Sir Michael Gambon (born October 19, 1940) is one of Britain's foremost actors, knighted for his services to the theatre - despite having been born in Dublin, Ireland.

In his youth, Gambon played romantic leads, notably in the early 1970s BBC television series, The Borderers, in which he was swashbuckling Gavin Ker. However, his craggy looks soon made him into a character actor, and it was not until Dennis Potter's The Singing Detective (1986) that he became a household name. Even after this success, for which he won a BAFTA award, his career was patchy, with big hits such as the 1989 film, The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover interspersed with less notable work.

In recent years, films such as Dancing at Lughnasa (1998) and Plunkett and Macleane (1989), as well as television appearances in series such as Wives and Daughters (1999) (for which he won another BAFTA), a made for TV adaption of Beckett's Endgame (2001) and Perfect Strangers (2001), have made him one of Britain's most sought-after actors, as well as revealing his talent for comedy. He was last seen as the successor of Richard Harris playing Albus Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004).

He has also recently appeared on the BBC's Top Gear programme in which he launched a Suzuki Liana airborne off the final corner. The final corner has now been named 'Gambon' after this feat.