Brian Cox

Born: 1946-06-01 in Dundee, Scotland, UK

Known For: Acting

Biography

Brian Denis Cox (born June 1, 1946) is a Scottish actor. A classically trained Shakespearean actor, he is known for his work on stage and screen. His numerous accolades include two Laurence Olivier Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Golden Globe Award, as well as a nomination for a British Academy Television Award. In 2003, he was appointed to the Order of the British Empire at the rank of Commander. Cox trained at the Dundee Repertory Theatre before becoming a founding member of the Royal Lyceum Theatre. He went on to train as a Shakespearean actor, starring in numerous productions with the Royal National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company, where he gained recognition for his portrayal of King Lear. Cox received two Laurence Olivier Awards for Best Actor for his roles in Rat in the Skull (1984), for Royal Court, and Titus Andronicus (1988). He received two more Olivier Award nominations for Misalliance (1986) and Fashion (1988). Known as a character actor in film, he played Robert McKee in Spike Jonze's Adaptation (2002) and William Stryker in X2 (2003). For his starring role in L.I.E. (2001), he received an Independent Spirit Award nomination. His other notable films include Manhunter (1986), Iron Will (1994), Braveheart (1995), The Boxer (1997), The Rookie (2002), Troy (2004), Match Point (2005), The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep (2007), Coriolanus (2011), Pixels (2015), and Churchill (2017). Cox won the Primetime Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series for his portrayal of Hermann Göring in the television film Nuremberg (2001). The following year, he guest starred on the NBC sitcom Frasier, earning his second Emmy nomination in 2002. He portrayed Jack Langrishe in the HBO series Deadwood. He starred as Logan Roy on the HBO series Succession (2018-2023), for which he won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series and was nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards for Best Actor in a Drama Series.

Filmography

2026

Super Troopers 3: Winter Soldiers as Capt. John O’Hagan

2025

The Electric State as Popfly (voice)
AMR: Dying to Change the World as AMR
The Parenting as Frank
VE Day 80 as Self
Glenrothan as Sandy
Raoul Wallenberg: Missing Inaction as Self — Gustaf Wallenberg (voice)
The Marbles as Self
Seven Jewish Children ... (Executive Producer)

2024

That Christmas as Santa (voice)
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim as Helm Hammerhand (voice)
Little Wing as Jaan Vari
Skelly as Grandpa
Unsinkable as Robert Dodds

2023

Quasi as Narrator (voice)
Prisoner's Daughter as Max
Mending the Line as Ike Fletcher
Bill Douglas: My Best Friend as Narrator (voice)
007: Road to a Million as The Controller
Shakespeare: Rise of a Genius as Self
Made of Money with Brian Cox
An Interview with Brian Cox as Himself

2022

The Independent as Nick Booker
Bonnie as Self
Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg as Self – Actor
Peter O'Toole: Along the Sky Road to Aqaba as Self
Ooh the Banter! as Self
Ukraine: Answering the Call as Self
Piers Morgan Uncensored as Self
Brian Cox: How The Other Half Live as Presenter

2021

Separation as Rivers
Blade Runner: Black Lotus as Niander Wallace Sr. (voice)
Oleg: The Oleg Vidov Story as Narrator (voice)

2020

Last Moment of Clarity as Gilles
Lawrence After Arabia as Father (Voice)
The Bay of Silence as Milton
John Rebus: The Lockdown Blues as John Rebus

2019

Good Omens as Death (voice)
Strange But True as Bill
The Last Right as Father Reilly
Pretenders as Henry
Remember Me as Shane

2018

Succession as Logan Roy
Super Troopers 2 as John O'Hagen
The Etruscan Smile as Rory MacNeil
Kubrick by Candlelight as The Narrator
Widdershins as voice

2013

Shetland as Magnus Bain
Her as Alan Watts (voice)
The Last Leg as Self
RED 2 as Ivan
Believe as Matt Busby
Anna as Sebastian
The Curse of Edgar as Edgar Hoover
An Adventure in Space and Time as Sydney Newman
Bob Servant as Bob Servant
Blumenthal as Harold Blumenthal

