Brian Cox
Acting • Born 1946-06-01
Biography
Brian Denis Cox (born June 1, 1946) is a Scottish actor. A classically trained Shakespearean actor, he is known for his work on stage and screen. His numerous accolades include two Laurence Olivier Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Golden Globe Award, as well as a nomination for a British Academy Television Award. In 2003, he was appointed to the Order of the British Empire at the rank of Commander. Cox trained at the Dundee Repertory Theatre before becoming a founding member of the Royal Lyceum Theatre. He went on to train as a Shakespearean actor, starring in numerous productions with the Royal National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company, where he gained recognition for his portrayal of King Lear. Cox received two Laurence Olivier Awards for Best Actor for his roles in Rat in the Skull (1984), for Royal Court, and Titus Andronicus (1988). He received two more Olivier Award nominations for Misalliance (1986) and Fashion (1988). Known as a character actor in film, he played Robert McKee in Spike Jonze's Adaptation (2002) and William Stryker in X2 (2003). For his starring role in L.I.E. (2001), he received an Independent Spirit Award nomination. His other notable films include Manhunter (1986), Iron Will (1994), Braveheart (1995), The Boxer (1997), The Rookie (2002), Troy (2004), Match Point (2005), The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep (2007), Coriolanus (2011), Pixels (2015), and Churchill (2017). Cox won the Primetime Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series for his portrayal of Hermann Göring in the television film Nuremberg (2001). The following year, he guest starred on the NBC sitcom Frasier, earning his second Emmy nomination in 2002. He portrayed Jack Langrishe in the HBO series Deadwood. He starred as Logan Roy on the HBO series Succession (2018-2023), for which he won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series and was nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards for Best Actor in a Drama Series.
Filmography
292 credits
Braveheart
Movie • 1995
Argyle Wallace
The Ring
Movie • 2002
Richard Morgan
25th Hour
Movie • 2002
James Brogan
Troy
Movie • 2004
King Agamemnon
Poodle Springs
Movie • 1998
Clayton Blackstone
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Movie • 2009
Action 12 Reporter (voice)
Zodiac
Movie • 2007
Melvin Belli
The Bourne Identity
Movie • 2002
Ward Abbott
The Bourne Supremacy
Movie • 2004
Ward Abbott
The Independent
Movie • 2022
Nick Booker
Adaptation.
Movie • 2002
Robert McKee
The Good Heart
Movie • 2009
Jacques
Rushmore
Movie • 1998
Dr. Nelson Guggenheim
The Long Kiss Goodnight
Movie • 1996
Dr. Nathan Waldman
The Minus Man
Movie • 1999
Doug
Trick 'r Treat
Movie • 2007
Mr. Kreeg
Running with Scissors
Movie • 2006
Dr. Finch
Manhunter
Movie • 1986
Dr. Hannibal Lecktor
Red Eye
Movie • 2005
Joe Reisert
Rob Roy
Movie • 1995
Killearn
Iron Will
Movie • 1994
Angus McTeague
Complicity
Movie • 2000
Inspector McDunn
Chain Reaction
Movie • 1996
Lyman Earl Collier
Bug
Movie • 2002
Cyr
Kiss the Girls
Movie • 1997
Chief Hatfield, Durham PD
The Corruptor
Movie • 1999
Sean Wallace
Desperate Measures
Movie • 1998
Captain Jeremiah Cassidy
The Reckoning
Movie • 2004
Tobias
The Ringer
Movie • 2005
Gary Barker
Red
Movie • 2008
Avery Ludlow
Tell-Tale
Movie • 2009
Van Doren
The Glimmer Man
Movie • 1996
Mr. Smith
As Good As Dead
Movie • 2010
Reverend Kalahan
X2
Movie • 2003
William Stryker
The Rookie
Movie • 2002
Jim Morris Sr.
The Escapist
Movie • 2008
Frank Perry
Mad About Mambo
Movie • 2000
Sidney McLoughlin
The Flying Scotsman
Movie • 2006
Douglas Baxter
An Interview with Brian Cox
Movie • 2023
Himself
Brian Cox on Acting in Tragedy
Movie • 1989
Self
Ironclad
Movie • 2011
Albany
Nicholas and Alexandra
Movie • 1971
Trotsky
Scooby-Doo! and the Samurai Sword
Movie • 2009
Green Dragon (voice)
Battle for Terra
Movie • 2007
General Hemmer (voice)
RED
Movie • 2010
Ivan Simanov
The Boxer
Movie • 1997
Joe Hamill
Quasi
Movie • 2023
Narrator (voice)
Hidden Agenda
Movie • 1990
Peter Kerrigan
King Lear
Movie • 1983
Burgundy
Super Troopers
Movie • 2001
Captain O'Hagen
Japan's War in Colour
Movie • 2005
Self - Narrator (voice)
The Maltese Double Cross
Movie • 1994
Narrator (voice)
L.I.E.
