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
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 Moon
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
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 (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
Michael Reid
Atonement
The Devil Wears Prada 2
The Thomas Crown Affair
Self
Marvel Studios: Building a Cinematic Universe
Symphony for the Spire
(voice)
The Goblin
Narrator (voice)
Das Goebbels-Experiment
Self
Tea with Judi Dench
Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Known Credits
107
Gender
Male
Birthday
1960-12-10
Place of Birth
Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK
Also Known As
ケネス・ブラナー