Kenneth Branagh's Main TV Roles Show Character(s) Wallander (UK) Kurt Wallan… Walking with Dinosaurs (UK) Narrator Walking With Monsters (UK) Himself- Na… Walking With Beasts (UK) Narrator Fortunes of War (UK) Guy Pringle

Main Movie Roles 2009 - The Boat That Rocked 2008 - Valkyrie 2007 - Sleuth 2006 - As You Like It 2005 - Das Goebbels-Experiment 2004 - Five Children and It 2002 - Rabbit-Proof Fence 2002 - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets 2000 - The Road to El Dorado 1999 - The Periwig-Maker 1999 - Wild Wild West 1999 - Galapagos: The Enchanted Voyage 1998 - Celebrity 1998 - The Proposition 1998 - The Gingerbread Man 1996 - Looking For Richard 1996 - Hamlet 1995 - Othello 1994 - Frankenstein 1993 - Swing Kids 1993 - Much Ado About Nothing 1992 - Peter's Friends 1991 - Dead Again 1989 - Henry V 1981 - Chariots of Fire

BIOGRAPHY:

Kenneth Charles Branagh was born on December 10, 1960, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK, to parents William Branagh, a carpenter born in 1930, and Frances Branagh, also born in 1930. His brother William Branagh Jr. was born in 1955 and sister Joyce Branagh was born in 1970. At 23 Branagh joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, where he took on starring roles in "Henry V" and "Romeo and Juliet". He soon found the RSC too large and impersonal and formed his own, the Renaissance Theatre Company, which now counts Prince Charles as one of its royal patrons. At 29 he directed and starred in the film Henry V (1989), which costarred his then-wife, Emma Thompson (I). The film brought him Best Actor and Best Director Oscar nominations. In 1993 he brought Shakespeare to mainstream audiences again with his hit adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing (1993), which featured an all-star cast that included Denzel Washington and Keanu Reeves. At 30 he published his autobiography and at 34 he directed and starred as Victor Frankenstein in the big-budget adaptation of Mary Shelley (I)'s novel, Frankenstein (1994), with Robert De Niro as the monster himself. The bad reviews may have had some effect on his marriage, though, because in October 1995 he and Thompson announced their plans to divorce. In 1996 Branagh wrote, directed and starred in a lavish adaptation of Hamlet (1996). In recent years he starred in a series of non-Bard-related roles in Celebrity (1998), Wild Wild West (1999), and as a voice in The Road to El Dorado (2000).


TRIVIA:

• Youngest actor to receive the Golden Quill (Gielgud Award), 2000.
• (November 1999) Denies rumor that he is dating 'Alicia Silverstone' (qv).
• Former son-in-law of 'Phyllida Law' (qv).
• Claims that 'Derek Jacobi' (qv) is the reason he got into acting, and thus Jacobi became a frequent collaborator with him in most of his movies.
• Was one of the directors considered for _Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)_ (qv). He had appeared in the previous film, _Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)_ (qv).
• He was nominated for a 2004 London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actor for his performance in "Edmond" at the Royal National Theatre.
• Was 15 when he first saw "Hamlet" performed.
• Moved to Reading, England at the age of nine. At age 23, he became the youngest actor in the Royal Shakespeare Company to ever play the lead in Shakespeare's "Henry V".