Movie • 2001
Big John Harrigan
Prince of Jutland
Movie • 1994
Aethelwine
Longitude
Movie • 2000
Lord Morton
Sharpe's Eagle
Movie • 1993
Major Michael Hogan
The Affair of the Necklace
Movie • 2001
Minister Breteuil
Sharpe's Rifles
Movie • 1993
Major Michael Hogan
The Veteran
Movie • 2011
Gerry
The Secret of the Nutcracker
Movie • 2007
Drosselmeyer
The Water Horse
Movie • 2007
Old Angus
Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky
Movie • 1988
Voiceover Narrator
The Lost Language of Cranes
Movie • 1992
Owen Benjamin
Brian Cox's Jute Journey
Movie • 2009
Self
The Blasphemers' Banquet
Movie • 1989
Rev. Wallace (voice)
The Campaign
Movie • 2012
Raymond
Coriolanus
Movie • 2011
Menenius
The Key Man
Movie • 2011
Irving
The Parenting
Movie • 2025
Frank
A Woman in Winter
Movie • 2007
Dr. Hunt
Her
Movie • 2013
Alan Watts (voice)
The Privilege
Movie • 1982
Young Laird
Strictly Sinatra
Movie • 2001
Chisolm
The Year of the Sex Olympics
Movie • 1968
Lasar Opie
Blood
Movie • 2012
Lenny Fairburn
In Celebration
Movie • 1975
Steven Shaw
Peter O'Toole: Along the Sky Road to Aqaba
Movie • 2022
Self
Witness Against Hitler
Movie • 1996
Judge Freisler
The Evolution of an American Filmmaker
Movie • 2003
Self
The Cloning of Joanna May
Movie • 1992
Carl May
Little Wing
Movie • 2024
Jaan Vari
An Adventure in Space and Time
Movie • 2013
Sydney Newman
On Expenses
Movie • 2010
The Cutter
Movie • 1992
I Missed My Mother's Funeral
Movie • 2012
Old Man
Six Characters in Search of An Author
Movie • 1992
The Director
The Curse of Edgar
Movie • 2013
Edgar Hoover
Hitler in Colour
Movie • 2005
Narrator
Anna
Movie • 2013
Sebastian
Inside 'Manhunter'
Movie • 2001
Himself
Believe
Movie • 2013
Matt Busby
Blumenthal
Movie • 2013
Harold Blumenthal
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim
Movie • 2024
Helm Hammerhand (voice)
RED 2
Movie • 2013
Ivan
Match Point
Movie • 2005
Alec Hewett
The Changeling
Movie • 1974
Alsemero
Ukraine: Answering the Call
Movie • 2022
Self
Deceptions
Movie • 1992
Carlton Heard
Pope John Paul II
Movie • 1984
Father Góra
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Movie • 2011
John Landon
The Electric State
Movie • 2025
Popfly (voice)
A Modern Magician
Movie
The Voice
The Anomaly
Movie • 2014
Dr. Langham
The Trials of Henry Kissinger
Movie • 2002
Self
The Gospel of John
Movie • 2014
Narrator (voice) – King James Version
Murder by Numbers
Movie • 2004
Self
Darcey Bussell: My Life on the BBC
Movie • 2016
Self
Shoot for the Sun
Movie • 1987
Dunny
The Glove
Movie
Bonnie
Movie • 2022
Self
The Making of 'Hidden Agenda'
Movie • 1990
self
Pixels
Movie • 2015
Admiral Porter
Beryl Markham: A Shadow on the Sun
Movie • 1988
Jack Purves
Bill Douglas: My Best Friend
Movie • 2023
Narrator (voice)
Forsaken
Movie • 2015
James McCurdy
Exit Humanity
Movie • 2011
Malcolm Young (voice)
Edwin Boyd: Citizen Gangster
Movie • 2011
Glover
That Christmas
Movie • 2024
Santa (voice)
The Planets
Movie
Ooh the Banter!
