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
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
2015
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
1962
Late Night with Seth Meyers
2014
The Kelly Clarkson Show
2019
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
2005
The Graham Norton Show
2007
The Graham Norton Show
2007
The View
1997
Real Time with Bill Maher
2003
Leute heute
1997
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
1993
El hormiguero
2006
Filmography
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
as Self · 2015
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
as Self · 1962
Late Night with Seth Meyers
as Self · 2014
The Kelly Clarkson Show
as Self · 2019
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
as Self · 2005
The Graham Norton Show
as Self · 2007
The Graham Norton Show
as Self - Guest · 2007
The View
as Self · 1997
Real Time with Bill Maher
as Self · 2003
Leute heute
as Self · 1997
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
as Self - Guest · 1993
El hormiguero
as Self · 2006
Avengers: Infinity War
as Asgardian Distress Call (voice) (uncredited) · 2018
The Ellen DeGeneres Show
as Self · 2003
Golden Globe Awards
as Self - Nominee · 1944
Tony Awards
as Self · 1956
American Experience
as Narrator (voice) · 1988
Hot Ones
as Self · 2015
Play for Today
· 1970
American Playhouse
as Gordon Evans · 1982
Wogan
as Self · 1982
Oppenheimer
as Niels Bohr · 2023
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
as Gilderoy Lockhart · 2002
The Devil Wears Prada 2
as Stuart · 2026
Film '72
as Self · 1971
Omnibus
· 1967
Mayday
as Nikolai Ustinov · 2026
Parkinson
as Self · 1998
The Oscars
as Self · 1953
TFI Friday
· 1996
Death on the Nile
as Hercule Poirot · 2022
Parkinson
as Self - Guest · 2004
Performance
as Donal Davoren · 1991
Tenet
as Sator · 2020
BLUE EYE SAMURAI
as Abijah Fowler (voice) · 2023
Dunkirk
as Commander Bolton · 2017
Wallander
as Kurt Wallander · 2008
The Road to El Dorado
as Miguel (voice) · 2000
Murder on the Orient Express
as Hercule Poirot · 2017
A Haunting in Venice
as Hercule Poirot · 2023
Remembers…
as Self · 2022
Wild Wild West
as Dr. Arliss Loveless · 1999
The American Revolution
as (voice) · 2025
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit
as Viktor Cherevin · 2014
The King of Kings
as Charles Dickens (voice) · 2025
Theatre Night
as Oswald Alving · 1985
Valkyrie
as Henning von Tresckow · 2008
This England
as Boris Johnson · 2022
Much Ado About Nothing
as Benedick · 1993
Chariots of Fire
as Cambridge Student at Society Day (uncredited) · 1981
My Week with Marilyn
as Sir Laurence Olivier · 2011
The Boat That Rocked
as Dormandy · 2009
Fortunes of War
as Guy Pringle · 1987
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
as Victor Frankenstein · 1994
Walking with Beasts
as Narrator · 2001
Walking with Dinosaurs
as Self - Narrator (voice) · 1999
Fireheart
as Shawn Nolan (voice) · 2022
Shackleton
as Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton · 2002
10 Days to War
as Colonel Tim Collins · 2008
The Thomas Crown Affair
· 2027
Dead Again
as Roman Strauss / Mike Church · 1991
Five Children and It
as Uncle Albert · 2004
Henry V
as Henry V · 1989
Swing Kids
as Herr Knopp, Gestapo (uncredited) · 1993
Conspiracy
as Reinhard Heydrich · 2001
Cold War
· 1998
Celebrity
as Lee Simon · 1998
Marvel Studios: Assembling a Universe
as Self · 2014
Big Al
as Narrator · 2000
Hamlet
as Prince Hamlet · 1996
The Boy in the Bush
as Jack Grant · 1984
Love's Labour's Lost
as Berowne · 2000
The Gingerbread Man
as Rick Magruder · 1998
Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope
as Self · 2011
Strange Interlude
as Gordon Evans · 1988
Thompson
as Self · 1988
All Is True
as William Shakespeare · 2018
Walking with Monsters
