Ferdinand Kingsley

Ferdinand James M. Kingsley (born 13 February 1988) is a British actor. He is known for portraying the roles of Hamza Bey in the film '' Dracula Untold'' (2014), Mr. Francatelli in the television series '' Victoria'' (2016–2019), Irving Thalberg in the film ''Mank'' (2020), and Hob Gadling in Netflix's adaptation of ''The Sandman'' (2022).

Early life

Ferdinand James M. Kingsley was born on 13 February 1988 in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, the son of actor Ben Kingsley and theatre director Alison Sutcliffe. His paternal grandfather, Rahimtulla Harji Bhanji (1914–1968), was a Kenyan-born medical doctor from the Indian city of Jamnagar, being of Khoja Gujarati descent. His great-grandfather was an extremely successful spice trader who had moved from India to Zanzibar, where his grandfather lived until moving to England at the age of 14. Kingsley's paternal grandmother was English; she was born out of wedlock, and "would loath to speak of her background". His other great-grandfather was believed by the family to have been of either German-Jewish or Russian-Jewish descent, while his great-grandmother was English and worked in the garment district of East London.: "The grandmother of the knighted Royal Shakespeare Company alum spoke Yiddish she picked up while a garment worker in London's East End a century ago. "She was violently opposed to talking about this, so my poor mother was at the receiving end of a rage attack every time my grandmother was asked about her husband, her lover, whoever it was, but it's believed that he was a Russian Jew or a German Jew called Goodman", Kingsley told ''The Jerusalem Post''".

Kingsley attended Warwick School and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

Acting career

Kingsley's theatre credits include ''Troilus and Cressida'', and ''Little Eyolf'' for the Royal Shakespeare Company. He played Rosencrantz in the National Theatre's 2010–11 production of '' Hamlet'', for which he received a commendation at the 2010 Ian Charleson Awards, and Phaeax in '' Welcome to Thebes''.

In the film '' The Last Legion'' he played Young Ambrosinus in flashbacks to the younger days of the character Ambrosinus, played by his father Ben Kingsley. He took the part of Albert Aurier in the BBC production ''Vincent Van Gogh: Painted With Words''. He plays Bushy in ''Richard II'', which is part of the BBC's Shakespeare season to be aired in Summer 2012.

He played both Jesus and God the Father in the August 2012 production of the '' York Mystery Plays''. In 2013, Kingsley played the part of murdered Jewish anarchist Joshua Bloom in the BBC period crime drama '' Ripper Street'', and filmed prominent roles in '' Agatha Christie's Poirot: Elephants Can Remember'', the BBC feature film '' The Whale'' as Obed Hendricks, and Universal Pictures' 2014 feature '' Dracula Untold'' as Hamza Bey. In Spring 2013, Kingsley starred in the short film ''Dance in Colour'' by The Crookes. In 2016, Kingsley starred in ITV's drama '' Victoria'' as Italian British cook Charles Elmé Francatelli.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

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Agent's Website


Ferdinand Kingsley on Twitter

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kingsley, Ferdinand
1988 births
Living people
21st-century English male actors
Alumni of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
English electronic musicians
English male film actors
English male stage actors
English male television actors
English people of Gujarati descent
English people of Indian descent
English people of Russian-Jewish descent
Male actors from Warwickshire
People from Leamington Spa