Acting · Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK · Born December 10, 1960
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).
The Thomas Crown Affair
2027
MovieMayday
2026
as Nikolai Ustinov
MovieMaverick: The Epic Adventures of David Lean
2026
as David Lean (voice)
MovieAtonement
2026
as Michael Reid
MovieThe Devil Wears Prada 2
2026
as Stuart
MovieTea with Judi Dench
2025
as Self
TVThe American Revolution
2025
as (voice)
MovieThe King of Kings
2025
as Charles Dickens (voice)
TVBLUE EYE SAMURAI
2023
as Abijah Fowler (voice)
MovieA Haunting in Venice
2023
as Hercule Poirot
MovieOppenheimer
2023
as Niels Bohr
MoviePeter O'Toole: Along the Sky Road to Aqaba
2022
as Self
MovieDenzel Washington: A Model American
2022
as Self
TVThis England
2022
as Boris Johnson
TVRemembers…
2022
as Self
MovieDeath on the Nile
2022
as Hercule Poirot
MovieFireheart
2022
as Shawn Nolan (voice)
MovieLooking at the World in a New Way: The Making of ‘Tenet’
2020
as Self
MovieTenet
2020
as Sator
MovieLost Lives
2019
as Narrator
TVThe Kelly Clarkson Show
2019
as Self
MovieAll Is True
2018
as William Shakespeare
MovieAvengers: Infinity War
2018
as Asgardian Distress Call (voice) (uncredited)
MovieMurder on the Orient Express
2017
as Hercule Poirot
MovieDunkirk
2017
as Commander Bolton
MovieBranagh Theatre Live: The Entertainer
2016
as Archie Rice
MovieMindhorn
2016
as Himself
MovieBranagh Theatre Live: The Winter's Tale
2015
as Leontes
TVThe Late Show with Stephen Colbert
2015
as Self
MovieMarvel Studios: Assembling a Universe
2014
as Self
TVLate Night with Seth Meyers
2014
as Self
MovieJack Ryan: Shadow Recruit
2014
as Viktor Cherevin
MovieNational Theatre Live: Macbeth
2013
as Macbeth
MovieStars in Shorts
2012
as Mark Snow
MovieMarvel Studios: Building a Cinematic Universe
2012
as Self
MovieLondon 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony: Isles of Wonder
2012
as Isambard Kingdom Brunel
MovieMy Week with Marilyn
2011
as Sir Laurence Olivier
MovieDiscovering Hamlet
2011
as Hamlet (archive footage)
MovieThor: From Asgard to Earth
2011
as Self
MovieComic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope
2011
as Self
MovieProdigal
2011
as Mark Snow
MovieWith Great Power: The Stan Lee Story
2010
as Self
MovieA Night at the Movies: The Gigantic World of Epics
2009
as Self
MovieA Night at the Movies: The Suspenseful World of Thrillers
2009
as Self
Movie1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year
2009
as Narrator (voice)
MovieThe Boat That Rocked
2009
as Dormandy
MovieValkyrie
2008
as Henning von Tresckow
TVWallander
2008
as Kurt Wallander
TV10 Days to War
2008
as Colonel Tim Collins
MovieAlien Love Triangle
2008
as Steven Chesterman
MovieSleuth
2007
as Other Man on T.V.
