Age: 65
male
Sir Kenneth Charles Branagh (born 10 December 1960) is a Northern Irish 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).
Kenneth Branagh
Lord Rickard Stark
for Lord Rickard Stark in Robert's Rebellion
Suggested by j_bkr
When Rhaegar Targaryen (Charlie Hunnam) “kidnaps” Lyanna Stark (Kaya Scodelario), her brother Brandon (Sebastian Stan) rides to King’s Landing demanding King Aerys (Peter Capaldi) bid his son the Prince of Dragonstone to “free” her. Brandon further demanding that Rhaegar’s life be taken as forfeit provokes Aerys to arrest him for treason. Aerys calls Rickard Stark to the capital. Accusing Rickard of treason too, the Lord of Winterfell demands a Trial by Combat. Not thinking that Aerys would name fire as his champion, Rickard is burned alive. And then Brandon is killed by strangulation with his own chain. Reaching out for the sword that was just out his reach, the chain round his neck suffocated him. All that could be heard in the moments afterwards was the Mad King’s cackling. Hearing this news, Robert Baratheon (Tom Hardy) and his friend, the new Lord of Winterfell Eddard Stark (Nicholas Hoult) rally their bannermen, along with their friend and mentor Lord Jon Arryn (Liam Neeson) of The Vale. Jon and Ned (Eddard) promised themselves in marriage to the Tully daughters Catelyn (Eleanor Tomlinson) and Lysa (Isolda Dychauk) to gain the support of Lord Hoster Tully (Hugh Laurie) and the Riverlands in the fight against The Crown. An alliance between The North, The Stormlands, the Vale and the Riverlands is made. And thus, a bloody civil war is waged against The Mad King, House Targaryen and their loyalists.
