Kenneth Branagh

Biography

Sir Kenneth Charles Branagh (/ˈbrænə/ BRAN-ə; 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). Description above from the Wikipedia article Kenneth Branagh, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Known For

Gilderoy Lockhart

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Miguel (voice)

The Road to El Dorado

Victor Frankenstein

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Henning von Tresckow

Valkyrie

Prince Hamlet

Hamlet

Self

It's Alive: The True Story of Frankenstein

Henry V

Henry V

Other Man on T.V.

Sleuth

Andrew Benson

Peter's Friends

Roman Strauss / Mike Church

Dead Again

Benedick

Much Ado About Nothing

Dr. Arliss Loveless

Wild Wild West

Lee Simon

Celebrity

Cambridge Student at Society Day (uncredited)

Chariots of Fire

A. O. Neville

Rabbit-Proof Fence

Reinhard Heydrich

Conspiracy

Rick Magruder

The Gingerbread Man

Narrator (voice)

Walking with Monsters

Peter McGowan

How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog

James Soon

A Month in the Country

Iago

Othello

Uncle Albert

Five Children and It

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Warm Springs

Narrator

IMAX: Galapagos 3D

Periwig-maker (voice)

Der Perückenmacher

Dormandy

The Boat That Rocked

Berowne

Love's Labour's Lost

Sir Laurence Olivier

My Week with Marilyn

Richard

The Theory of Flight

Mayday

Gordon Evans

Strange Interlude

Self

With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story

Hercule Poirot

A Haunting in Venice

Rick

High Season

Isambard Kingdom Brunel

London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony: Isles of Wonder

Oswald Alving

Ghosts

Narrator

Universal Horror

Mark Snow

Stars In Shorts

Viktor Cherevin

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

Himself / Narrator

Following the Rabbit-Proof Fence

Self

Peter O'Toole: Along the Sky Road to Aqaba

Self

The Magic Touch of Harry Potter

Hamlet (archive footage)

Discovering Hamlet

Macbeth, Thane of Glamis and Cawdor, general in the King's army

National Theatre Live: Macbeth

Donal Davoren

Shadow of a Gunman

Narrator

The Making of Walking with Dinosaurs

Jimmy Porter

Look Back in Anger

Himself / Hamlet

Discovering Hamlet

Self - Interviewee

Looking for Richard

Narrator (voice)

1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year

Student

Easter 2016

Self / Narrator

Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces

Steven Chesterman

Alien Love Triangle

Niels Bohr

Oppenheimer

Father Michael McKinnon

The Proposition

Joseph Barnett

Schneider's 2nd Stage

Self

Stephen Fry: 50 Not Out

Self

Marvel Studios: Assembling a Universe

Self

Denzel Washington : Un modèle américain

Self - Director (archive footage)

Marvel Studios Assembled: The Making of Thor: Love and Thunder

Self (voice)

As You Like It

Colonel Evans

The Dance of Shiva

Leontes

Branagh Theatre Live: The Winter's Tale

Charles Dickens (voice)

The King of Kings

Commander Bolton

Dunkirk

Narrator (voice)

Cecil B. DeMille: American Epic

Hercule Poirot

Murder on the Orient Express

D.H. Lawrence

Coming Through

Narration (voice)

Anne Frank Remembered

Narrator (voice)

The Tramp and the Dictator

Billy Martin

A Coming to Terms for Billy

Billy Martin

A Matter of Choice for Billy

Self

Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope

Kenneth Branagh

The Book That Wrote Itself

Mark Snow

Prodigal

Archie Rice

Branagh Theatre Live: The Entertainer

Charles Tansley

To the Lighthouse

Thomas Mendip

The Lady's Not For Burning

Herr Knopp, Gestapo (uncredited)

Swing Kids

Himself

Mindhorn

Hercule Poirot

Death on the Nile

Narrator (voice)

Triumph of the Beasts

Narrator (voice)

The Beasts Within

Asgardian Distress Call (voice) (uncredited)

Avengers: Infinity War

William Shakespeare

All Is True

Self

A Night at the Movies: The Suspenseful World of Thrillers

Self

A Night at the Movies: The Gigantic World of Epics

Billy Martin

Too Late to Talk to Billy

Billy Martin

Lorna

Himself

James Ellis: An Actor's Life

Sator

Tenet

Lost Lives

Self

Thor: From Asgard to Earth

Self

It's a Whole New West: The Making of 'Wild, Wild West'

Himself

Wild Wild West: Loveless's Ladies

Himself

Wild Wild West: Evil Devices

Shawn Nolan (voice)

Fireheart

Narrator

Thames Wallah

Self

Looking at the World in a New Way: The Making of ‘Tenet’

Self

Altman on His Own Terms

Atonement

The Devil Wears Prada 2

The Thomas Crown Affair

Personal Info

Known For

Acting

Known Credits

103

Gender

Male

Birthday

1960-12-10

Place of Birth

Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK

Also Known As

ケネス・ブラナー