Cast & creator
Kenneth Branagh
Best known for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Late Night with Seth Meyers
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).
Also known as: Sir Kenneth Charles Branagh
162
film credits
50
television credits
155
1944–2027 · acting roles
6.8
average across scored titles
Signature credits
Known for
Across film & television
Filmography (212)
Showing 212 of 212 credits
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Self
2015
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Self
1962
Late Night with Seth Meyers
Self
2014
The Kelly Clarkson Show
Self
2019
The Graham Norton Show
Self
2007The Graham Norton Show
Self - Guest
2007
The View
Self
1997
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
Self
2005
Real Time with Bill Maher
Self
2003
Leute heute
Self
1997
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Self - Guest
1993
El hormiguero
Self
2006
Avengers: Infinity War
Asgardian Distress Call (voice) (uncredited)
2018
The Ellen DeGeneres Show
Self
2003
Golden Globe Awards
Self - Nominee
1944
American Playhouse
Gordon Evans
1982
American Experience
Narrator (voice)
1988
Tony Awards
Self
1956
Hot Ones
Self
2015
Play for Today
1970
Wogan
Self
1982
Oppenheimer
Niels Bohr
2023
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Gilderoy Lockhart
2002
The Devil Wears Prada 2
Stuart
2026
Mayday
Nikolai Ustinov
2026
Omnibus
1967Film '72
Self
1971
Parkinson
Self
1998
Thor: The Dark World
Producer
2013
The Oscars
Self
1953
Performance
Donal Davoren
1991
Thor
Director
2011
Parkinson
Self - Guest
2004
TFI Friday
1996
Death on the Nile
Hercule Poirot
2022Death on the Nile
Director
2022Death on the Nile
Producer
2022
Tenet
Sator
2020
Cinderella
Director
2015
Dunkirk
Commander Bolton
2017
BLUE EYE SAMURAI
Abijah Fowler (voice)
2023
Wallander
Kurt Wallander
2008Wallander
Executive Producer
2008
A Haunting in Venice
Hercule Poirot
2023A Haunting in Venice
Director
2023A Haunting in Venice
Producer
2023
The Road to El Dorado
Miguel (voice)
2000
Murder on the Orient Express
Hercule Poirot
2017Murder on the Orient Express
Director
2017Murder on the Orient Express
Producer
2017
Remembers…
Self
2022
The American Revolution
(voice)
2025
Wild Wild West
Dr. Arliss Loveless
1999
Artemis Fowl
Director
2020Artemis Fowl
Producer
2020
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit
Viktor Cherevin
2014Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit
Director
2014
The King of Kings
Charles Dickens (voice)
2025
Theatre Night
Oswald Alving
1985
Valkyrie
Henning von Tresckow
2008
Chariots of Fire
Cambridge Student at Society Day (uncredited)
1981
The Boat That Rocked
Dormandy
2009
My Week with Marilyn
Sir Laurence Olivier
2011
Fortunes of War
Guy Pringle
1987
Much Ado About Nothing
Benedick
1993Much Ado About Nothing
Director
1993Much Ado About Nothing
Producer
1993Much Ado About Nothing
Writer
1993
Walking with Beasts
Narrator
2001
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
Victor Frankenstein
1994Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
Director
1994Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
Co-Producer
1994
Fireheart
Shawn Nolan (voice)
2022
Shackleton
Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton
2002
This England
Boris Johnson
2022
Walking with Dinosaurs
Self - Narrator (voice)
1999
The Thomas Crown Affair
2027
10 Days to War
Colonel Tim Collins
2008
Belfast
Producer
2021Belfast
Writer
2021Belfast
Director
2021
Dead Again
Roman Strauss / Mike Church
1991Dead Again
Director
1991
Five Children and It
Uncle Albert
2004
Cold War
1998
Marvel Studios: Assembling a Universe
Self
2014
Celebrity
Lee Simon
1998
Hamlet
Prince Hamlet
1996Hamlet
Director
1996Hamlet
Adaptation
1996
Conspiracy
Reinhard Heydrich
2001
Swing Kids
Herr Knopp, Gestapo (uncredited)
1993
Big Al
Narrator
2000
Henry V
Henry V
1989Henry V
Director
1989Henry V
Writer
1989
The Boy in the Bush
Jack Grant
1984
Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope
Self
2011Thompson
Self
1988
Strange Interlude
Gordon Evans
1988
As You Like It
Self (voice)
2006As You Like It
Writer
2006As You Like It
Director
2006As You Like It
Producer
2006
Love's Labour's Lost
Berowne
2000Love's Labour's Lost
Writer
2000Love's Labour's Lost
Director
2000Love's Labour's Lost
Screenplay
2000Love's Labour's Lost
Producer
2000
All Is True
William Shakespeare
2018All Is True
Director
2018All Is True
Producer
2018
Rabbit-Proof Fence
A. O. Neville
2002
The Proposition
Father Michael McKinnon
1998
The Gingerbread Man
Rick Magruder
1998
World War I in Colour
Narrator
2003
Looking for Richard
Self - Interviewee
1996
Walking with Monsters
Narrator (voice)
2005Walking with Monsters
Acting Double
2005
Sleuth
Other Man on T.V.