as Narrator (voice) · 2005
Sleuth
as Other Man on T.V. · 2007
Rabbit-Proof Fence
as A. O. Neville · 2002
As You Like It
as Self (voice) · 2006
Looking for Richard
as Self - Interviewee · 1996
World War I in Colour
as Narrator · 2003
The Proposition
as Father Michael McKinnon · 1998
Warm Springs
as Franklin Delano Roosevelt · 2005
With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story
as Self · 2010
Peter's Friends
as Andrew Benson · 1992
A Month in the Country
as James Moon · 1987
Atonement
as Michael Reid · 2026
Goblin
as (voice)
How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog
as Peter McGowan · 2002
Denzel Washington: A Model American
as Self · 2022
National Theatre Live: Macbeth
as Macbeth · 2013
Laird
as Laird of Castle Drummoch
Altman on His Own Terms
as Self · 2000
The Periwig-Maker
as Periwig-maker (voice) · 1999
The Theory of Flight
as Richard · 1999
Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces
as Self / Narrator · 2000
The Magic Touch of Harry Potter
as Self · 2004
Lorna
as Billy Martin · 1987
Othello
as Iago · 1995
Cinema Europe: The Other Hollywood
· 1995
Thor: From Asgard to Earth
as Self · 2011
Maverick: The Epic Adventures of David Lean
as David Lean (voice) · 2026
Looking at the World in a New Way: The Making of ‘Tenet’
as Self · 2020
Tea with Judi Dench featuring Kenneth Branagh
as Self · 2025
1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year
as Narrator (voice) · 2009
London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony: Isles of Wonder
as Isambard Kingdom Brunel · 2012
Branagh Theatre Live: The Entertainer
as Archie Rice · 2016
Mindhorn
as Himself · 2016
Peter O'Toole: Along the Sky Road to Aqaba
as Self · 2022
Branagh Theatre Live: The Winter's Tale
as Leontes · 2015
James Ellis: An Actor's Life
as Himself · 2007
The Tramp and the Dictator
as Narrator (voice) · 2002
Triumph of the Beasts
as Narrator (voice) · 2001
Cecil B. DeMille: American Epic
as Narrator (voice) · 2004
Thames Wallah
as Narrator · 1988
Symphony for the Spire
· 1992
The Dance of Shiva
as Colonel Evans · 1998
A Night at the Movies: The Gigantic World of Epics
as Self · 2009
Stars in Shorts
as Mark Snow · 2012
High Season
as Rick · 1987
Too Late to Talk to Billy
as Billy Martin · 1982
Anne Frank Remembered
as Narration (voice) · 1995
Wild Wild West: Evil Devices
as Himself · 1999
Stephen Fry: 50 Not Out
as Self · 2007
Look Back in Anger
as Jimmy Porter · 1989
A Coming to Terms for Billy
as Billy Martin · 1984
To the Lighthouse
as Charles Tansley · 1983
A Night at the Movies: The Suspenseful World of Thrillers
as Self · 2009
Lost Lives
as Narrator · 2019
The Goebbels Experiment
as Narrator (voice) · 2005
It's a Whole New West: The Making of 'Wild, Wild West'
as Self · 1999
Alien Love Triangle
as Steven Chesterman · 2008
It's Alive: The True Story of Frankenstein
as Self · 1994
The Book That Wrote Itself
as Kenneth Branagh · 2000
Walking with Monsters
as Narrator (voice) · 2005
Universal Horror
as Narrator · 1998
Discovering Hamlet
as Hamlet (archive footage) · 2011
Wild Wild West: Loveless's Ladies
as Himself · 1999
The Lady's Not For Burning
as Thomas Mendip · 1987
Easter 2016
as Student · 1982
Following the Rabbit-Proof Fence
as Himself / Narrator · 2003
Shadow of a Gunman
as Donal Davoren · 1995
Prodigal
as Mark Snow · 2011
IMAX: Galapagos 3D
as Narrator · 1999
A Matter of Choice for Billy
as Billy Martin · 1983
Schneider's 2nd Stage
as Joseph Barnett · 2001
Allosaurus A Walking With Dinosaurs Special
as Narrator
Coming Through
as D.H. Lawrence · 1985
Marvel Studios: The First 10 Years - More Than a Hero
as Self · 2018
The Beasts Within
as Narrator (voice) · 2001
Ghosts
as Oswald Alving · 1987
Discovering Hamlet
as Himself / Hamlet · 1990
The Making of Walking with Dinosaurs
as Narrator · 2000