Ian McKellen's 10 Best Movies, Ranked (2025)

In a distinguished career spanning over six decades, Ian McKellan has established himself as one of the world's leading actors – and his best movies prove it. Initially hailed as an accomplished theatrical performer, especially for his Shakespearean roles, McKellan graduated to the big screen in the late 1960s. However, it was not until the 90s that he truly established himself as a bona fide movie star, culminating in some of the most recognizable and beloved performances in recent movie history.

For many fans, there are two roles that best define Ian McKellan's acting career. As both Magneto in the X-Men series and Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies, McKellan successfully embodied two very different characters with a huge cultural legacy, to the extent where it's almost impossible to imagine anyone else playing the part. However, these are not McKellan's only notable roles. In fact, the actor has an impressive and varied cinematic CV that encompasses a range of genres and characters. As proof of his versatility, Ian McKellan's best movies demonstrate an aptitude for more than wizards and superheroes.

10 Restoration (1995)

Will Gates

A period tale of courtly intrigue and romance, Restoration is a broadly successful adaptation of Rose Tremain's best-selling novel of the same name. Most of the action centers around Robert Downey Jr.'s Merivel, a Doctor who constantly falls in and out of favor with King Charles II (Sam Neil). Although Merivel is the narrative heart of the movie, McKellan's role as the loyal Will Gates, who manages Merivel's estate, is a huge factor in its success. McKellan's turn encompasses a range of emotions, from initial suspicion to eventual devotion, and is a neat embodiment of the movie's nuanced and sentimental journey.

9 The Hobbit Trilogy (2012-2014)

Gandalf the Grey

While The Hobbit movies largely failed to live up to the towering legacy of The Lord of the Rings, there's no doubt that they remain an important milestone in fantasy filmmaking. The adaptation of Tolkien's diminutive children's novel is overlong, muddled, and bogged down in unnecessary world-building. Nevertheless, the movies are also an immersive adventure, punctuated by thrilling spectacle. Highlights include Gollum and Bilbo's riddles in the dark duel and Bilbo's terrifying scene with Smaug – all while Ian McKellan quietly steals the show as the wise and indefatigable wizard, Gandalf.

8 Scandal (1989)

John Profumo

Based on the salacious true story that rocked the British establishment, Scandal revolves around an affair between model and dancer Christine Keeler and the Conservative War Minister, John Profumo. Although the movie is led by Joanne Whalley and John Hurt as Keeler and Stephen Ward, respectively, Ian McKellan's performance as John Profumo is integral to its success as a drama. Despite its often-explicit content, Scandal was praised by critics for its surprising sensitivity, earning an impressive 88% rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.

7 X-Men: Days Of Future Past (2014)

Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto

The pinnacle of Fox's rebooted X-Men series, Days of Future Past's success stems from its seamless blend of multiple generations of X-Men actors. Set in two separate timelines, the movie sees older and younger versions of iconic X-Men characters taking part in distinct stories, with the young desperately racing to prevent the apocalyptic future inhabited by the old. Although McKellen is not as prominent in Days of Future Past as he is in other X-Men films, the movie's critical acclaim and audience popularity makes it one of the actor's most recognizable and most successful releases to date.

6 Six Degrees Of Separation (1993)

Geoffrey Miller

Based on a Pulitzer Prize-nominated play, Six Degrees of Separation not only demonstrates McKellan's dramatic chops but also his talent for comedy. The movie centers on the Kittredges – a couple played by Stockard Channing and Donald Sutherland – and their relationship with the charming and mysterious Paul – a con man who claims to be the son of actor Sydney Poitier. Despite being a supporting presence, McKellan's turn as Geoffrey Miller is full of wry wit and charm, helping the movie to earn an 88% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

5 Mr. Holmes (2015)

Sherlock Holmes

Both a gripping mystery and a heartbreaking study of the aging process and the power of memory, Mr. Holmes is arguably one of McKellan's most touching movies. As an elderly version of the famous detective, McKellan manages to capture Holmes' trauma as he battles dementia while trying to remember the details of his final case. McKellan received a string of minor nominations for his performance, while Mr. Holmes received critical adulation – receiving an impressive 88% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes from an extensive sample size of 187 reviews.

4 Richard III (1995)

Richard, Duke of Gloucester

One of the most acclaimed Shakespearean adaptations of all time (and a second collaboration between McKellan and Downey Jr.), Richard III is proof that the bard's distinctive language and style still resonates in the modern day. McKellan plays the movie's titular monarch with an unnerving combination of menace and charm, anchoring the film with a magnetic central performance. The drama's updated setting and use of Nazi imagery give it an impressive immediacy, explaining its near-universal critical acclaim and 96% Rotten Tomatoes score.

3 X2 (2003)

Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto

Although it was Bryan Singer's 2000 movie X-Men that first introduced audiences to McKellan's take on Magneto, 2003's X2 is both a superior movie and a better example of McKellan's command of the role. Following the events of the original movie, X2 sees the supervillain contained within a purpose-built plastic prison, where he is regularly visited by the sinister William Stryker. As Stryker's plans threaten to wipe out all mutants, Magneto is forced to team up with his old adversaries. X2's story, themes, and execution were praised by critics, while McKellan's role cemented him as the definitive version of Marvel's famous malefactor.

2 Gods And Monsters (1998)

James Whale

Although Gods and Monsters was a financial failure, there's no doubt that it remains one of the best movies and best performances of McKellan's entire screen career. The actor leads the cast as James Whale, a real Hollywood figure who became famous for directing iconic horror movies like Frankenstein. McKellan's role sees him portray Whale towards the end of his life as he comes to terms with his own mortality while trying to reconcile his attraction towards young gardener Clayton Boone (Brendan Fraser). McKellan received the only Academy Award nomination of his career for his complex and conflicted role, as well as a host of other accolades.

1 The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy (2001-2003)

Gandalf the Grey/White

Even if Ian McKellan had no other movie credits to his name, his central role in Peter Jackson's ground-breaking Lord of the Rings trilogy would be enough to earn him a place in film history. As Gandalf, McKellan is simultaneously austere, warm, benevolent, and sinister, perfectly capturing the wizard's many contradictory traits. The Lord of the Rings movies are themselves an incredible achievement for their scale and ambition, but without the caliber of performances from the likes of Ian McKellan, the movies would not be considered the triumph that they are.