Kenneth Branagh

Kenneth Branagh Bio

Kenneth Branagh, born Kenneth Charles Branagh, was born on December 10, 1960 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. After he graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1981, he made his debut as a professional stage actor. In 1984, he became a part of the prestigious Royal Shakespeare Company. There, he received immense praise for his work in Hamlet and Henry V. Soon, however, he started to feel that the company was becoming too impersonal because of its large size, and so he decided to co-found his own, naming it Renaissance Theatre Company. In 1989, he directed a movie adaptation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, which also featured his then-wife Emma Thompson, and it gave him his first Academy Award nominations for Best Actor and Best Director. Once again, he made a Shakespearean play into a movie with Hamlet in 1996. The Academy noticed his effort and nominated him for Best Adapted Screenplay. In 2011, he was once again nominated for Best Actor for his portrayal of Laurence Olivier in My Week With Marilyn (2011). He was knighted in 2012 for his contributions to the arts.