Age: 87
male
Sir Ian Murray McKellen (born 25 May 1939) is an British and American actor. He has played roles on the screen and stage in genres ranging from Shakespearean dramas and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction. He is regarded as a British cultural icon and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1991. He has received numerous accolades, including a Tony Award, six Olivier Awards, and a Golden Globe Award, as well as nominations for two Academy Awards, five BAFTA Awards and five Emmy Awards. McKellen made his stage debut in 1961 at the Belgrade Theatre as a member of its repertory company, and in 1965 made his first West End appearance. In 1969, he was invited to join the Prospect Theatre Company to play the lead parts in Shakespeare's Richard II and Marlowe's Edward II. In the 1970s, McKellen became a stalwart of the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre of Great Britain. He has earned five Olivier Awards for his roles in Pillars of the Community (1977), The Alchemist (1978), Bent (1979), Wild Honey (1984), and Richard III (1995). McKellen made his Broadway debut in The Promise (1965). He received the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his role as Antonio Salieri in Amadeus (1980). He was further nominated for Ian McKellen: Acting Shakespeare (1984). He returned to Broadway in Wild Honey(1986), Dance of Death (1990), No Man's Land (2013), and Waiting for Godot (2013), the latter two being a joint production with Patrick Stewart. McKellen achieved worldwide fame for his film roles, including the titular King in Richard III(1995), James Whale in Gods and Monsters (1998), Magneto in the X-Men films, Cogsworth in Beauty and the Beast (2017) and Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings (2001–2003) and The Hobbit (2012–2014) trilogies. Other notable film roles include A Touch of Love (1969), Plenty (1985), Six Degrees of Separation (1993), Restoration (1995), Flushed Away (2006), Mr. Holmes (2015), and The Good Liar (2019). McKellen came out as gay in 1988, and has since championed LGBT social movements worldwide. He was awarded the Freedom of the City of London in October 2014. McKellen is a cofounder of Stonewall, an LGBT rights lobby group in the United Kingdom, named after the Stonewall riots. He is also patron of LGBT History Month, Pride London, Oxford Pride, GayGlos, LGBT Foundation and FFLAG. Description above from the Wikipedia article Ian McKellen, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Sonya, 23, is no longer feeling the Christmas spirit. The deaths of two family members-her dementia-stricken grandmother and uncle-gone last year . Since then, her grandfather and aunt have been left alone. Four years earlier, her grandmother(her dad's mum), who lived in the neighbouring town, had died and joined her husband who had died even earlier(Sonya's grandfather). Therefore, only happy and sad memories remain with this town. In addition, her mum is in conflict with her siblings-brother and sister. She holds a huge grudge against them for not helping her to look after their mother when she still had Alzheimer's (although this changed with her sister when her husband died). Things are not any better with Sonya. Her eating disorder has led her to be constantly controlling and fearful even of Christmas Eve dinner, something she always enjoyed so much when she was younger. Christmas Eve will not be the same as it has always been - Christmas spent first with one part of the family at the grandparents on Mum's side and then at the grandparents on Dad's side and playing in the snow in the cold. Instead, mud, rain and sadness hidden behind the small and somewhat feigned joy of any closeness. But maybe things will change? Maybe God will listen to Sonya's prayers and transform this sad Christmas so that everyone, even in a smaller group, will spend it together, around one table, without insincerity and feuds?
