Kenneth Branagh
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: 10 December 1960
Played In
The Thomas Crown Affair
Mayday
Nikolai Ustinov
Maverick: The Epic Adventures of David Lean
David Lean (voice)
Atonement
Michael Reid
The Devil Wears Prada 2
Stuart
Tea with Judi Dench
Self
The American Revolution
(voice)
The King of Kings
Charles Dickens (voice)
BLUE EYE SAMURAI
Abijah Fowler (voice)
A Haunting in Venice
Hercule Poirot
Oppenheimer
Niels Bohr
Peter O'Toole: Along the Sky Road to Aqaba
Self
Denzel Washington: A Model American
Self
This England
Boris Johnson
Remembers…
Self
Death on the Nile
Hercule Poirot
Fireheart
Shawn Nolan (voice)
Looking at the World in a New Way: The Making of ‘Tenet’
Self
Tenet
Sator
Lost Lives
Narrator
The Kelly Clarkson Show
Self
All Is True
William Shakespeare
Avengers: Infinity War
Asgardian Distress Call (voice) (uncredited)
Murder on the Orient Express
Hercule Poirot
Dunkirk
Commander Bolton
Branagh Theatre Live: The Entertainer
Archie Rice
Mindhorn
Himself
Branagh Theatre Live: The Winter's Tale
Leontes
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Self
Marvel Studios: Assembling a Universe
Self
Late Night with Seth Meyers
Self
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit
Viktor Cherevin
National Theatre Live: Macbeth
Macbeth
Stars in Shorts
Mark Snow
Marvel Studios: Building a Cinematic Universe
Self
London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony: Isles of Wonder
Isambard Kingdom Brunel
My Week with Marilyn
Sir Laurence Olivier
Discovering Hamlet
Hamlet (archive footage)
Thor: From Asgard to Earth
Self
Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope
Self
Prodigal
Mark Snow
With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story
Self
A Night at the Movies: The Gigantic World of Epics
Self
A Night at the Movies: The Suspenseful World of Thrillers
Self
1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year
Narrator (voice)
The Boat That Rocked
Dormandy
Valkyrie
Henning von Tresckow
Wallander
Kurt Wallander
10 Days to War
Colonel Tim Collins
Alien Love Triangle
Steven Chesterman
Sleuth
Other Man on T.V.
Stephen Fry: 50 Not Out
Self
James Ellis: An Actor's Life
Himself
The Graham Norton Show
Self
The Graham Norton Show
Self - Guest
El hormiguero
Self
As You Like It
Self (voice)
Walking with Monsters
Narrator (voice)
Walking with Monsters
Narrator (voice)
Warm Springs
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
The Goebbels Experiment
Narrator (voice)
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
Self
Five Children and It
Uncle Albert
The Magic Touch of Harry Potter
Self
Cecil B. DeMille: American Epic
Narrator (voice)
The Ellen DeGeneres Show
Self
World War I in Colour
Narrator
Following the Rabbit-Proof Fence
Himself / Narrator
Real Time with Bill Maher
Self
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Gilderoy Lockhart
How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog
Peter McGowan
The Tramp and the Dictator
Narrator (voice)
Rabbit-Proof Fence
A. O. Neville
Shackleton
Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton
The Beasts Within
Narrator (voice)
Triumph of the Beasts
Narrator (voice)
Walking with Beasts
Narrator
Conspiracy
Reinhard Heydrich
Schneider's 2nd Stage
Joseph Barnett
Big Al
Narrator
Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces
Self / Narrator
The Book That Wrote Itself
Kenneth Branagh
The Road to El Dorado
Miguel (voice)
Love's Labour's Lost
Berowne
The Making of Walking with Dinosaurs
Narrator
Altman on His Own Terms
Self
Wild Wild West: Loveless's Ladies
Himself
Wild Wild West: Evil Devices
Himself
The Periwig-Maker
Periwig-maker (voice)
IMAX: Galapagos 3D
Narrator
Walking with Dinosaurs
Self - Narrator (voice)
Wild Wild West
Dr. Arliss Loveless
It's a Whole New West: The Making of 'Wild, Wild West'
Self
The Theory of Flight
Richard
The Dance of Shiva
Colonel Evans
Universal Horror
Narrator
Celebrity
Lee Simon
Cold War
The Proposition
Father Michael McKinnon
The Gingerbread Man
Rick Magruder
Parkinson
Self
The View
Self
Leute heute
Self
Hamlet
Prince Hamlet
Looking for Richard
Self - Interviewee
Othello
Iago
Shadow of a Gunman
Donal Davoren
Cinema Europe: The Other Hollywood
Anne Frank Remembered
Narration (voice)
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
Victor Frankenstein
It's Alive: The True Story of Frankenstein
Self
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Self - Guest
Much Ado About Nothing
Benedick
Swing Kids
Herr Knopp, Gestapo (uncredited)
Peter's Friends
Andrew Benson
Symphony for the Spire
Performance
Donal Davoren
Dead Again
Roman Strauss / Mike Church
Discovering Hamlet
Himself / Hamlet
Look Back in Anger
Jimmy Porter
Henry V
Henry V
Thompson
Self
American Experience
Narrator (voice)
Thames Wallah
Narrator
Strange Interlude
Gordon Evans
Fortunes of War
Guy Pringle
A Month in the Country
James Moon
High Season
Rick
Ghosts
Oswald Alving
Lorna
Billy Martin
The Lady's Not For Burning
Thomas Mendip
Coming Through
D.H. Lawrence
Theatre Night
Oswald Alving
A Coming to Terms for Billy
Billy Martin
The Boy in the Bush
Jack Grant
A Matter of Choice for Billy
Billy Martin
To the Lighthouse
Charles Tansley
Easter 2016
Student
Wogan
Self
Too Late to Talk to Billy
Billy Martin
Chariots of Fire
Cambridge Student at Society Day (uncredited)
Play for Today
Omnibus
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Self
Tony Awards
Self
The Oscars
Self
Golden Globe Awards
Self - Nominee
The Goblin
(voice)
The Making of Dunkirk
Self