Kenneth Branagh
Born: 1960-12-10 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK
Known For: 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).
Filmography
2025
- The King of Kings as Charles Dickens (voice)
- The American Revolution as voice
2023
- Oppenheimer as Niels Bohr
- BLUE EYE SAMURAI as Abijah Fowler (voice)
- A Haunting in Venice as Hercule Poirot
2022
- Death on the Nile as Hercule Poirot
- Fireheart as Shawn Nolan (voice)
- Peter O'Toole: Along the Sky Road to Aqaba as Self
- Denzel Washington: A Model American as Self
- This England as Boris Johnson
2021
- Belfast ... (Producer)
2020
- Tenet as Sator
- Artemis Fowl ... (Director)
- Looking at the World in a New Way: The Making of ‘Tenet’ as Self
2019
- The Kelly Clarkson Show as Self
- Lost Lives
2018
- Avengers: Infinity War as Asgardian Distress Call (voice) (uncredited)
- All Is True as William Shakespeare
2017
- Dunkirk as Commander Bolton
- Murder on the Orient Express as Hercule Poirot
2016
- Mindhorn as Himself
- Branagh Theatre Live: The Entertainer as Archie Rice
- Branagh Theatre Live: Romeo and Juliet ... (Director)
2015
- The Late Show with Stephen Colbert as Self
- Cinderella ... (Director)
- Branagh Theatre Live: The Winter's Tale as Leontes
2014
- Late Night with Seth Meyers as Self
- Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit as Viktor Cherevin
- Marvel Studios: Assembling a Universe as Self
2013
- Thor: The Dark World ... (Producer)
- National Theatre Live: Macbeth as Macbeth
2012
- London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony: Isles of Wonder as Isambard Kingdom Brunel
- Stars In Shorts as Mark Snow
- Marvel Studios: Building a Cinematic Universe as Self
2011
- Thor ... (Director)
- My Week with Marilyn as Sir Laurence Olivier
- Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope as Self
- Prodigal as Mark Snow
- Discovering Hamlet as Hamlet (archive footage)
- Thor: From Asgard to Earth as Self
2010
2009
- The Boat That Rocked as Dormandy
- 1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year as Narrator (voice)
- A Night at the Movies: The Suspenseful World of Thrillers as Self
- A Night at the Movies: The Gigantic World of Epics as Self
2008
- Wallander as Kurt Wallander
- Valkyrie as Henning von Tresckow
- 10 Days to War as Colonel Tim Collins
- Alien Love Triangle as Steven Chesterman
2007
- The Graham Norton Show as Self
- Sleuth as Other Man on T.V.
- Stephen Fry: 50 Not Out as Self
- James Ellis: An Actor's Life as Himself
2006
- El hormiguero as Self
- The Magic Flute ... (Screenplay)
- As You Like It as Self (voice)
2005
- The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson as Self
- Warm Springs as Franklin Delano Roosevelt
- Walking with Monsters as Narrator (voice)
- Walking with Monsters as Narrator (voice)
- The Goebbels Experiment as Narrator (voice)
2004
- Five Children and It as Uncle Albert
- The Magic Touch of Harry Potter as Self
- Cecil B. DeMille: American Epic as Narrator (voice)
2003
- Real Time with Bill Maher as Self
- The Ellen DeGeneres Show as Self
- Listening ... (Writer)
- Following the Rabbit-Proof Fence as Himself / Narrator
- World War 1 in Colour as Narrator
2002
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets as Gilderoy Lockhart
- Rabbit-Proof Fence as A. O. Neville
- How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog as Peter McGowan
- Shackleton as Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton
- The Tramp and the Dictator as Narrator (voice)
2001
- Walking with Beasts as Narrator
- Conspiracy as Reinhard Heydrich
- The Beasts Within as Narrator (voice)
- Schneider's 2nd Stage as Joseph Barnett
- Triumph of the Beasts as Narrator (voice)
2000
- The Road to El Dorado as Miguel (voice)
- Love's Labour's Lost as Berowne
- Altman on His Own Terms as Self
- Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces as Self / Narrator
- Big Al as Narrator
- The Book That Wrote Itself as Kenneth Branagh
- The Making of Walking with Dinosaurs as Narrator
1999
- Wild Wild West as Dr. Arliss Loveless
- IMAX: Galapagos 3D as Narrator
- Walking with Dinosaurs as Narrator (voice)
- The Theory of Flight as Richard
- It's a Whole New West: The Making of 'Wild, Wild West' as Self
- The Periwig-Maker as Periwig-maker (voice)
- Wild Wild West: Evil Devices as Himself
- Wild Wild West: Loveless's Ladies as Himself
1998
- Parkinson as Self
- Celebrity as Lee Simon
- The Proposition as Father Michael McKinnon
- The Gingerbread Man as Rick Magruder
- Universal Horror as Narrator
- Cold War
- The Dance of Shiva as Colonel Evans
1997
- Leute heute as Self
- The View as Self
1996
- Hamlet as Prince Hamlet
- Looking for Richard as Self - Interviewee
1995
- Othello as Iago
- Anne Frank Remembered as Narration (voice)
- In the Bleak Midwinter ... (Director)
- Shadow of a Gunman as Donal Davoren
- Cinema Europe: The Other Hollywood
1994
- Mary Shelley's Frankenstein as Victor Frankenstein
- It's Alive: The True Story of Frankenstein as Self
1993
- Late Night with Conan O'Brien as Self - Guest
- Swing Kids as Herr Knopp, Gestapo (uncredited)
- Much Ado About Nothing as Benedick
1992
- Peter's Friends as Andrew Benson
- Swan Song ... (Director)
- Symphony for the Spire
1991
- Performance as Donal Davoren
- Dead Again as Roman Strauss / Mike Church
1990
- Discovering Hamlet as Himself / Hamlet
1989
- Henry V as Henry V
- Look Back in Anger as Jimmy Porter
1988
- American Experience as Narrator (voice)
- Strange Interlude as Gordon Evans
- Twelfth Night, or What You Will ... (Stage Director)
- Thompson as Self
- Thames Wallah as Narrator
1987
- High Season as Rick
- Ghosts as Oswald Alving
- Lorna as Billy Martin
- A Month in the Country as James Moon
- Fortunes of War as Guy Pringle
- The Lady's Not For Burning as Thomas Mendip
1985
- Coming Through as D.H. Lawrence
- Theatre Night as Oswald Alving
1984
- The Boy in the Bush as Jack Grant
- A Coming to Terms for Billy as Billy Martin
1983
- To the Lighthouse as Charles Tansley
- A Matter of Choice for Billy as Billy Martin
1982
- Wogan as Self
- Easter 2016 as Student
- Too Late to Talk to Billy as Billy Martin
1981
- Chariots of Fire as Cambridge Student at Society Day (uncredited)
1970
1962
1956
- Tony Awards as Self
1953
- The Oscars as Self
1944
- Golden Globe Awards as Self - Nominee