MovieStephen Fry: 50 Not Out
2007
as Self
MovieJames Ellis: An Actor's Life
2007
as Himself
TVThe Graham Norton Show
2007
as Self
TVEl hormiguero
2006
as Self
MovieAs You Like It
2006
as Self (voice)
MovieWalking with Monsters
2005
as Narrator (voice)
TVWalking with Monsters
2005
as Narrator (voice)
MovieWarm Springs
2005
as Franklin Delano Roosevelt
MovieThe Goebbels Experiment
2005
as Narrator (voice)
TVThe Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
2005
as Self
MovieFive Children and It
2004
as Uncle Albert
MovieThe Magic Touch of Harry Potter
2004
as Self
MovieCecil B. DeMille: American Epic
2004
as Narrator (voice)
TVThe Ellen DeGeneres Show
2003
as Self
TVWorld War I in Colour
2003
as Narrator
Following the Rabbit-Proof Fence
2003
as Himself / Narrator
TVReal Time with Bill Maher
2003
as Self
MovieHarry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
2002
as Gilderoy Lockhart
MovieHow to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog
2002
as Peter McGowan
MovieThe Tramp and the Dictator
2002
as Narrator (voice)
MovieRabbit-Proof Fence
2002
as A. O. Neville
TVShackleton
2002
as Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton
MovieThe Beasts Within
2001
as Narrator (voice)
MovieTriumph of the Beasts
2001
as Narrator (voice)
TVWalking with Beasts
2001
as Narrator
MovieConspiracy
2001
as Reinhard Heydrich
Schneider's 2nd Stage
2001
as Joseph Barnett
TVBig Al
2000
as Narrator
MovieLon Chaney: A Thousand Faces
2000
as Self / Narrator
MovieThe Book That Wrote Itself
2000
as Kenneth Branagh
MovieThe Road to El Dorado
2000
as Miguel (voice)
MovieLove's Labour's Lost
2000
as Berowne
The Making of Walking with Dinosaurs
2000
as Narrator
MovieAltman on His Own Terms
2000
as Self
Wild Wild West: Loveless's Ladies
1999
as Himself
MovieWild Wild West: Evil Devices
1999
as Himself
MovieThe Periwig-Maker
1999
as Periwig-maker (voice)
MovieIMAX: Galapagos 3D
1999
as Narrator
TVWalking with Dinosaurs
1999
as Self - Narrator (voice)
MovieWild Wild West
1999
as Dr. Arliss Loveless
MovieIt's a Whole New West: The Making of 'Wild, Wild West'
1999
as Self
MovieThe Theory of Flight
1999
as Richard
MovieThe Dance of Shiva
1998
as Colonel Evans
MovieUniversal Horror
1998
as Narrator
MovieCelebrity
1998
as Lee Simon
TVCold War
1998
MovieThe Proposition
1998
as Father Michael McKinnon
MovieThe Gingerbread Man
1998
as Rick Magruder
TVParkinson
1998
as Self
TVThe View
1997
as Self
TVLeute heute
1997
as Self
MovieHamlet
1996
as Prince Hamlet
MovieLooking for Richard
1996
as Self - Interviewee
MovieOthello
1995
as Iago
MovieShadow of a Gunman
1995
as Donal Davoren
TVCinema Europe: The Other Hollywood
1995
MovieAnne Frank Remembered
1995
as Narration (voice)
MovieMary Shelley's Frankenstein
1994
as Victor Frankenstein
MovieIt's Alive: The True Story of Frankenstein
1994
as Self
TVLate Night with Conan O'Brien
1993
as Self - Guest
MovieMuch Ado About Nothing
1993
as Benedick
MovieSwing Kids
1993
as Herr Knopp, Gestapo (uncredited)
MoviePeter's Friends
1992
as Andrew Benson
MovieSymphony for the Spire
1992
TVPerformance
1991
as Donal Davoren
MovieDead Again
1991
as Roman Strauss / Mike Church
MovieDiscovering Hamlet
1990
as Himself / Hamlet
MovieLook Back in Anger
1989
as Jimmy Porter
MovieHenry V
1989
as Henry V
Thompson
1988
as Self
TVAmerican Experience
1988
as Narrator (voice)
MovieThames Wallah
1988
as Narrator
TVStrange Interlude
1988
as Gordon Evans
TVFortunes of War
1987
as Guy Pringle
MovieA Month in the Country
1987
as James Moon
MovieHigh Season
1987
as Rick
MovieGhosts
1987
as Oswald Alving
MovieLorna
1987
as Billy Martin
MovieThe Lady's Not For Burning
1987
as Thomas Mendip
MovieComing Through
1985
as D.H. Lawrence
TVTheatre Night
1985
as Oswald Alving
MovieA Coming to Terms for Billy
1984
as Billy Martin
TVThe Boy in the Bush
1984
as Jack Grant
MovieA Matter of Choice for Billy
1983
as Billy Martin
MovieTo the Lighthouse
1983
as Charles Tansley
MovieEaster 2016
1982
as Student
TVWogan
1982
as Self
MovieToo Late to Talk to Billy
1982
as Billy Martin
TVAmerican Playhouse
1982
as Gordon Evans
MovieChariots of Fire
1981
as Cambridge Student at Society Day (uncredited)
Film '72
1971
as Self
TVPlay for Today
1970
TVOmnibus
1967
TVThe Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
1962
as Self
TVTony Awards
1956
as Self
TVThe Oscars
1953
as Self
TVGolden Globe Awards
1944
as Self - Nominee
The Goblin
as (voice)
MovieThe Making of Dunkirk
as Self
