CAPRI, Italy, Jan 1st, 2012 – Sir Ben Kingsley, who first earned international fame along with an Academy Award, two Golden Globes, two BAFTA Awards and the London Film Critics Award for his performance in the 1982 movie “Gandhi,” received the prestigious 2011 Capri Legend Award from Capri, Hollywood – The Smart International Film Festival on December 30th.
Sir Kingsley joins a list of international entertainment icons that have previously received the Capri Legend Award including Dennis Hopper, Vanessa Redgrave, Helen Mirren, Claude Lelouch, Luciano Pavarotti, Samuel L. Jackson, Steven Zaillian, Andrei Konchalovsky, Giancarlo Giannini and Baz Luhrmann, amongst others.
He is currently receiving rave notices for his performance as Georges Melies in Martin Scorsese’s “Hugo,” which is his second collaboration with the iconic director, the other being the 1950’s drama “Shutter Island,” with Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo and Michelle Williams. He recently was the star of the sexually charged “Elegy” opposite Penelope Cruz and directed by Isabel Coixet and for which he was nominated British Actor of the Year by the London Critics Circle Film Awards. Kingsley will next be seen in Sacha Baron Cohen’s “The Dictator,” which will be released in 2012.
In making the announcement, director Lina Wertmuller, honorary chairperson of the Capri Fest and also a prior Capri Legend Award winner, stated: “There is no one more deserving of this honor that Sir Ben Kingsley. His range of performances on stage, on television and in motion pictures have been unparalleled, be it as Mahatma Gandhi, Itzhak Stern (‘Schindler’s List’) or Sweeney Todd.”
Amongst his many honors, Kingsley has won an Oscar, along with three additional Oscar nominations, a Golden Globe as well as six nominations, and Screen Actors Guild awards in his career. He is known for starring in the film “Gandhi” in 1982, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor and two Golden Globes (Best Actor in a Motion Picture and New Star of the Year in a Motion Picture). He is also known for his performances in the films “Schindler’s List” (1993), “Sexy Beast” (2000) and “House of Sand and Fog” (2003). Kingsley was named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2000. He was made a knight bachelor in the 2002 New Year’s Honors (the award was announced on 31 December 2001). In May 2010, Kingsley was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Photo: Madalina Ghenea, Berenice Bejo, Sir Ben Kingsley, Daniela Lavende, Michel Hazanavicius and Pascal Vicedomini
