8 Actors Who Have Played An Insane Amount Of Nationalities

8. Ben Kingsley

Nationality: English Notable Roles: Gandhi (Indian), Testimony (Russian), Murderers Among Us (Austrian), Schindler's List (Polish), Death and the Maiden (South American), Joseph (Arabian), The Assignment (Israeli), House of Sand and Fog (Iranian), Hugo (French) There's something inherently "worldly" about Ben Kingsley that makes him ripe - and perfectly acceptable, apparently - to play characters from all over the globe, presumably as a result of his most famous turn as Gandhi, which won him an Oscar for Best Actor in 1982. At first, it might seem odd to think of Kingsley darkening his skin and transforming himself to play the Indian Gandhi (there's that "fine line" again), but Kingsley's incredibly diverse gene pool (his father, born in Kenya, was of Gujarati Indian Ismaili Muslim Khoja) has allowed him to tackle roles that other actors might not have been afforded for reasons of heritage or sensitivity. So Kingsley has thrived on his ability to assume characters of all shapes and sizes, creeds and colours. Arguably his most masterful performance was as Itzhak Stern, a Polish accountant of Jewish faith, in Steven Spielberg's holocaust drama Schindler's List, but Kingsley has also played German, Australian, Persian, Israeli, Greek, French and Italian to great effect. His versatility knows no bounds - who knows what's next?