Kenneth Branagh
Born December 10, 1960 (Age: 65)
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Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK
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 (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).
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).
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Filmography
No Image
The Thomas Crown Affair
2027
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as
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Age: 66
The King of Kings
2025
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as Charles Dickens (voice)
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Age: 64
A Haunting in Venice
2023
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as Hercule Poirot
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Age: 62
Oppenheimer
2023
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as Niels Bohr
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Age: 62
Death on the Nile
2022
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as Hercule Poirot
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Age: 61
Looking at the World in a New Way: The Making of ‘Tenet’
2020
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as Self
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Age: 60
Tenet
2020
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as Sator
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Age: 59
All Is True
2018
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as William Shakespeare
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Age: 58
Avengers: Infinity War
2018
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as Asgardian Distress Call (voice) (uncredited)
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Age: 57
Murder on the Orient Express
2017
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as Hercule Poirot
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Age: 56
Dunkirk
2017
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as Commander Bolton
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Age: 56
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit
2014
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as Viktor Cherevin
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Age: 53
Marvel Studios: Building a Cinematic Universe
2012
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as Self
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Age: 51
My Week with Marilyn
2011
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as Sir Laurence Olivier
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Age: 50
Discovering Hamlet
2011
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as Hamlet (archive footage)
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Age: 50
Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope
2011
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as Self
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Age: 50
A Night at the Movies: The Gigantic World of Epics
2009
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as Self
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Age: 49
The Boat That Rocked
2009
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as Dormandy
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Age: 48
Valkyrie
2008
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as Henning von Tresckow
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Age: 48
Sleuth
2007
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as Other Man on T.V.
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Age: 46
James Ellis: An Actor's Life
2007
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as Himself
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Age: 46
Five Children and It
2004
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as Uncle Albert
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Age: 43
The Magic Touch of Harry Potter
2004
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as Self
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Age: 43
Cecil B. DeMille: American Epic
2004
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as Narrator (voice)
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Age: 43
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
2002
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as Gilderoy Lockhart
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Age: 41
How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog
2002
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as Peter McGowan
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Age: 41
The Tramp and the Dictator
2002
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as Narrator (voice)
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Age: 41
Rabbit-Proof Fence
2002
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as A. O. Neville
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Age: 41
Lon Chaney: A thousand faces
2000
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as Self / Narrator
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Age: 39
The Book That Wrote Itself
2000
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as Kenneth Branagh
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Age: 39
The Road to El Dorado
2000
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as Miguel (voice)
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Age: 39
Love's Labour's Lost
2000
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as Berowne
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Age: 39
No Image
The Making of Walking with Dinosaurs
2000
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as Narrator
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Age: 39
Altman on His Own Terms
2000
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as Self
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Age: 39
IMAX: Galapagos 3D
1999
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as Narrator
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Age: 38
Wild Wild West
1999
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as Dr. Arliss Loveless
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Age: 38
The Dance of Shiva
1998
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as Colonel Evans
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Age: 38
Universal Horror
1998
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as Narrator
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Age: 37
Celebrity
1998
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as Lee Simon
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Age: 37
The Proposition
1998
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as Father Michael McKinnon
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Age: 37
The Gingerbread Man
1998
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as Rick Magruder
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Age: 37
Hamlet
1996
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as Prince Hamlet
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Age: 36
Looking for Richard
1996
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as Self - Interviewee
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Age: 35
Othello
1995
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as Iago
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Age: 35
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
1994
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as Victor Frankenstein
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Age: 33
Much Ado About Nothing
1993
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as Benedick
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Age: 32
Swing Kids
1993
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as Herr Knopp, Gestapo (uncredited)
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Age: 32
Peter's Friends
1992
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as Andrew Benson
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Age: 31
Symphony for the Spire
1992
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as
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Age: 31
Dead Again
1991
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as Roman Strauss / Mike Church
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Age: 30
Discovering Hamlet
1990
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as Himself / Hamlet
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Age: 29
Look Back in Anger
1989
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as Jimmy Porter
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Age: 29
Henry V
1989
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as Henry V
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Age: 28
Thames Wallah
1988
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as Narrator
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Age: 27
A Month in the Country
1987
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as James Moon
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Age: 26
High Season
1987
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as Rick
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Age: 26
Ghosts
1987
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as Oswald Alving
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Age: 26
Lorna
1987
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as Billy Martin
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Age: 26
The Lady's Not For Burning
1987
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as Thomas Mendip
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Age: 26
Coming Through
1985
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as D.H. Lawrence
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Age: 25
Chariots of Fire
1981
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as Cambridge Student at Society Day (uncredited)
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Age: 20