Kenneth Branagh
Acting • Born 1960-12-10
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).
Filmography
145 credits
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Movie • 2002
Gilderoy Lockhart
The Road to El Dorado
Movie • 2000
Miguel (voice)
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
Movie • 1994
Victor Frankenstein
Valkyrie
Movie • 2008
Henning von Tresckow
Hamlet
Movie • 1996
Prince Hamlet
It's Alive: The True Story of Frankenstein
Movie • 1994
Self
Henry V
Movie • 1989
Henry V
Sleuth
Movie • 2007
Other Man on T.V.
Peter's Friends
Movie • 1992
Andrew Benson
Dead Again
Movie • 1991
Roman Strauss / Mike Church
Much Ado About Nothing
Movie • 1993
Benedick
Wild Wild West
Movie • 1999
Dr. Arliss Loveless
Celebrity
Movie • 1998
Lee Simon
Chariots of Fire
Movie • 1981
Cambridge Student at Society Day (uncredited)
Rabbit-Proof Fence
Movie • 2002
A. O. Neville
Conspiracy
Movie • 2001
Reinhard Heydrich
The Gingerbread Man
Movie • 1998
Rick Magruder
Walking with Monsters
Movie • 2005
Narrator (voice)
How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog
Movie • 2002
Peter McGowan
A Month in the Country
Movie • 1987
James Moon
Othello
Movie • 1995
Iago
Five Children and It
Movie • 2004
Uncle Albert
Warm Springs
Movie • 2005
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
IMAX: Galapagos 3D
Movie • 1999
Narrator
The Periwig-Maker
Movie • 1999
Periwig-maker (voice)
The Boat That Rocked
Movie • 2009
Dormandy
Love's Labour's Lost
Movie • 2000
Berowne
My Week with Marilyn
Movie • 2011
Sir Laurence Olivier
The Theory of Flight
Movie • 1999
Richard
Mayday
Movie • 2026
Nikolai Ustinov
With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story
Movie • 2010
Self
A Haunting in Venice
Movie • 2023
Hercule Poirot
High Season
Movie • 1987
Rick
London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony: Isles of Wonder
Movie • 2012
Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Ghosts
Movie • 1987
Oswald Alving
Universal Horror
Movie • 1998
Narrator
Stars in Shorts
Movie • 2012
Mark Snow
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit
Movie • 2014
Viktor Cherevin
Following the Rabbit-Proof Fence
Movie • 2003
Himself / Narrator
Peter O'Toole: Along the Sky Road to Aqaba
Movie • 2022
Self
The Magic Touch of Harry Potter
Movie • 2004
Self
Discovering Hamlet
Movie • 2011
Hamlet (archive footage)
National Theatre Live: Macbeth
Movie • 2013
Macbeth
Shadow of a Gunman
Movie • 1995
Donal Davoren
The Making of Walking with Dinosaurs
Movie • 2000
Narrator
Look Back in Anger
Movie • 1989
Jimmy Porter
Discovering Hamlet
Movie • 1990
Himself / Hamlet
Looking for Richard
Movie • 1996
Self - Interviewee
1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year
Movie • 2009
Narrator (voice)
Easter 2016
Movie • 1982
Student
Lon Chaney: A thousand faces
Movie • 2000
Self / Narrator
Alien Love Triangle
Movie • 2008
Steven Chesterman
Oppenheimer
Movie • 2023
Niels Bohr
The Proposition
Movie • 1998
Father Michael McKinnon
Schneider's 2nd Stage
Movie • 2001
Joseph Barnett
Stephen Fry: 50 Not Out
Movie • 2007
Self
Marvel Studios: Assembling a Universe
Movie • 2014
Self
Denzel Washington: A Model American
Movie • 2022
Self
As You Like It
Movie • 2006
Self (voice)
The Dance of Shiva
Movie • 1998
Colonel Evans
Branagh Theatre Live: The Winter's Tale
Movie • 2015
Leontes
The King of Kings
Movie • 2025
Charles Dickens (voice)
Dunkirk
Movie • 2017
Commander Bolton
Cecil B. DeMille: American Epic
Movie • 2004
Narrator (voice)
Murder on the Orient Express
Movie • 2017
Hercule Poirot
Coming Through
Movie • 1985
