Kenneth Branagh: Biography
Kenneth Charles Branagh (born December 10, 1960) is a versatile Northern Irish actor and film director.
He was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, but when he was nine his family moved to Reading, England. Branagh received a honorary doctorate in Literature from Queen's University, Belfast in 1990.
He has been nominated for four Academy Awards, including two for directing and acting in Henry V and another for the screenplay of Hamlet. He has also won an Emmy Award for his performance in the 2001 TV film Conspiracy
He was married to actress Emma Thompson (1989–96).
Kenneth Branagh: Career
Kenneth studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, London, and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1984. In 1987 he co-founded and became co-director of the Renaissance Theatre Company, starring in successful tours in 1988 and 1989, and in 1998 co-founded the Shakespeare Film Company. His film credits as director/actor include the remake of Henry V (1989, BAFTA Best Actor), Much Ado About Nothing (1993), a 4-hour film production of Hamlet (1997), and a musical version of Love's Labour's Lost (2000). Other films include In the Bleak Midwinter (1995), Wild, Wild West (1999), and Five Children and It (2004). Television work includes Shackleton (2002) and Conspiracy (2002, Emmy). Among his many awards are European Actor of the Year (1990), the Gielgud Award (2000), and an honorary Doctor of Letters (2001) by the Shakespeare Institute for his work in bringing Shakespeare to a popular audience. In 2001 he directed The Play What I Wrote, a comedy tribute to Morcambe and Wise. He returned to the stage after an absence of 10 years to play the lead in Richard III at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield (2002), and later starred in David Mamet's Edmond at the National Theatre (2003).
Kenneth Branagh: Films
5 Children and It (2005), Fortunes of War (2005), Warm Springs (2005), Alien Love Triangle (2005), The Goebbels Experiment (2005), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), The Matrix Reloaded (2003), Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002), Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog (2002), Love's Labour's Lost (2000), The Road to El Dorado (2000), Galapagos (1999), Wild Wild West (1999), The Theory of Flight (1998), Celebrity (1998), The Proposition (1998), Hamlet (1996), Looking for Richard (1996), Othello (1995), Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994), Coming Through (1993), Much Ado About Nothing (1993), Peter's Friends (1992),
Dead Again (1991), Look Back in Anger (1989), Henry V (1989), Twelfth Night (1988), High Season (1988), A Month in the Country (1988), Fortunes of War (1987)