Kenneth Branagh

Sir Kenneth Charles Branagh born 10 December 1960 is a British actor and filmmaker Branagh trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London in 2015 he succeeded Richard Attenborough as its president He has been nominated for five Academy Awards and five Golden Globe Awards He has won three BAFTAs and two Emmy Awards He was appointed a Knight Bachelor in the 2012 Birthday Honours and knighted on 9 November 2012 He was made a Freeman of his native city of Belfast in January 2018 In 2020 he was listed at number 20 on The Irish Times list of Irelands greatest film actors Branagh has both directed and starred in several film adaptations of William Shakespeares plays including Henry V 1989 Much Ado About Nothing 1993 Othello 1995 Hamlet 1996 Loves Labours Lost 2000 and As You Like It 2006 He was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actor and Best Director for Henry V and for Best Adapted Screenplay for Hamlet He has also starred in the television series Fortunes of War 1987 Shackleton 2002 and Wallander 20082016 and in the films Celebrity 1998 Wild Wild West 1999 The Road to El Dorado 2000 as SS leader Reinhard Heydrich in Conspiracy 2001 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets 2002 Warm Springs 2005 as Major General Henning von Tresckow in Valkyrie 2008 The Boat That Rocked 2009 and as Sir Laurence Olivier in My Week with Marilyn 2011 Dunkirk 2017 and Tenet 2020 He won an International Emmy Award for Wallander and a Primetime Emmy Award for Conspiracy and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for My Week with Marilyn Branagh directed and starred in the romantic thriller Dead Again 1991 the horror film Mary Shelleys Frankenstein 1994 and the action thriller Jack Ryan Shadow Recruit 2014 He directed and starred as Hercule Poirot in the mystery drama adaptations of Agatha Christies Murder on the Orient Express 2017 and Death on the Nile 2022 He also directed such films as Swan Song 1992 which earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Live Action Short Film The Magic Flute 2006 Sleuth 2007 the Marvel superhero film Thor 2011 and the liveaction adaptation of Disneys Cinderella 2015 He narrated numerous documentary series including Cold War 1998 Walking with Dinosaurs 1999 The Ballad of Big Al 2001 Walking with Beasts 2001 Walking with Monsters 2005 and World War 1 in Colour 2005