Ferdinand Kingsley

British actor Ferdinand Kingsley stepped out of his Oscar-winning father Ben's shadows with key roles in a whole host of period dramas including "The Whale" (BBC One, 2013), "Borgia" (Canal+, 2011-14) and "Victoria" (ITV1, 2016-). Born in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire in 1988 to theatre director actor father Ben Kingsley and theatre director mother Alison Sutcliffe, Kingsley studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and initially focused on the stage, appearing in various Shakespeare productions at the National Theatre and Royal Shakespeare Company. He first appeared on screen playing the younger version of his father's magician instructor character, Ambrosinus, in Roman Empire adventure "The Last Legion" (2007). Three years later he portrayed French poet and painter Albert Aurier in docudrama "Van Gogh: Painted with Words" (BBC One, 2010) and later took on the real-life figures of House of Commons speaker Sir John Bushy in the "Richard II" episode of Shakespeare anthology "The Hollow Crown" (BBC Two, 2012) and boat steerer Obed Hendricks in the dramatization of the same Essex incident that inspired Moby Dick, "The Whale" (BBC One, 2013). After guesting as ill-fated Jewish anarchist Joshua Bloom on late 19th Century crime drama "Ripper Street" (BBC One, 2012-16) and groom-to-be Desmond Burton-Cox in "Agatha Christie's Poirot" (ITV1, 1989-2013), Kingsley enjoyed a five-episode stint as the Duke of Ferrara's illegitimate son Giulio d'Este in European historical epic "Borgia" (Canal+, 2011-14). He then returned to the film world to play Ottoman-Albanian admiral Hamza Bey in the much-maligned vampire horror "Dracula Untold" (2014) before joining the cast of royal drama "Victoria" (ITV1, 2016-) as the Queen's high-flying chef Francatelli. A year later Kingsley guested as treacherous soldier Neville Catchlove in "Doctor Who" (BBC One, 1963-) and appeared as Aldo Lazzara in the Shonda Rhimes-produced Shakespearean drama "Still Star-Crossed" (ABC, 2017).