đŹ Movies Mates PEOPLE
Kenneth Branagh
Acting
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), OtâŚ
Read full 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 (2017âpresent). 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 (2008â2016). 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).
Biography expanded
BODY OF WORK
Kenneth Branagh's Filmography
Select any movie to open its full Movies Mates details page.
The Thomas Crown Affair
Atonement
as Michael Reid
Mayday
as Nikolai Ustinov
Maverick: The Epic Adventures of David Lean
as David Lean (voice)
The Devil Wears Prada 2
as Stuart
Tea with Judi Dench featuring Kenneth Branagh
as Self
The King of Kings
as Charles Dickens (voice)
A Haunting in Venice
as Hercule Poirot
Oppenheimer
as Niels Bohr
Peter O'Toole: Along the Sky Road to Aqaba
as Self
Denzel Washington: A Model American
as Self
Death on the Nile
as Hercule Poirot
Fireheart
as Shawn Nolan (voice)
Looking at the World in a New Way: The Making of âTenetâ
as Self
Tenet
as Sator
Lost Lives
as Narrator
All Is True
as William Shakespeare
Marvel Studios: The First 10 Years - More Than a Hero
as Self
Avengers: Infinity War
as Asgardian Distress Call (voice) (uncredited)
Murder on the Orient Express
as Hercule Poirot
Dunkirk
as Commander Bolton
Branagh Theatre Live: The Entertainer
as Archie Rice
Mindhorn
as Himself
Branagh Theatre Live: The Winter's Tale
as Leontes
Marvel Studios: Assembling a Universe
as Self
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit
as Viktor Cherevin
National Theatre Live: Macbeth
as Macbeth
Stars in Shorts
as Mark Snow
London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony: Isles of Wonder
as Isambard Kingdom Brunel
My Week with Marilyn
as Sir Laurence Olivier
Discovering Hamlet
as Hamlet (archive footage)
Thor: From Asgard to Earth
as Self
Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope
as Self
Prodigal
as Mark Snow
With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story
as Self
A Night at the Movies: The Gigantic World of Epics
as Self
A Night at the Movies: The Suspenseful World of Thrillers
as Self
1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year
as Narrator (voice)
The Boat That Rocked
as Dormandy
Valkyrie
as Henning von Tresckow
Alien Love Triangle
as Steven Chesterman
Sleuth
as Other Man on T.V.
Stephen Fry: 50 Not Out
as Self
James Ellis: An Actor's Life
as Himself
As You Like It
as Self (voice)
Walking with Monsters
as Narrator (voice)
Warm Springs
as Franklin Delano Roosevelt
The Goebbels Experiment
as Narrator (voice)
Five Children and It
as Uncle Albert
The Magic Touch of Harry Potter
as Self
Cecil B. DeMille: American Epic
as Narrator (voice)
No Poster
Following the Rabbit-Proof Fence
as Himself / Narrator
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
as Gilderoy Lockhart
How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog
as Peter McGowan
The Tramp and the Dictator
as Narrator (voice)
Rabbit-Proof Fence
as A. O. Neville
The Beasts Within
as Narrator (voice)
Triumph of the Beasts
as Narrator (voice)
Conspiracy
as Reinhard Heydrich
No Poster
Schneider's 2nd Stage
as Joseph Barnett
Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces
as Self / Narrator
The Book That Wrote Itself
as Kenneth Branagh
The Road to El Dorado
as Miguel (voice)
Love's Labour's Lost
as Berowne
The Making of Walking with Dinosaurs
as Narrator
Altman on His Own Terms
as Self
Wild Wild West: Evil Devices
as Himself
No Poster
Wild Wild West: Loveless's Ladies
as Himself
The Periwig-Maker
as Periwig-maker (voice)
IMAX: Galapagos 3D
as Narrator
Wild Wild West
as Dr. Arliss Loveless
It's a Whole New West: The Making of 'Wild, Wild West'
as Self
The Theory of Flight
as Richard
The Dance of Shiva
as Colonel Evans
Universal Horror
as Narrator
Celebrity
as Lee Simon
The Proposition
as Father Michael McKinnon
The Gingerbread Man
as Rick Magruder
Hamlet
as Prince Hamlet
Looking for Richard
as Self - Interviewee
Othello
as Iago
Shadow of a Gunman
as Donal Davoren
Anne Frank Remembered
as Narration (voice)
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
as Victor Frankenstein
It's Alive: The True Story of Frankenstein
as Self
Much Ado About Nothing
as Benedick
Swing Kids
as Herr Knopp, Gestapo (uncredited)
Peter's Friends
as Andrew Benson
Symphony for the Spire
Dead Again
as Roman Strauss / Mike Church
Discovering Hamlet
as Himself / Hamlet
Look Back in Anger
as Jimmy Porter
Henry V
as Henry V
Thames Wallah
as Narrator
A Month in the Country
as James Moon
High Season
as Rick
Ghosts
as Oswald Alving
Lorna
as Billy Martin
The Lady's Not For Burning
as Thomas Mendip
Coming Through
as D.H. Lawrence
A Coming to Terms for Billy
as Billy Martin
A Matter of Choice for Billy
as Billy Martin
To the Lighthouse
as Charles Tansley
Easter 2016
as Student
Too Late to Talk to Billy
as Billy Martin
Chariots of Fire
as Cambridge Student at Society Day (uncredited)
No Poster
Goblin
as (voice)