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Sir Ben Kingsley returns this week in The School for Good and Evil, a Netflix fantasy film directed by Paul Feig (Bridesmaids, Spy). We're taking the opportunity to make him our British Icon of the Week because, well, it's kind of overdue. So, without further ado, here are just 10 of the things we find interesting and impressive about him.
1. He's an Oscar-winning actor.
Kingsley won Best Actor at the Academy Awards, BAFTAs and Golden Globes for his iconic performance as Mahatma Gandhi in the 1982 biopic Gandhi. Remarkably, it was his first ever lead movie role after 15 years of working mainly on stage and British TV.

2. He's also a Grammy winner.
Kingsley won the Best Spoken Word Album award in 1985 for The Words Of Gandhi, in which he recited memorable quotes by the great leader and civil rights activist.
3. He starred in another classic Oscar-winning movie: Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List.
Kingsley earned a BAFTA nomination for his poignant portrayal of the Jewish Holocaust survivor Itzhak Stern. Below, you can watch him discussing this incredibly important role at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

4. He put in a stint on the long-running British soap opera Coronation Street.
Yes, really! Kingsley appeared in a handful of episodes in 1966 and 1967 as Ron Jenkins, a traveling salesperson who sometimes swung by the show's fictional Manchester street.

5. He is immensely proud of his Knighthood. 
Kingsley was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2003 for services to the British film industry. He said to the BBC at the time: "I told the Queen that winning an Oscar pales into insignificance – this is insurmountable."
He added: "I'm fascinated by the ancient, by mythology, by these islands and their tradition of storytelling. I feel that I am a storyteller and to receive a knighthood is really recognition of that."
6. He has a healthy sense of humor.
When Kingsley was honored at the Britannia Awards in 2013, he received his award from Sigourney Weaver, his co-star in the 1994 movie Death and the Maiden. Weaver got a little bit salty in her introduction, but Kingsley very much took it in his stride.

7. He's shown a real flair for comedy parts, too.
A case in point: Trevor Slattery, the hapless actor he plays in Iron Man 3 and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Happily, he's due to reprise this super-fun role in the upcoming Wonder Man TV series.

8. He's very supportive of his two sons who became actors.
You may know Ferdinand Kingsley from Victoria, The Sandman, and the Doctor Who episode "Empress of Mars," and Edmund Kingsley from Slow Horses and Devils.  "Whenever I see [their work], I just barge in and crush their ribs and look at them in the face and say, 'That was great!'" Kingsley told The Independent. 
9. He has spoken candidly about the discrimination he's faced in his career.
Kingsley was born in Yorkshire in 1943 to an English mother and Gujarati Indian father. He was named Krishna Bhanji, but later changed his stage name to Ben Kingsley to avoid being typecast.
“I was told by a very senior director at the Royal Shakespeare Company that he felt that I would always play servants, and never play kings and leading men, politicians, leaders of their country,” he told the Press Association. "I'm ticking all the boxes here because I've played them all. You know, I think the best service somebody can do to me as an individual is tell me what I can't do, and I'll do it."
10. And finally, he's a great lover of Shakespeare.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Kingsley performed regularly with the Royal Shakespeare Company, appearing in stage productions of Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing, and The Tempest, among others. He also appeared in the 1996 film adaptation of Twelfth Night. You can catch a little glimpse of his Shakespearean technique below.

Do you have a favorite Sir Ben Kingsley performance?