Kenneth Branagh
Acting
Biography
Sir Kenneth Charles Branagh (born 10 December 1960) is a British actor and filmmaker. Born in Belfast and raised primarily in Reading, Berkshire, Branagh trained at RADA in London and served as its president from 2015 to 2024. His accolades include an Academy Award, four BAFTAs, two Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and an Olivier Award. He was appointed a Knight Bachelor in 2012 and was given Freedom of the City in his native Belfast in 2018. In 2020, he was ranked in 20th place on The Irish Times's list of Ireland's greatest film actors. Branagh has directed and starred in several film adaptations of William Shakespeare's plays, including Henry V (1989), Much Ado About Nothing (1993), Othello (1995), Hamlet (1996), and As You Like It (2006). He was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actor and Best Director for Henry V and Best Adapted Screenplay for Hamlet. He directed Swan Song (1992), which earned a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film. He also directed Peter's Friends (1992), Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994), Thor (2011), and Cinderella (2015). For his semi-autobiographical film Belfast (2021), he was nominated for the Academy Awards for Best Picture and Director and won Best Original Screenplay. Branagh directed and starred as Hercule Poirot in the Hercule Poirot film series (2017–present). He has also acted in Celebrity (1998), Wild Wild West (1999), The Road to El Dorado (2000), Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), and Valkyrie (2008). His portrayal of Laurence Olivier in My Week with Marilyn (2011) earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He played supporting roles in Christopher Nolan's films Dunkirk (2017), Tenet (2020), and Oppenheimer (2023). Branagh has starred in the BBC1 series Fortunes of War (1987), the Channel 4 series Shackleton (2002), the television film Warm Springs (2005), and the BBC One series Wallander (2008–2016). He received a Primetime Emmy Award and an International Emmy Award for Best Actor for portraying SS leader Reinhard Heydrich in the HBO film Conspiracy (2001).
Born: December 10, 1960
Place of Birth: Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK
Known For
Filmography
as Charles Dickens (voice)
as Abijah Fowler (voice)
as Hercule Poirot
as Niels Bohr
as Boris Johnson
as Hercule Poirot
as Shawn Nolan (voice)
as Sator
as Self
as William Shakespeare
as Asgardian Distress Call (voice) (uncredited)
as Hercule Poirot
as Commander Bolton
as Archie Rice
as Himself
as Leontes
as Self
as Viktor Cherevin
as Macbeth
as Mark Snow
as Isambard Kingdom Brunel
as Sir Laurence Olivier
as Hamlet (archive footage)
as Self
as Mark Snow
as Narrator (voice)
as Dormandy
as Henning von Tresckow
as Kurt Wallander
as Colonel Tim Collins
as Steven Chesterman
as Other Man on T.V.
as Self
as Himself
as Self
as Self - Guest
as Self
as Self (voice)
as Narrator (voice)
as Narrator (voice)
as Franklin Delano Roosevelt
as Uncle Albert
as Narrator (voice)
as Self
as Narrator
as Self
as Gilderoy Lockhart
as Peter McGowan
as Narrator (voice)
as A. O. Neville
as Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton
as Narrator (voice)
as Narrator (voice)
as Narrator
as Reinhard Heydrich
as Narrator
as Self / Narrator
as Kenneth Branagh
as Miguel (voice)
as Berowne
as Self
as Himself
as Periwig-maker (voice)
as Narrator
as Narrator (voice)
as Dr. Arliss Loveless
as Richard
as Colonel Evans
as Narrator
as Lee Simon
as Father Michael McKinnon
as Rick Magruder
as Self
as Self
as Prince Hamlet
as Self - Interviewee
as Iago
as Donal Davoren
as Narration (voice)
as Victor Frankenstein
as Self - Guest
as Benedick
as Herr Knopp, Gestapo (uncredited)
as Andrew Benson
as Donal Davoren
as Roman Strauss / Mike Church
as Himself / Hamlet
as Jimmy Porter
as Henry V
as Narrator (voice)
as Gordon Evans
as Narrator
as Guy Pringle
as James Moon
as Rick
as Oswald Alving
as Billy Martin
as Thomas Mendip
as D.H. Lawrence
as Billy Martin
as Jack Grant
as Billy Martin
as Charles Tansley
as Student
as Self
as Billy Martin
as Cambridge Student at Society Day (uncredited)
as Self
as Self
as Self - Nominee