D.H. Lawrence
Anne Frank Remembered
Movie • 1995
Narration (voice)
The Tramp and the Dictator
Movie • 2002
Narrator (voice)
A Coming to Terms for Billy
Movie • 1984
Billy Martin
A Matter of Choice for Billy
Movie • 1983
Billy Martin
Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope
Movie • 2011
Self
The Book That Wrote Itself
Movie • 2000
Kenneth Branagh
Prodigal
Movie • 2011
Mark Snow
Branagh Theatre Live: The Entertainer
Movie • 2016
Archie Rice
To the Lighthouse
Movie • 1983
Charles Tansley
The Lady's Not For Burning
Movie • 1987
Thomas Mendip
Swing Kids
Movie • 1993
Herr Knopp, Gestapo (uncredited)
Mindhorn
Movie • 2016
Himself
Death on the Nile
Movie • 2022
Hercule Poirot
Triumph of the Beasts
Movie • 2001
Narrator (voice)
The Beasts Within
Movie • 2001
Narrator (voice)
Avengers: Infinity War
Movie • 2018
Asgardian Distress Call (voice) (uncredited)
All Is True
Movie • 2018
William Shakespeare
A Night at the Movies: The Suspenseful World of Thrillers
Movie • 2009
Self
A Night at the Movies: The Gigantic World of Epics
Movie • 2009
Self
Too Late to Talk to Billy
Movie • 1982
Billy Martin
Lorna
Movie • 1987
Billy Martin
James Ellis: An Actor's Life
Movie • 2007
Himself
Tenet
Movie • 2020
Sator
Lost Lives
Movie • 2019
Thor: From Asgard to Earth
Movie • 2011
Self
It's a Whole New West: The Making of 'Wild, Wild West'
Movie • 1999
Self
Wild Wild West: Loveless's Ladies
Movie • 1999
Himself
Wild Wild West: Evil Devices
Movie • 1999
Himself
Fireheart
Movie • 2022
Shawn Nolan (voice)
Thames Wallah
Movie • 1988
Narrator
Looking at the World in a New Way: The Making of ‘Tenet’
Movie • 2020
Self
Altman on His Own Terms
Movie • 2000
Self
Atonement
Movie
Michael Reid
The Devil Wears Prada 2
Movie • 2026
The Thomas Crown Affair
Movie • 2027
Marvel Studios: Building a Cinematic Universe
Movie • 2012
Self
Symphony for the Spire
Movie • 1992
The Goblin
Movie
(voice)
The Goebbels Experiment
Movie • 2005
Narrator (voice)
Tea with Judi Dench
Movie • 2025
Self
Walking with Beasts
TV • 2001
Narrator
The Ellen DeGeneres Show
TV • 2003
Self
The View
TV • 1997
Self
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
TV • 1993
Self - Guest
Big Al
TV • 2000
Narrator
Play for Today
TV • 1970
Cold War
TV • 1998
Shackleton
TV • 2002
Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton
Fortunes of War
TV • 1987
Guy Pringle
The Oscars
TV • 1953
Self
Thompson
TV • 1988
Self
Cinema Europe: The Other Hollywood
TV • 1995
BLUE EYE SAMURAI
TV • 2023
Abijah Fowler (voice)
Performance
TV • 1991
Donal Davoren
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
TV • 2005
Self
El hormiguero
TV • 2006
Self
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
TV • 2015
Self
The Boy in the Bush
TV • 1984
Jack Grant
This England
TV • 2022
Boris Johnson
Real Time with Bill Maher
TV • 2003
Self
Late Night with Seth Meyers
TV • 2014
Self
American Experience
TV • 1988
Narrator (voice)
Walking with Dinosaurs
TV • 1999
Self - Narrator (voice)
World War 1 in Colour
TV • 2003
Narrator
Wogan
TV • 1982
Self
The Graham Norton Show
TV • 2007
Self
The Kelly Clarkson Show
TV • 2019
Self
Leute heute
TV • 1997
Self
10 Days to War
TV • 2008
Colonel Tim Collins
The Graham Norton Show
TV • 2007
Self - Guest
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
TV • 1962
Self
Walking with Monsters
TV • 2005
Narrator (voice)
Parkinson
TV • 1998
Self
Theatre Night
TV • 1985
Oswald Alving
Golden Globe Awards
TV • 1944
Self - Nominee
Wallander
TV • 2008
Kurt Wallander
The American Revolution
TV • 2025
(voice)
Remembers…
TV • 2022
Self
Strange Interlude
TV • 1988
Gordon Evans