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