Raised in Burnley, Wigan and Bolton, England

Began staging plays with a toy theater received as a Christmas present

Acted in school plays at Bolton

As a teenager, spent summers at camp at Stratford-Upon-Avon; attended Shakespearean productions in evenings

Professional stage debut in Coventry in production of "A Man for All Seasons"

Spent one season as member of the Ipswich Repertory

Shakesperean debut in "Coriolanus"

London stage debut in "A Scent of Flowers"

Made TV acting debut in episode of the British series "Kipling"

Appeared as Claudio in Franco Zeffirelli's staging of "Much Ado About Nothing", starring Maggie Smith and Robert Stephens

Co-starred with Lynn Redgrave in British TV production "Sunday Out of Season"

US TV debut in serialized version of "David Copperfield"; played title character as an adult

Cast in first film role in "The Bells of Hell Go Ting-a-Ling-a-Ling", starring Gregory Peck; film never completed

Originated role of Leonidik in "The Promise" on London stage opposite Judi Dench; made NYC debut in same role opposite Eileen Atkins

First leading role in a feature, reprising stage role in film version of "The Promise"; released only in the United Kingdom to poor reviews

Played first onscreen homosexual in "A Touch of Love/Thank You All Very Much"

Stage directorial debut, "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" at Liverpool Playhouse

Starred in one-person TV production "Keats", based on the life of the Romantic poet John Keats

First played Hamlet in TV production; aired in USA in 1982

Founded and served as a director with Actors' Company

Returned to American stage as Edgar in "King Lear" performed at Brooklyn Academy of Music

First stage collaboration with college chum Trevor Nunn, "Romeo and Juliet", opposite Francesca Annis

Had stage triumph as "Macbeth" opposite Judi Dench; reprised role opposite Dench in 1979 TV production

Wrote "Acting Shakespeare", a one-person show premiered at the Edinburgh Festival; later toured with piece

Portrayed Max, a gay man who pretends to be Jewish when captured by the Nazis, in "Bent" at the Royal Court Theatre, London

Toured sporadically throughout USA and Europe in "Acting Shakespeare"

Played Salieri in the Broadway production of "Amadeus"; won Tony Award

Portrayed novelist D H Lawrence in film biopic "Priest of Love", opposite Janet Suzman

"Acting Shakespeare" filmed for TV broadcast; aired in USA in 1982

Earned acclaim for performance as a mentally challenged man in the made-for-British-television program "Walter", directed by Stephen Frears

Undertook the role of the villain Chauvelin in the CBS TV-movie "The Scarlet Pimpernel"

Appeared under much makeup as an elderly doctor in "The Keep"

Reprised "Acting Shakespeare" on Broadway; received Tony nomination

Returned to Broadway in short-lived production of "Wild Honey", Michael Frayn's translation of Chekhov's "Ivanov"

Portrayed a British diplomat in one scene of the screen adaptation of David Hare's "Plenty"

Spurred by Section 28, a piece of British legislation passed that prohibited local authorities from promotion of homosexual causes, decided to disclose publicly his homosexuality on a BBC radio program

First film role after "coming out", as John Profumo in "Scandal"

Reprised role of Max in revival of "Bent", staged by Sean Mathias

Played "Richard III", directed by Richard Eyre at the National Theater; also served as associate producer

Named second Cameron Mackintosh Visiting Professor of Contemporary Theater at Oxford University (succeeding composer Stephen Sondheim)

Embarked on world tour alternating as "Richard III" and Kent in "King Lear"

Knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for services to the performing arts

Performed "Richard III" at Brooklyn Academy of Music; also toured US cities

Had small role in the PBS miniseries "Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City"

Had cameo role as 'Death' in "The Last Action Hero"

Played AIDS activist Bill Kraus in "And the Band Played On" (HBO); earned Emmy nomination

Appeared in solo stage play, "A Knight Out" as benefit for Gay Games 1994 and the Stonewall 25 celebrations; subsequently performed piece on tour in the United Kingdom and South Africa, as well as in Brussels and Los Angeles (1994-1997)

Played servant to Robert Downey Jr's Robert Merival in "Restoration"

Wrote screenplay, executive produced, and starred in "Richard III", directed by Richard Loncraine; moved setting to 1930s Europe

Portrayed Czar Nicholas II of Russia in the HBO film "Rasputin"; garnered second Emmy nomination

Had an extended cameo as Uncle Freddie in the film version of "Bent"

Played Kurt Dussander, a former concentration camp officer, in Bryan Singer's "Apt Pupil", adapted from the novella by Stephen King

Portrayed James Whale, the British expatriate film director of "Frankenstein" and the "Bride of Frankenstein", in "Gods and Monsters"; nominated for a Best Actor Oscar

Starred in Los Angeles stage production of "An Enemy of the People", translated by Christopher Hampton

Appeared with the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds in "The Seagull", "Present Laughter" and "The Tempest"

Reunited with Singer for the big-screen version of the Marvel comic "X-Men"; played the villain Magneto

Portrayed Gandalf in Peter Jackson's film adaptation of "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy filmed back-to-back: "The Fellowship of the Ring" (2001); "The Two Towers" (2002) and "The Return of the King" (2003)

Returned to Broadway opposite Helen Mirren in "The Dance of Death"

Once again played Magneto in "X2"

Returned as Gandalf in the final installment of "Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King"

Starred opposite Natasha Richardson in the psychological thriller "Asylum"

Portrayed Holy Grail historian, Sir Leigh Teabing in Ron Howard's big-screen adaptation of Dan Brown's best-selling novel "The Da Vinci Code"

Reprised the role of Magneto in "X-Men: The Last Stand"

Received an Emmy nomination for appearing as himself on an episode of the HBO series, "Extras"