business. His first film role was back in 1969 although he didn’t really break through into the mainstream until the 1990s and early 2000s, with iconic roles such as Magneto in X-Men and Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. He’s had a long and incredibly successful career and he still keeps himself busy with roles even now.
Ian McKellen turned 84 on May 25 this year. Born in 1939 in Lancashire, England, the actor began acting in 1958 around the age of 18. He appeared in 23 plays during his time at St. Catherine’s College, Cambridge.
The actor stands at 5 ft 10 in (1.8 meters) in height — or about one and a half hobbits if we’re measuring by Middle-earth standards.
What’s Ian McKellen’s net worth?
Having such a productive career probably means that McKellen no doubt has a neat little nest egg saved up. In fact, according to Celebrity Net Worth he has a pretty sizable net worth to the tune of about $60 million. Considering the fact that he’s played a massive part in some of the most iconic franchises in Hollywood, that isn’t exactly a surprise — he took home a cool $13 million for the LOTR trilogy alone.
Relationships
Ian McKellen is also openly gay and has been incredibly supportive of fighting for LGBTQ+ rights. His first partner was history teacher Brian Taylor whom he dated for eight years between 1964 and 1972. After that he dated fellow actor and director Sean Mathias between 1978 and 1988.
Health
By all accounts the actor is in good health, he did have a cancer scare in 2006 as he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. However, he assured fans that he had received treatment for the illness and it seems safe to say he made a pretty clean recovery. Despite being in his mid-eighties he clearly has a lot of life in him.
Future projects
The actor’s IMDb page lists three upcoming projects involving McKellen — Hamlet Revenant, Schadenfreude, and The Critic. On top of those upcoming titles, the actor is rumored to be reprising his role as Magneto yet again as the X-Men are brought into the MCU. Although it’s not confirmed yet, McKellen’s on-screen rival and long-time pal, Patrick Stewart has already appeared in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and he’s hinted that McKellen’s Magneto could make an appearance in the future, perhaps in Avengers: Secret Wars or maybe even Deadpool 3. We can only hope the rumors are true as we can never have enough of Sir Ian McKellen.