Sir Ben Kingsley's first film role was a supporting turn in Fear Is the Key (1972). He continued starring in both film and television, including regular appearances as a defence counsel in the long-running British legal show, Crown Court. He found real fame only years later, starring as Mahatma Gandhi in the Academy Award-winning film "Gandhi" in 1982, his best-known role to date. He was critically acclaimed and won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the role.

Sir Ben Kingsley has been cast in a variety of roles. His credits include the films "Turtle Diary", "Maurice', 'Pascali's Island', 'Without a Clue' (as Dr. Watson opposite Michael Caine's Sherlock Holmes), 'Suspect Zero', 'Bugsy' (Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor), 'Sneakers', 'Dave', 'Searching for Bobby Fischer', 'Schindler's List', 'Silas Marner', 'Death and the Maiden', 'Murderers Among Us: The Simon Wiesenthal Story, 'Sexy Beast' (for which he received another Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor) and 'House of Sand and Fog' (Oscar nomination for Best Actor). He won a Crystal Globe for outstanding artistic contribution to world cinema at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in 2001.

In July 2006, he received an Emmy nomination for his performance in the TV movie 'Mrs. Harris' , in which he played famed cardiologist Herman Tarnower who was murdered by his jilted lover, Jean Harris. In 2007, Kingsley appeared as a Polish American mobster in the Mafia comedy 'You Kill Me', and will also play a Middle East oil minister in War, Inc.

Sir Ben Kingsley was named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2000. He was knighted in the 2001 New Years Honors list.