Known For
Acting
Born
Dec 10, 1960
Place of Birth
Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK
Credits
163 titles
Kenneth Branagh
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).
Known For
Filmography
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)
Belfast
Producer
Looking at the World in a New Way: The Making of ‘Tenet’
Self
Tenet
Sator
Artemis Fowl
Director
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: Romeo and Juliet
Director
Branagh Theatre Live: The Winter's Tale
Leontes
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Self
Cinderella
Director
Marvel Studios: Assembling a Universe
Self
Late Night with Seth Meyers
Self
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit
Viktor Cherevin
Thor: The Dark World
Producer
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
Thor
Director
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