2012

Blood as Lenny Fairburn
The Campaign as Raymond
A Touch of Cloth as Bill Ball
I Missed My Mother's Funeral as Old Man
The Straits as Harry Montebello
Tooned as The Mechanic
Addicted to Pleasure as Self - Host
All at Sea as Wally

2011

The Veteran as Gerry
Rise of the Planet of the Apes as John Landon
The Jonathan Ross Show as Self
Celebrity Antiques Road Trip as Self - Participant
Ironclad as Albany
Exit Humanity as Malcolm Young (voice)
The Key Man as Irving
Edwin Boyd: Citizen Gangster as Glover
The Sinking of the Laconia as Captain Sharp
Coriolanus as Menenius

2010

RED as Ivan Simanov
As Good As Dead as Reverend Kalahan
On Expenses

2009

Tell-Tale as Van Doren
Fantastic Mr. Fox as Action 12 Reporter (voice)
Scooby-Doo! and the Samurai Sword as Green Dragon (voice)
The Good Heart as Jacques
The Day of the Triffids as Dennis Masen
The Take as Ozzy
Brian Cox's Jute Journey as Self

2008

Red as Avery Ludlow
The Escapist as Frank Perry
Agent Crush as Spanners (voice)
The Colour of Magic as Narrator

2007

The Graham Norton Show as Self
Zodiac as Melvin Belli
The Bourne Ultimatum as Ward Abbott (voice) (archive footage) (uncredited)
The Water Horse as Old Angus
Battle for Terra as General Hemmer (voice)
The Secret of the Nutcracker as Drosselmeyer
Trick 'r Treat as Mr. Kreeg
Shoot on Sight as Daniel Tennant
A Woman in Winter as Dr. Hunt

2006

The One Show as Self - Guest
The Outsiders as Gabriel
Running with Scissors as Dr. Finch
The Flying Scotsman as Douglas Baxter
Carry On Ken as Self

2005

The Colbert Report
The Ringer as Gary Barker
Match Point as Alec Hewett
Blue/Orange as Dr. Robert Smith
Red Eye as Joe Reisert
The Strange Case of Sherlock Holmes & Arthur Conan Doyle as Joseph Bell
Japan's War in Colour as Self - Narrator (voice)
Hitler in Colour as Narrator

2004

Troy as King Agamemnon
Deadwood as Jack Langrishe
The Tony Danza Show as Self
The Bourne Supremacy as Ward Abbott
The Reckoning as Tobias
Murder by Numbers as Self
Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson as Other Voices (voice)

2003

Real Time with Bill Maher as Self
Sin as Captain Oakes
The Second Uncanny Issue of X-Men! Making 'X2'
The Evolution of an American Filmmaker as Self
One Life
X2 as William Stryker

2002

Top Gear as Self
The Bourne Identity as Ward Abbott
The Rookie as Jim Morris Sr.
The Ring as Richard Morgan
The Biographer as Michael O'Mara
Bug as Cyr
Adaptation. as Robert McKee
25th Hour as James Brogan
Loch Lomond: Legend of the Loch as Narrator
Aleister Crowley - The Wickedest Man in the World as Narrator
Rasputin: The Devil in the Flesh as Narrator
Smallpox 2002: Silent Weapon as Narrator
The Trials of Henry Kissinger

2001

Richard & Judy as Self
Super Troopers as John O'Hagen
L.I.E. as Big John Harrigan
Strictly Sinatra as Chisolm
The Affair of the Necklace as Minister Breteuil
Inside 'Manhunter' as Himself

2000

Aqua Teen Hunger Force as Anubis (voice)
Complicity as Inspector McDunn
Saltwater as George Beneventi
Longitude as Lord Morton
Nuremberg as Herman Wilhelm Goering
The Making of 'Rushmore' as Self
A Shot at Glory as Martin Smith
Mad About Mambo as Sidney McLoughlin
The Invention of Dr. Morel as Dr. Morel
Longitude as Lord Morton

