Wikipedia:Today's featured article/July 6, 2004

Sir Ian McKellen is a highly acclaimed British actor on both stage and screen, regarded by many as the greatest living British actor. His roles have spanned genres from serious Shakespearean and modern theatre to popular action movies. He is also well known as a campaigner for gay rights. His breakthrough role for mainstream American audiences came with the modestly-acclaimed Apt Pupil, based on a story by Stephen King. Since then, McKellen has become a major star in the U.S., playing Magneto in X-Men and its sequel X2, and Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, a role for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. (more...)