Kenneth Branagh
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Roles are weighted by involvement: director 1.0, screenwriter 0.7, lead 0.8, supporting 0.4, crew 0.1.
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).
Known for
Credits
Wild Wild West (1999)
as Dr. Arliss Loveless
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Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
as Asgardian Distress Call (voice) (uncredited)
The Devil Wears Prada 2 (2026)
as Stuart
Oppenheimer (2023)
as Niels Bohr
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
as Gilderoy Lockhart
Tenet (2020)
as Sator
Dunkirk (2017)
as Commander Bolton
A Haunting in Venice (2023)
as Hercule Poirot
Death on the Nile (2022)
as Hercule Poirot
Murder on the Orient Express (2017)
as Hercule Poirot
The Road to El Dorado (2000)
as Miguel (voice)
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014)
as Viktor Cherevin
Valkyrie (2008)
as Henning von Tresckow
Mayday (2026)
as Nikolai Ustinov
The King of Kings (2025)
as Charles Dickens (voice)
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994)
as Victor Frankenstein
Much Ado About Nothing (1993)
as Benedick
The Boat That Rocked (2009)
as Dormandy
My Week with Marilyn (2011)
as Sir Laurence Olivier
Chariots of Fire (1981)
as Cambridge Student at Society Day (uncredited)
Celebrity (1998)
as Lee Simon
The Thomas Crown Affair (2027)
Actor
Fireheart (2022)
as Shawn Nolan (voice)
Sleuth (2007)
as Other Man on T.V.
Dead Again (1991)
as Roman Strauss / Mike Church
The Gingerbread Man (1998)
as Rick Magruder
Swing Kids (1993)
as Herr Knopp, Gestapo (uncredited)
Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002)
as A. O. Neville
Hamlet (1996)
as Prince Hamlet
Conspiracy (2001)
as Reinhard Heydrich
Henry V (1989)
as Henry V
All Is True (2018)
as William Shakespeare
Marvel Studios: Assembling a Universe (2014)
as Self
Looking for Richard (1996)
as Self - Interviewee
Peter's Friends (1992)
as Andrew Benson
Love's Labour's Lost (2000)
as Berowne
The Proposition (1998)
as Father Michael McKinnon
Five Children and It (2004)
as Uncle Albert
Warm Springs (2005)
as Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Branagh Theatre Live: The Entertainer (2016)
as Archie Rice
As You Like It (2006)
as Self (voice)
With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story (2010)
as Self
Atonement (2026)
as Michael Reid
Mindhorn (2016)
as Himself
Othello (1995)
as Iago
Denzel Washington: A Model American (2022)
as Self
The Periwig-Maker (1999)
as Periwig-maker (voice)
Lorna (1987)
as Billy Martin
IMAX: Galapagos 3D (1999)
as Narrator
Discovering Hamlet (2011)
as Hamlet (archive footage)
A Month in the Country (1987)
as James Moon
How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog (2002)
as Peter McGowan
Branagh Theatre Live: The Winter's Tale (2015)
as Leontes
The Theory of Flight (1999)
as Richard
High Season (1987)
as Rick
Maverick: The Epic Adventures of David Lean (2026)
as David Lean (voice)
Goblin (—)
as (voice)
The Goebbels Experiment (2005)
as Narrator (voice)
Peter O'Toole: Along the Sky Road to Aqaba (2022)
as Self
Stephen Fry: 50 Not Out (2007)
as Self
London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony: Isles of Wonder (2012)
as Isambard Kingdom Brunel
The Tramp and the Dictator (2002)
as Narrator (voice)
Lost Lives (2019)
as Narrator
The Magic Touch of Harry Potter (2004)
as Self
Alien Love Triangle (2008)
as Steven Chesterman
A Night at the Movies: The Gigantic World of Epics (2009)
as Self
Universal Horror (1998)
as Narrator
Altman on His Own Terms (2000)
as Self
Anne Frank Remembered (1995)
as Narration (voice)
Prodigal (2011)
as Mark Snow
Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope (2011)
as Self
Stars in Shorts (2012)
as Mark Snow
1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year (2009)
as Narrator (voice)
To the Lighthouse (1983)
as Charles Tansley
Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces (2000)
as Self / Narrator
It's Alive: The True Story of Frankenstein (1994)
as Self
National Theatre Live: Macbeth (2013)
as Macbeth
Looking at the World in a New Way: The Making of ‘Tenet’ (2020)
as Self
Wild Wild West: Evil Devices (1999)
as Himself
Symphony for the Spire (1992)
Actor
Thor: From Asgard to Earth (2011)
as Self
It's a Whole New West: The Making of 'Wild, Wild West' (1999)
as Self
Tea with Judi Dench featuring Kenneth Branagh (2025)
as Self
Cecil B. DeMille: American Epic (2004)
as Narrator (voice)
Ghosts (1987)
as Oswald Alving
Easter 2016 (1982)
as Student
Coming Through (1985)
as D.H. Lawrence
A Night at the Movies: The Suspenseful World of Thrillers (2009)
as Self
The Book That Wrote Itself (2000)
as Kenneth Branagh
Look Back in Anger (1989)
as Jimmy Porter
Thames Wallah (1988)
as Narrator
Walking with Monsters (2005)
as Narrator (voice)
Discovering Hamlet (1990)
as Himself / Hamlet
A Matter of Choice for Billy (1983)
as Billy Martin
Shadow of a Gunman (1995)
as Donal Davoren
Following the Rabbit-Proof Fence (2003)
as Himself / Narrator
A Coming to Terms for Billy (1984)
as Billy Martin
Triumph of the Beasts (2001)
as Narrator (voice)
The Dance of Shiva (1998)
as Colonel Evans
Schneider's 2nd Stage (2001)
as Joseph Barnett
The Beasts Within (2001)
as Narrator (voice)
James Ellis: An Actor's Life (2007)
as Himself
The Lady's Not For Burning (1987)
as Thomas Mendip
The Making of Walking with Dinosaurs (2000)
as Narrator
Wild Wild West: Loveless's Ladies (1999)
as Himself
Too Late to Talk to Billy (1982)
as Billy Martin
Allosaurus A Walking With Dinosaurs Special (—)
as Narrator