British actor Sir Ben Kingsley has proven he can play just about anyone, from Nazi war criminals to Jewish Holocaust survivors. For many viewers, however, he will always be linked with his title role in Gandhi, a film that won him an Oscar and the undying respect of critics and filmgoers alike. Since then Kingsley has earned 3 Oscar nominations with 1 win and also 7 Golden Globe nominations and 2 wins. Sir Ben Kingsley was in town filming "Suspect Zero" and this was such a great chance to meet an acting great.

       Sterling and Earl had been trying to get his autograph with no success. We did get to see him film a scene one day at our University which was really cool, but he managed to leave before we had the chance to ask for an autograph (read Aaron Eckhart's story for the full scoop).

       Sterling and Earl are die-hard movie fans and are currently seeking degrees at a university to attain jobs in this career; so being around the set was like heaven for us. After many failed attempts things weren't looking good, that is until Earl's Mom had grand news. Sir Ben Kingsley was going to be doing a conversation series and Earl's Mom got us reservations!!

       We arrived at the little venue and made it into the event without a problem. After eating some free snacks before the show it was time for Sir Ben to make his appearance. It was amazing to see Sir Ben Kingsley on stage sharing his experiences and stories of his career in acting. He was very funny and very exciting to listen to. He has such a love and passion for acting that you just have to admire the man. When the interview went into an intermission Earl went outside to find Sir Ben's exit to the building and thought he had a good idea of where we should wait later that night.

       The conversation picked up shortly after Earl returned to his seat. Sir Ben then took questions from the audience and answered them in great detail. When the interview ended Sterling and Earl were ready to begin their favorite pastime, autograph collecting. The crowd left the building at a slow pace, which sucked, but we kept calm because even if we didn't get the autograph we still enjoyed the interview.

       Since Earl mapped out the exits he led the way to what he thought would be the exit. We walked around the building and noticed three people at an exit door. Earl told Sterling that the lady standing at the exit was Sir Ben's girlfriend (wife?) because he had noticed him kiss her during intermission. Both of us decided to walk up to them and straight up ask them about Ben, instead of playing the games we usually do.

       Sterling asked them if Sir Ben was still inside and they said he was. One of the crew then told us, after hearing that we were there for autographs, that Sir Ben would be coming out of the front. He said he would have to do this because there was no way out in the back (how did they get there I wonder? ha ha ha). There was something fishy about this and we knew that it must mean Kingsley would be exiting from here. So we both waited at the corner of the parking lot where we could see both the front and back exits.

        It wasn't long before Earl spotted a man with shiny bald head exiting from this backstage area. It was indeed Sir Ben, so we began to walk towards the car that was parked close to this exit. This was timed quite well and we managed to meet up with Ben and his snuggling girlfriend (or wife) before they got to their ride.

        Earl asked Ben for an autograph and he said "sure." When Earl gave him his photo he immediately said oh this is from "Rules of Engagement" and when Sterling handed him his photo, Ben told us it was from "Anna Frank". He had stories to tell about each of the photographs and was great about signing.

       Each of us then got a photo with Sir Ben and we talked with him for quite awhile. He was very friendly and he took his time with us. We had a short conversation about how we wanted to get into the movie business and he gave us some advice. He was just one of the nicest and best signers we have met to date. We wish that every celebrity could be more like him. Thank you so much Sir Ben you are really a true gentlemen among celebrities.