Jul 24, 20212 min read

Mix Up Star: MICHAEL GAMBON

Age: 80

Birthday: 19th October

Michael Gambon is an Irish-English actor. Having trained under Laurence Olivier, he started his career on stage at the Royal National Theatre. Gambon is known for portraying Professor Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter film series from 2004 to 2011.

Having started his career on the theatre with Olivier with the National Theatre Company at the Old Vic Gambon appeared in many productions of works by William Shakespeare such as Othello, Hamlet, Macbeth and Coriolanus. Gambon has received thirteen Olivier Awards for his work on the London stage. He won three awards including for his performance as Eddie Carbone in Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge in 1987. He also won for his performances in Alan Ayckbourn's plays A Chorus of Disapproval and Man of the Moment. For his work on the Broadway stage he went on to receive a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Play for his performance as Tom Sergeant in David Hare's Skylight in 1997. He also received a Drama Desk Award, and Olivier Award nomination. In 2013, Gambon took part in the 50th Anniversary Celebration of the National Theatre.

Gambon made his film debut in Othello (1965) alongside Laurence Olivier and Maggie Smith. Gambon's other films include Michael Apted's Amazing Grace (2006), Tom Hooper's The King's Speech (2010), Dustin Hoffman's Quartet (2012), Stephen Frears' Victoria & Abdul (2017) and Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009). He's known for his performances in television programmes such as The Singing Detective (1986), Wives and Daughters (1999), Path to War (2002), Cranford (2007), Emma (2009), The Casual Vacancy (2015), Churchill's Secret (2016), and Little Women (2017).