Sir Kenneth Charles Branagh (/ˈbrænə/ BRAN-ə; 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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1.86
Popularity114
Credits6.8
Rating109M
Budget410M
RevenueActing
Primarily2025 The Last Disturbance of Madeline Hynde Director, Screenplay
2025 Mayday
2025 Atonement
2025 The King of Kings as Charles Dickens (voice)
2023 BLUE EYE SAMURAI as Abijah Fowler (voice)
2023 A Haunting in Venice as Hercule Poirot Producer, Director
2023 Oppenheimer as Niels Bohr
2022 Peter O'Toole: Along the Sky Road to Aqaba as Self
2022 Denzel Washington: A Model American as Self
2022 Marvel Studios Assembled: The Making of Thor: Love and Thunder as Self - Director (archive footage)
2022 Death on the Nile as Hercule Poirot Director, Producer
2022 Fireheart as Shawn Nolan (voice)
2021 Belfast Producer, Writer, Director
2020 Looking at the World in a New Way: The Making of ‘Tenet’ as Self
2020 Tenet as Sator
2020 Artemis Fowl Director, Producer
2019 Lost Lives
2018 All Is True as William Shakespeare Director, Producer
2018 Avengers: Infinity War as Asgardian Distress Call (voice) (uncredited)
2017 Murder on the Orient Express as Hercule Poirot Director, Producer
2017 Dunkirk as Commander Bolton
2016 Branagh Theatre Live: The Entertainer as Archie Rice
2016 Mindhorn as Himself
2016 Branagh Theatre Live: Romeo and Juliet Director
2015 Branagh Theatre Live: The Winter's Tale as Leontes Director
2015 Cinderella Director
2014 Marvel Studios: Assembling a Universe as Self
2014 Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit as Viktor Cherevin Director
2013 Thor: The Dark World Producer
2013 National Theatre Live: Macbeth as Macbeth, Thane of Glamis and Cawdor, general in the King's army Stage Director
2012 Stars In Shorts as Mark Snow
2012 London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony: Isles of Wonder as Isambard Kingdom Brunel
2011 My Week with Marilyn as Sir Laurence Olivier
2011 Discovering Hamlet as Hamlet (archive footage)
2011 Thor: From Asgard to Earth as Self
2011 Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope as Self
2011 Prodigal as Mark Snow
2011 Thor Director
2010 With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story as Self
2009 A Night at the Movies: The Gigantic World of Epics as Self
2009 A Night at the Movies: The Suspenseful World of Thrillers as Self
2009 1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year as Narrator (voice)
2009 The Boat That Rocked as Dormandy
2008 Valkyrie as Henning von Tresckow
2008 Alien Love Triangle as Steven Chesterman
2007 Sleuth as Other Man on T.V. Director, Producer
2007 Stephen Fry: 50 Not Out as Self
2007 James Ellis: An Actor's Life as Himself
2006 The Magic Flute Director, Screenplay, Producer, Adaptation
2006 As You Like It as Self (voice) Writer, Director, Producer
2005 Walking with Monsters as Narrator (voice)
2005 Warm Springs as Franklin Delano Roosevelt
2004 Five Children and It as Uncle Albert
2004 The Magic Touch of Harry Potter as Self
2004 Cecil B. DeMille: American Epic as Narrator (voice)
2003 Listening Director, Writer
2003 Following the Rabbit-Proof Fence as Himself / Narrator
2002 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets as Gilderoy Lockhart
2002 How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog as Peter McGowan
2002 The Tramp and the Dictator as Narrator (voice)
2002 Rabbit-Proof Fence as A. O. Neville
2001 The Beasts Within as Narrator (voice)
2001 Triumph of the Beasts as Narrator (voice)
2001 Conspiracy as Reinhard Heydrich
2001 Schneider's 2nd Stage as Joseph Barnett
2000 Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces as Self / Narrator
2000 The Book That Wrote Itself as Kenneth Branagh
2000 The Road to El Dorado as Miguel (voice)
2000 Love's Labour's Lost as Berowne Writer, Director, Screenplay, Producer
2000 The Making of Walking with Dinosaurs as Narrator
2000 Altman on His Own Terms as Self
1999 Wild Wild West: Loveless's Ladies as Himself
1999 Wild Wild West: Evil Devices as Himself
1999 The Periwig-Maker as Periwig-maker (voice)
1999 IMAX: Galapagos 3D as Narrator
1999 Wild Wild West as Dr. Arliss Loveless
1999 It's a Whole New West: The Making of 'Wild, Wild West' as Self
1999 The Theory of Flight as Richard
1998 The Dance of Shiva as Colonel Evans
1998 Universal Horror as Narrator
1998 Celebrity as Lee Simon
1998 The Proposition as Father Michael McKinnon
1998 The Gingerbread Man as Rick Magruder
1996 Hamlet as Prince Hamlet Director, Adaptation
1996 Looking for Richard as Self - Interviewee
1995 Othello as Iago
1995 Shadow of a Gunman as Donal Davoren
1995 In the Bleak Midwinter Director, Writer
1995 Anne Frank Remembered as Narration (voice)
1994 Mary Shelley's Frankenstein as Victor Frankenstein Director, Co-Producer
1994 It's Alive: The True Story of Frankenstein as Self
1993 Much Ado About Nothing as Benedick Director, Producer, Writer
1993 Swing Kids as Herr Knopp, Gestapo (uncredited)
1992 Peter's Friends as Andrew Benson Director, Producer
1992 Swan Song Director
1991 Dead Again as Roman Strauss / Mike Church Director
1990 Discovering Hamlet as Himself / Hamlet
1989 Look Back in Anger as Jimmy Porter
1989 Henry V as Henry V Director, Writer
1988 Twelfth Night, or What You Will Stage Director, Director
1988 Strange Interlude as Gordon Evans
1988 Thames Wallah as Narrator
1987 A Month in the Country as James Soon
1987 High Season as Rick
1987 Ghosts as Oswald Alving
1987 Lorna as Billy Martin
1987 The Lady's Not For Burning as Thomas Mendip
1985 Coming Through as D.H. Lawrence
1984 A Coming to Terms for Billy as Billy Martin
1983 A Matter of Choice for Billy as Billy Martin
1983 To the Lighthouse as Charles Tansley
1982 Easter 2016 as Student
1982 Too Late to Talk to Billy as Billy Martin
1981 Chariots of Fire as Cambridge Student at Society Day (uncredited)
8.49 Unknown 1
7.69 Animation 6
7.20 War 4
6.96 History 8
6.87 Adventure 11
6.85 Documentary 29
6.84 Fantasy 9
6.81 Family 6
6.70 TV Movie 14
6.68 Action 9
6.67 Drama 44
6.53 Crime 4
6.48 Mystery 5
6.44 Thriller 8
6.44 Horror 1
6.37 Romance 13
6.26 Science Fiction 7
6.19 Music 3
5.99 Comedy 21
5.05 Western 4