Ben Kingsley, 82, Says He 'Won't Stop Acting' as He Plays His Latest Historical Figure in “Young Washington” (Exclusive)
Ben Kingsley, 82, Says He 'Won't Stop Acting' as He Plays His Latest Historical Figure in “Young Washington” (Exclusive)
Jack SmartThu, July 2, 2026 at 1:41 PM UTC
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Ben Kingsley in 'Young Washington'Credit: Angel Studios -
Sir Ben Kingsley speaks to PEOPLE about his new film, the historical biopic Young Washington
“History is very much a spine running through my preferred work,” says the Gandhi Oscar winner
Although he's working more and more as a producer, Kingsley “won't stop acting unless I get shot in the leg and put down like an old horse,” he quips
Sir Ben Kingsley's biggest source of artistic inspiration is one for the books — the history books.
“I find the details of history, how certain events accidentally trigger other events, absolutely astonishing,” says the British screen legend, 82. “History is very much a spine running through my preferred work.”
American founding father biopic Young Washington (in theaters Friday) very much fits the bill. Opposite William Franklyn-Miller as a young George Washington, Kingsley plays Robert Dinwiddie, a real-life British administrator who served as Virginia's lieutenant governor in the country's colonial era.
Ben Kingsley on June 10Credit: Rich Polk/IndieWire via Getty
Director and co-writer Jon Erwin and his team, says Kingsley, “researched the film beautifully… even from George's letters and even from the language they spoke was perfectly reflected in the script.”
It's the latest character study taken from real-life historical figures in Kingsley's still-growing list of credits. An Oscar winner for playing Mahatma Gandhi in 1982's Gandhi, the British stage veteran is almost as well-known for 1989's Murderers Among Us: The Simon Wiesenthal Story, 1991's Bugsy and 1993's Schindler's List, and even played Moses in Wonder Project's The Old Stories: Moses.
“At the moment, I'm concentrating on World War I, a particular battle in World War I, and certain aspects of World War II for my own filmmaking because I'm slowly moving into producing,” shares Kingsley.
“I won't stop acting unless I get shot in the leg and put down like an old horse,” he adds with a laugh. “I will continue acting of course. Because I've been able, privileged, to keep such good company of late — well, in fact, nearly all my career. I now so appreciate and admire people who can put beautiful works together, and I love to collaborate with them too and see if we can put these films together.”
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How did such a passion for filmmaking begin? At age 5, theThursday Murder Club star recalls, he was taken to a cinema near Manchester, England to see 1951's Never Take No for an Answer starring Vittorio Manunta — a young actor about Kingsley's age.
“There was very little difference between the little boy in the audience and the little boy [Peppino onscreen],” says the actor. “I was swept away by the beautiful story of a little Italian boy and his donkey.”
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After experiencing the magical film and being “in floods of tears,” he continues, “the cinema owner saw that I looked so like the little boy on the screen — we could have been twins. He lifted me up above the audience and shouted, ‘It's Little Peppino! It's Little Pepino!'”
That, Kingsley says, was that. “I felt like a star.”
Ben Kingsley in 'Young Washington'Credit: Angel Studios
After recently starring in thriller Deep Water and reprising his Marvel Cinematic Universe character Trevor Slattery in Disney+'sWonder Man, Kingsley next appears in the films Fortitude and Sonic the Hedgehog 4, as well as on the fourth season of HBO'sThe White Lotus.
Young Washington, co-starring Mary-Louise Parker, Kelsey Grammer and Andy Serkis, is in theaters Friday, July 3.
on People
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