Michael Caine

Sir Michael Caine CBE (born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite Jr., 14 March 1933) is an English actor, producer, and author who has appeared in more than 130 films in a career spanning over 60 years. He is considered a British film icon. Known for his cockney accent, Caine was born in south-east London.

He made his breakthrough in the 1960s with starring roles in British films, including Zulu (1964), The Ipcress File (1965), Alfie (1966), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award, The Italian Job (1969), and Battle of Britain (1969). His roles in the 1970s included Get Carter (1971), The Last Valley (1971), Sleuth (1972), for which he earned his second Academy Award nomination, The Man Who Would Be King (1975), and A Bridge Too Far (1977). He achieved some of his greatest critical success in the 1980s, with Educating Rita (1983), earning him the BAFTA and Golden Globe Award for Best Actor. In 1986 he received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Woody Allen’s Hannah and Her Sisters.

Caine played Ebenezer Scrooge in The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992). This was his first starring role in several years, which led to a career resurgence in the late 1990s, receiving his second Golden Globe Award for his performance in Little Voice in 1998 and his second Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for The Cider House Rules, the following year. Caine played Nigel Powers (Austin Powers’ father) in the 2002 parody Austin Powers in Goldmember, and Alfred Pennyworth in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Trilogy. He appeared in several other of Nolan’s films, including The Prestige (2006), Inception (2010), Interstellar (2014), and Tenet (2020). He also appeared in Alfonso Cuarón’s Children of Men and Matthew Vaughn’s action comedy film Kingsman: The Secret Service. As of February 2017, films which he has starred in have grossed over $3.5 billion domestically and over $7.8 billion worldwide. Caine is ranked as the twentieth-highest-grossing box office star.

Caine is one of only two actors nominated for an Academy Award for acting in every decade from the 1960s to the 2000s, the other one being Jack Nicholson; Laurence Olivier was also nominated for an acting Academy Award in five different decades, beginning in 1939 and ending in 1978. Caine appeared in seven films that featured in the British Film Institute’s 100 greatest British films of the 20th century. In 2000 Caine received a BAFTA Fellowship and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in recognition of his contribution to cinema.