Kenneth Branagh

Kenneth Branagh began his screen career with an uncredited appearance as a Cambridge student in Chariots of Fire in 1981. He gained early recognition in Northern Ireland for playing Billy, the title character in the BBC’s Play for Today trilogy known as the Billy Plays from 1982 to 1984. In 1982, he won the SWET Award for Best Newcomer for playing Judd in Another Country. He appeared in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Henry V in 1984, directed by Adrian Noble, a production he later adapted for the screen. Branagh and David Parfitt founded the Renaissance Theatre Company in 1987. Among the company’s early productions were Romeo and Juliet and Twelfth Night, which Branagh directed and which was later adapted for television. The company’s debut season also included Public Enemy, a play written by Branagh. In 1987, he had his first leading film role as James Moon in A Month in the Country.

In 1988, Branagh participated in Renaissance Shakespeare on the Road, a touring season of three Shakespeare plays produced in collaboration with Birmingham Rep. He starred as Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing, directed by Judi Dench, and played the title role in Hamlet, directed by Derek Jacobi. In 1989, he co-starred with Emma Thompson in the Renaissance Theatre Company’s revival of Look Back in Anger, directed by Judi Dench for both stage and television.

Branagh made his feature-film directing debut with Henry V in 1989, in which he also starred. He directed and starred in Dead Again in 1991 and directed Peter’s Friends in 1992. He continued his Shakespeare film adaptations with Much Ado About Nothing in 1993, in which he starred and directed, and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein in 1994, in which he starred. He directed In the Bleak Midwinter in 1995 and portrayed Iago in Oliver Parker’s Othello that same year. In 1996, Branagh directed and starred in Hamlet, which earned four Academy Award nominations, including a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay for Branagh.

During the late 1990s, Branagh acted in The Gingerbread Man, The Theory of Flight and Celebrity, all released in 1998, and starred in Wild Wild West in 1999. He also provided voice performances in BBC radio broadcasts of Hamlet, Cyrano de Bergerac and King Lear, playing Edmund in the latter. He narrated the audiobook editions of The Magician’s Nephew and Heart of Darkness. In 1998, he narrated the 24-episode documentary series Cold War. He also narrated the BBC documentaries Walking with Dinosaurs, World War I in Colour, Walking with Beasts and Walking with Monsters, as well as the BBC miniseries Great Composers.

In 2000, Branagh voiced Miguel in the animated film The Road to El Dorado. In 2001, he portrayed Reinhard Heydrich in the HBO television film Conspiracy, earning the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie. He also directed The Play What I Wrote in England in 2001 and directed its Broadway production in 2003. In 2002, he played A. O. Neville in Rabbit-Proof Fence, portrayed Gilderoy Lockhart in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and played Ernest Shackleton in the television film Shackleton. He also starred as Richard III at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield in 2002. In 2003, he starred in the Royal National Theatre production of Edmond.

Branagh portrayed Franklin D. Roosevelt in the television film Warm Springs in 2005. In 2006, he directed the film adaptation of As You Like It and directed a film version of Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute. He directed Sleuth in 2007 and portrayed Major General Henning von Tresckow in Valkyrie in 2008. He also appeared as Minister Dormandy in The Boat That Rocked in 2009.

Branagh starred as Inspector Kurt Wallander in the BBC television series Wallander, beginning in 2008, and served as executive producer. The first series aired in 2008, followed by a second series in 2010, a third in 2012 and a fourth and final series in 2016. His performance earned the Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Best Actor in 2009, as well as a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Actor, Miniseries, or Movie for the episode One Step Behind. In 2008, he also appeared as the title character in the Donmar West End revival of Ivanov at Wyndham’s Theatre. He won the Critics’ Circle Theatre Award for Best Male Performance for the role.

In 2011, Branagh directed Thor and portrayed Laurence Olivier in My Week with Marilyn, earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. In 2012, he portrayed Isambard Kingdom Brunel during the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics in London and performed a speech from Shakespeare’s The Tempest. In 2013, he co-directed and starred as Macbeth in the Manchester International Festival production of Macbeth with Rob Ashford. The production later transferred to New York City’s Park Avenue Armory in 2014, with Branagh again directing and starring.

In 2014, Branagh directed and acted in Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit. In 2015, he directed Cinderella. That same year, he launched the Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company, serving as an actor-manager and presenting a season at London’s Garrick Theatre from 2015 to 2016. The season included The Winter’s Tale, Harlequinade, All On Her Own, Red Velvet, The Painkiller, Romeo and Juliet and The Entertainer. Branagh directed all of the productions except The Entertainer and acted in The Winter’s Tale, Harlequinade, The Painkiller and The Entertainer. The Winter’s Tale, Romeo and Juliet and The Entertainer were also broadcast in cinemas.

Branagh appeared in Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk in 2017, playing a Royal Navy commander, and also directed and starred as Hercule Poirot in Murder on the Orient Express that year. In 2018, he directed and starred as William Shakespeare in All Is True and directed Artemis Fowl, which was released on Disney+ in 2020. In 2020, he portrayed Andrei Sator in Nolan’s Tenet.

In 2021, Branagh directed Belfast, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and the BAFTA Award for Outstanding British Film. In 2022, he reprised his role as Hercule Poirot and directed Death on the Nile, the sequel to Murder on the Orient Express. In 2023, he portrayed Niels Bohr in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. He also returned to the West End stage that year, directing and starring in the title role of King Lear at Wyndham’s Theatre in London.

In 2024, Branagh was announced as the writer and director of The Last Disturbance of Madeline Hynde, a psychological thriller starring Jodie Comer. In 2026, he appeared in The Devil Wears Prada 2 as the husband of Miranda Priestly and was scheduled to return to the Royal Shakespeare Company in The Tempest as Prospero and The Cherry Orchard as Lopakhin.