Movie • 2022
Self
Agent Crush
Movie • 2008
Spanners (voice)
Smallpox 2002: Silent Weapon
Movie • 2002
Narrator
Shoot on Sight
Movie • 2007
Daniel Tennant
Skelly
Movie • 2024
Grandpa
Saltwater
Movie • 2000
George Beneventi
Wittgenstein's Poker
Movie
Bertrand Russell (voice)
Sharpe: The Legend
Movie • 1997
Hogan
Churchill
Movie • 2017
Winston Churchill
The Carer
Movie • 2016
Sir Michael
Morgan
Movie • 2016
Jim Bryce
The Autopsy of Jane Doe
Movie • 2016
Tommy Tilden
For Love of the Game
Movie • 1999
Gary Wheeler
Murder on the Moon
Movie • 1989
Voronov
Rasputin: The Devil in the Flesh
Movie • 2002
Narrator
The Second Uncanny Issue of X-Men! Making X2
Movie • 2003
Self
Scotland In A Day
Movie • 2014
The Strange Case of Sherlock Holmes & Arthur Conan Doyle
Movie • 2005
Joseph Bell
Glenrothan
Movie • 2026
Sandy
Pretenders
Movie • 2019
Henry
Red Fox
Movie • 1991
Geoffrey Harrison
A Shot at Glory
Movie • 2000
Martin Smith
Food for Ravens
Movie • 1997
Aneurin Bevan
Blue/Orange
Movie • 2005
Dr. Robert Smith
Vegalta: Soccer, Tsunami and the Hope of a Nation
Movie • 2017
Narrator
Rat in the Skull
Movie • 1987
Detective Inspector Nelson
Pacific Warriors
Movie • 2015
Narrator
Merchants of Venus
Movie • 1998
Uncle Vladimir
Super Troopers 2
Movie • 2018
John O'Hagen
Sin
Movie • 2003
Captain Oakes
Strange but True
Movie • 2019
Bill
Aleister Crowley: The Wickedest Man in the World
Movie • 2002
Narrator
Florence Nightingale
Movie • 1985
Dr. McGregor
Bob the Builder: Mega Machines - The Movie
Movie • 2017
Conrad / Crunch (voice)
The Etruscan Smile
Movie • 2018
Rory MacNeil
Kubrick by Candlelight
Movie • 2018
The Narrator
The Invention of Dr. Morel
Movie • 2000
Dr. Morel
Remember Me
Movie • 2019
Shane
Last Moment of Clarity
Movie • 2020
Gilles
Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson
Movie • 2004
Other Voices (voice)
The Cantor of St Thomas's
Movie • 1985
Johann Sebastian Bach
The Bay of Silence
Movie • 2020
Milton
All at Sea
Movie • 2012
Wally
Secret Weapon
Movie • 1990
Andrew Neil
The Last Right
Movie • 2019
Father Reilly
Lawrence After Arabia
Movie • 2020
Father (Voice)
Grushko
Movie • 1994
Colonel Yevgeni Grushko
The Negotiator
Movie • 1994
Charlie King
Widdershins
Movie • 2018
voice
Andrew Carnegie: Rags to Riches, Power to Peace
Movie • 2015
Andrew Carnegie (voice)
The Outsiders
Movie • 2006
Gabriel
John Rebus: The Lockdown Blues
Movie • 2020
John Rebus
An Evening with Brian Cox
Movie • 2017
Himself
A Knight in Tarnished Armour
Movie • 1965
Nelson
A Cotswold Death
Movie • 1982
Dr. Gillespie
The Biographer
Movie • 2002
Michael O'Mara
Clay, Smeddum and Greenden
Movie • 1976
George Simpson
Separation
Movie • 2021
Rivers
Home Cooking
Movie • 1986
Vic
Oleg: The Oleg Vidov Story
Movie • 2021
Narrator (voice)
Carry On Ken
Movie • 2006
Self
Gramsci: Everything that Concerns People
Movie • 1987
Narrator
Mending the Line
Movie • 2023
Ike Fletcher
Prisoner's Daughter
Movie • 2023
Max
Dalhousie's Luck
Movie • 1980
Dalhousie
The Making of 'Rushmore'
Movie • 2000
Self
Killing Thyme
Movie • 2015
Norman
Alan Clarke: Out of His Own Light
Movie • 2016
Self
Old Pals
Movie
Jimmy
The Bourne Ultimatum
Movie • 2007
Ward Abbott (voice) (archive footage) (uncredited)
Loch Lomond: Legend of the Loch
Movie • 2002
Narrator
Macbeth
Movie • 1992
Macbeth
The History of the British Police Force
Movie • 1999
Narrator (voice)
Super Troopers 3: Winter Soldiers
Movie • 2026
Capt. John O’Hagan
The Marbles
Movie • 2025
Self - Interviewee
AMR: Dying to Change the World
Movie • 2025
AMR
Raoul Wallenberg: Missing Inaction
Movie • 2025
Gustaf Wallenberg (voice)
Battle of the Clans
Movie • 1998
Narrator
The Sunrise File
Movie
Oded Ailam (voice)
French & Saunders
TV • 1987
King Lear
Deadwood
TV • 2004
Jack Langrishe
The Tony Danza Show
TV • 2004
Self