1999

The Corruptor as Sean Wallace
For Love of the Game as Gary Wheeler
The Minus Man as Doug
The History of the British Police Force as Narrator (voice)

1998

Rushmore as Dr. Nelson Guggenheim
Desperate Measures as Captain Jeremiah Cassidy
Poodle Springs as Clayton Blackstone
Merchants of Venus as Uncle Vladimir

1997

Oz ... (Director)
Kiss the Girls as Chief Hatfield, Durham PD
The Boxer as Joe Hamill
Sharpe: The Legend as Hogan
Food for Ravens as Aneurin Bevan

1996

The Daily Show as Self
Superman: The Animated Series as Dr. Earl Garver (voice)
Chain Reaction as Lyman Earl Collier
The Long Kiss Goodnight as Dr. Nathan Waldman
The Glimmer Man as Mr. Smith
Witness Against Hitler as Judge Freisler

1995

Braveheart as Argyle Wallace
Rob Roy as Killearn

1994

Iron Will as Angus McTeague
Grushko as Colonel Yevgeni Grushko
The Negotiator as Charlie King
Prince of Jutland as Aethelwine
The Maltese Double Cross as Narrator (voice)

1993

Frasier as Harry Moon
Sharpe as Major Hogan
Sharpe's Rifles as Major Michael Hogan
Sharpe's Eagle as Major Michael Hogan

1992

Deceptions as Carlton Heard
Macbeth as Macbeth
The Lost Language of Cranes as Owen Benjamin
The Cloning of Joanna May as Carl May
Shakespeare: The Animated Tales as Macbeth (voice)
The Big Battalions as Edward Hoyland
Six Characters in Search of An Author as The Director
The Cutter

1991

Performance as The Director
Red Fox as Geoffrey Harrison

1990

Have I Got News for You as Self
Secret Weapon as Andrew Neil
Hidden Agenda as Peter Kerrigan
The Making of 'Hidden Agenda' as self
Perfect Scoundrels as Father Amedy

1989

The Simpsons as Kostas Becker (voice)
Murder on the Moon as Voronov
The Blasphemers' Banquet as Rev. Wallace (voice)
Brian Cox on Acting in Tragedy as Self

1988

LIVE with Kelly and Mark as Self - Guest
Red Dwarf as The King
The Modern World: Ten Great Writers as Henrik Ibsen (voice)
Beryl Markham: A Shadow on the Sun as Jack Purves
Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky as Voiceover Narrator

1987

Inspector Morse as Michael Steppings
Shoot for the Sun as Dunny
French & Saunders as King Lear
Rat in the Skull as Detective Inspector Nelson
Gramsci: Everything that Concerns People as Narrator
Acting

1986

Home Cooking as Vic
Unnatural Causes as Vic
Manhunter as Dr. Hannibal Lecktor

1985

Florence Nightingale as Dr. McGregor
The Cantor of St Thomas's as Johann Sebastian Bach

1984

Pope John Paul II as Father Góra

1983

King Lear as Burgundy

1982

A Cotswold Death as Dr. Gillespie
The Privilege as Young Laird

1981

House on the Hill as Leon Douglas

1980

Hammer House of Horror as Chuck
Dalhousie's Luck as Dalhousie
Therese Raquin as Laurent

1979

Minder as Frank
Question Time as Self - Panellist

1978

Out as McGrath
The Devil's Crown as Henry II

1977

Target as Billy Voss

1976

Clay, Smeddum and Greenden as George Simpson

1975

In Celebration as Steven Shaw

1974

Playhouse as Dalhousie
Churchill's People as William Wallace
The Changeling as Alsemero

1972

Van der Valk as Stefan Szabo

1971

Great Performances as Self - Narration (voice)
Nicholas and Alexandra as Trotsky

1970

Play for Today as Dr. Gillespie
Manhunt as Anton

1968

The Year of the Sex Olympics as Lasar Opie

1967

The Gamblers as Mickey

1965

BBC Play of the Month as Alsemero
A Knight in Tarnished Armour as Nelson

1964

Theatre 625 as Lasar Opie