2007Sleuth
Director
2007Sleuth
Producer
2007
Warm Springs
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
2005
With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story
Self
2010
Peter's Friends
Andrew Benson
1992Peter's Friends
Director
1992Peter's Friends
Producer
1992
Branagh Theatre Live: Romeo and Juliet
Director
2016
Atonement
Michael Reid
2026
The Theory of Flight
Richard
1999
In the Bleak Midwinter
Director
1995In the Bleak Midwinter
Writer
1995
How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog
Peter McGowan
2002
A Month in the Country
James Moon
1987
The Periwig-Maker
Periwig-maker (voice)
1999Laird
Laird of Castle Drummoch
Laird
Executive Producer
Goblin
(voice)
Lon Chaney: A Thousand Faces
Self / Narrator
2000
Denzel Washington: A Model American
Self
2022
The Magic Touch of Harry Potter
Self
2004
National Theatre Live: Macbeth
Macbeth
2013National Theatre Live: Macbeth
Stage Director
2013
Othello
Iago
1995
Altman on His Own Terms
Self
2000
Maverick: The Epic Adventures of David Lean
David Lean (voice)
2026
Branagh Theatre Live: The Entertainer
Archie Rice
2016
Peter O'Toole: Along the Sky Road to Aqaba
Self
2022
The Tramp and the Dictator
Narrator (voice)
2002
Mindhorn
Himself
2016
London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony: Isles of Wonder
Isambard Kingdom Brunel
2012
Twelfth Night, or What You Will
Stage Director
1988Twelfth Night, or What You Will
Director
1988
1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year
Narrator (voice)
2009
The Magic Flute
Director
2006The Magic Flute
Screenplay
2006The Magic Flute
Producer
2006The Magic Flute
Adaptation
2006
Lorna
Billy Martin
1987
James Ellis: An Actor's Life
Himself
2007
Thor: From Asgard to Earth
Self
2011
Cecil B. DeMille: American Epic
Narrator (voice)
2004
Branagh Theatre Live: The Winter's Tale
Leontes
2015Branagh Theatre Live: The Winter's Tale
Director
2015The Last Disturbance of Madeline Hynde
Director
The Last Disturbance of Madeline Hynde
Screenplay
Cinema Europe: The Other Hollywood
1995
High Season
Rick
1987
Tea with Judi Dench featuring Kenneth Branagh
Self
2025
Wild Wild West: Evil Devices
Himself
1999
Looking at the World in a New Way: The Making of ‘Tenet’
Self
2020
Anne Frank Remembered
Narration (voice)
1995
It's Alive: The True Story of Frankenstein
Self
1994
Symphony for the Spire
1992
Too Late to Talk to Billy
Billy Martin
1982
Thames Wallah
Narrator
1988
The Dance of Shiva
Colonel Evans
1998
A Coming to Terms for Billy
Billy Martin
1984
Shadow of a Gunman
Donal Davoren
1995
The Goebbels Experiment
Narrator (voice)
2005
To the Lighthouse
Charles Tansley
1983
Lost Lives
Narrator
2019
The Book That Wrote Itself
Kenneth Branagh
2000
A Night at the Movies: The Gigantic World of Epics
Self
2009
A Night at the Movies: The Suspenseful World of Thrillers
Self
2009
Stephen Fry: 50 Not Out
Self
2007
Prodigal
Mark Snow
2011Listening
Director
2003Listening
Writer
2003
Stars in Shorts
Mark Snow
2012
Coming Through
D.H. Lawrence
1985
Look Back in Anger
Jimmy Porter
1989
Triumph of the Beasts
Narrator (voice)
2001
Walking with Monsters
Narrator (voice)
2005
The Lady's Not For Burning
Thomas Mendip
1987Wild Wild West: Loveless's Ladies
Himself
1999It's a Whole New West: The Making of 'Wild, Wild West'
Self
1999Following the Rabbit-Proof Fence
Himself / Narrator
2003
Alien Love Triangle
Steven Chesterman
2008
Discovering Hamlet
Hamlet (archive footage)
2011
Universal Horror
Narrator
1998
A Matter of Choice for Billy
Billy Martin
1983
Ghosts
Oswald Alving
1987
IMAX: Galapagos 3D
Narrator
1999
Easter 2016
Student
1982
The Beasts Within
Narrator (voice)
2001Swan Song
Director
1992Schneider's 2nd Stage
Joseph Barnett
2001Allosaurus A Walking With Dinosaurs Special
Narrator
Discovering Hamlet
Himself / Hamlet
1990
The Making of Walking with Dinosaurs
Narrator
2000
Marvel Studios: The First 10 Years - More Than a Hero
Self
2018