The One Show
TV • 2006
Self - Guest
Question Time
TV • 1979
Self - Panellist
Minder
TV • 1979
Frank
Inspector Morse
TV • 1987
Michael Steppings
Richard & Judy
TV • 2001
Self
Superman: The Animated Series
TV • 1996
Dr. Earl Garver (voice)
The Colbert Report
TV • 2005
The Big Battalions
TV • 1992
Edward Hoyland
Nuremberg
TV • 2000
Herman Wilhelm Goering
Red Dwarf
TV • 1988
The King
Van der Valk
TV • 1972
Stefan Szabo
One Life
TV • 2003
The Jonathan Ross Show
TV • 2011
Self
The Take
TV • 2009
Ozzy
Acting
TV • 1987
Carpool Karaoke: The Series
TV • 2017
Self
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
TV • 2015
Hammer House of Horror
TV • 1980
Chuck
The Straits
TV • 2012
Harry Montebello
Perfect Scoundrels
TV • 1990
Father Amedy
Unnatural Causes
TV • 1986
Vic
Performance
TV • 1991
The Director
The Colour of Magic
TV • 2008
Narrator
Shetland
TV • 2013
Magnus Bain
A Touch of Cloth
TV • 2012
Bill Ball
Sharpe
TV • 1993
Major Hogan
The Slap
TV • 2015
Manolis
The Game
TV • 2014
Daddy
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
TV • 2015
Self
Tooned
TV • 2012
The Mechanic
Brian Cox: How The Other Half Live
TV • 2022
Presenter
The Simpsons
TV • 1989
Kostas Becker (voice)
War and Peace
TV • 2016
Mikhail Kutuzov
Penny Dreadful
TV • 2014
Jared Talbot
LIVE with Kelly and Mark
TV • 1988
Self - Guest
Top Gear
TV • 2002
Self
Frasier
TV • 1993
Harry Moon
Blade Runner: Black Lotus
TV • 2021
Niander Wallace Sr. (voice)
The Graham Norton Show
TV • 2007
Self
007: Road to a Million
TV • 2023
The Controller
Therese Raquin
TV • 1980
Laurent LeClaire
Late Night with Seth Meyers
TV • 2014
Self
Bob Servant
TV • 2013
Bob Servant
The Great War: The People's Story
TV • 2014
Rev. Andrew Clark
Brian Cox's Russia
TV • 2017
Host
The Sinking of the Laconia
TV • 2011
Captain Sharp
Piers Morgan Uncensored
TV • 2022
Self
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
TV • 2014
Self
Succession
TV • 2018
Logan Roy
The Day of the Triffids
TV • 2009
Dennis Masen
Made of Money with Brian Cox
TV • 2023
Variety Studio: Actors on Actors
TV • 2014
Self
Aqua Teen Hunger Force
TV • 2000
Anubis (voice)
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
TV • 2014
God
The Russell Howard Hour
TV • 2017
Self
The Daily Show
TV • 1996
Self
Medici: Masters of Florence
TV • 2016
Bernardo Guadagni
Celebrity Antiques Road Trip
TV • 2011
Self - Participant
Manhunt
TV • 1970
Anton
Have I Got a Bit More News for You
TV
Himself - Panellist
Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg
TV • 2022
Self – Actor
Addicted to Pleasure
TV • 2012
Self - Host
Real Time with Bill Maher
TV • 2003
Self
Shakespeare: The Animated Tales
TV • 1992
Macbeth (voice)
Play for Today
TV • 1970
Dr. Gillespie
The Modern World: Ten Great Writers
TV • 1988
Henrik Ibsen (voice)
Unsinkable
TV • 2024
Robert Dodds
Amol Rajan Interviews
TV • 2021
Self - Interviewed Guest
BBC Play of the Month
TV • 1965
Alsemero
Great Performances
TV • 1971
Self - Narration (voice)
Out
TV • 1978
McGrath
Shakespeare: Rise of a Genius
TV • 2023
Self
The Last Leg
TV • 2013
Self
The Jonathan Ross Show
TV • 2011
Self - Guest
Good Omens
TV • 2019
Death (voice)
VE Day 80
TV • 2025
Self
Playhouse
TV • 1974
Dalhousie
The Gamblers
TV • 1967
Mickey
Target
TV • 1977
Billy Voss
Longitude
TV • 2000
Lord Morton
The Devil's Crown
TV • 1978
Henry II
House on the Hill
TV • 1981
Leon Douglas
Have I Got News for You
TV • 1990
Self
Theatre 625
TV • 1964
Lasar Opie
Churchill's People
TV • 1974
William Wallace
Kings
TV • 2009
King Vesper Abaddon
I, Caesar – The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire
TV • 1997
Narrator
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
TV • 2003
Self - Guest
Masters of Darkness
TV • 2002
Narrator
Remembers…
TV • 2022
M.I. High
TV • 2007
Voice of the Mastermind