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).
104 movies · 43 shows
Maverick: The Epic Adventures of David Lean
2026·0.0
Atonement
2026·8.0
The Devil Wears Prada 2
2026·7.2
Tea with Judi Dench
2025·0.0
The King of Kings
2025·8.3
A Haunting in Venice
2023·6.6
Oppenheimer
2023·8.0
Peter O'Toole: Along the Sky Road to Aqaba
2022·7.8
Denzel Washington: A Model American
2022·7.2
Death on the Nile
2022·6.4
Fireheart
2022·7.2
Looking at the World in a New Way: The Making of ‘Tenet’
2020·6.3
Tenet
2020·7.2
Lost Lives
2019·6.0
All Is True
2018·6.1
Avengers: Infinity War
2018·8.2
Murder on the Orient Express
2017·6.7
Dunkirk
2017·7.5
Branagh Theatre Live: The Entertainer
2016·3.5
Mindhorn
2016·6.1
Branagh Theatre Live: The Winter's Tale
2015·7.7
Marvel Studios: Assembling a Universe
2014·6.9
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit
2014·6.1
National Theatre Live: Macbeth
2013·7.0
Stars in Shorts
2012·6.0
Marvel Studios: Building a Cinematic Universe
2012·6.0
London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony: Isles of Wonder
2012·7.7
My Week with Marilyn
2011·6.7
Discovering Hamlet
2011·7.5
Thor: From Asgard to Earth
2011·7.0
Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope
2011·6.9
Prodigal
2011·5.6
With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story
2010·6.8
A Night at the Movies: The Gigantic World of Epics
2009·8.0
A Night at the Movies: The Suspenseful World of Thrillers
2009·6.7
1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year
2009·7.5
The Boat That Rocked
2009·7.2
Valkyrie
2008·7.0
Alien Love Triangle
2008·6.7
Sleuth
2007·6.3
Stephen Fry: 50 Not Out
2007·0.0
James Ellis: An Actor's Life
2007·0.0
As You Like It
2006·5.8
Walking with Monsters
2005·7.3
Warm Springs
2005·6.6
The Goebbels Experiment
2005·6.4
Five Children and It
2004·5.6
The Magic Touch of Harry Potter
2004·7.7
Cecil B. DeMille: American Epic
2004·6.5
Following the Rabbit-Proof Fence
2003·8.0
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
2002·7.7
How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog
2002·5.9
The Tramp and the Dictator
2002·7.0
Rabbit-Proof Fence
2002·7.0
The Beasts Within
2001·9.0
Triumph of the Beasts
2001·10.0
Conspiracy
2001·7.3
Schneider's 2nd Stage
2001·10.0
Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces
2000·6.8
The Book That Wrote Itself
2000·7.0
The Road to El Dorado
2000·7.3
Love's Labour's Lost
2000·5.5
The Making of Walking with Dinosaurs
2000·7.1
Altman on His Own Terms
2000·9.0
Wild Wild West: Loveless's Ladies
1999·6.0
Wild Wild West: Evil Devices
1999·4.0
The Periwig-Maker
1999·7.6
IMAX: Galapagos 3D
1999·6.6
Wild Wild West
1999·5.3
It's a Whole New West: The Making of 'Wild, Wild West'
1999·5.0
The Theory of Flight
1999·6.3
The Dance of Shiva
1998·9.0
Universal Horror
1998·7.1
Celebrity
1998·6.0
The Proposition
1998·6.1
The Gingerbread Man
1998·5.6
Hamlet
1996·7.3
Looking for Richard
1996·6.8
Othello
1995·6.4
Shadow of a Gunman
1995·7.0
Anne Frank Remembered
1995·7.6
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
1994·6.4
It's Alive: The True Story of Frankenstein
1994·8.8
Much Ado About Nothing
1993·6.9
Swing Kids
1993·6.7
Peter's Friends
1992·6.6
Symphony for the Spire
1992·8.5
Dead Again
1991·6.4
Discovering Hamlet
1990·5.9
Look Back in Anger
1989·9.3
Henry V
1989·7.1
Thames Wallah
1988·0.0
A Month in the Country
1987·6.6
High Season
1987·5.1
Ghosts
1987·7.0
Lorna
1987·9.0
The Lady's Not For Burning
1987·10.0
Coming Through
1985·4.7
A Coming to Terms for Billy
1984·7.0
A Matter of Choice for Billy
1983·6.0
To the Lighthouse
1983·5.2
Easter 2016
1982·9.0
Too Late to Talk to Billy
1982·7.0
Chariots of Fire
1981·6.8