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