Kenneth Branagh

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Kenneth Branagh
Kenneth Branagh in Celebrity.
Born	10 December 1960 Belfast, Northern Ireland

Kenneth Charles Branagh (born December 10, 1960) is an Emmy Award-winning Northern Irish-born British actor and film director.

1 Biography
2 Trivia
3 Filmography
4 External links

[edit] Biography

Branagh was born in Belfast, where he was educated at Grove Primary School, Belfast; but at the age of nine relocated with his family to Reading in England. He received an honorary doctorate in Literature (D.Litt.) from Queen's University of Belfast in 1990.

The actor achieved some early measure of success in his native Northern Ireland for his role as the title character in the BBC's Play for Today series known as the Billy Plays, written by Graham Reid and set in Belfast.

He has worked on both stage and screen. He received initial acclaim in the UK for his stage performances, including the title role in Hamlet. More recently, in 2003, he starred in the National Theatre's well-received production of Edmond by David Mamet.

He is probably best known for his popular film adaptations of the works of William Shakespeare, beginning with Henry V in 1989 (for which he received Academy Award nominations both for his acting and directing) and including versions of Much Ado About Nothing (1993), Othello (1995), Love's Labour's Lost (2000), Hamlet for which he was nominated for best adapted screenplay, (1996) and As You Like It (2006). His 1996 version of Hamlet was the first time that the uncut text of the play (over 4 hours and 4000 lines long) has been recorded on screen. He has also starred in a number of other films unrelated to Shakespeare, some successful, some not. In recent years, he has branched out into made-for-TV films, none of which he has directed. One of his most acclaimed portrayals has been that of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the film Warm Springs, the story of how FDR sought a cure for his polio by buying the rehabilitation institute at Warm Springs, Georgia, and turning it into one of the most famous rehab institutes in the world. It was nominated for sixteen Emmys and won five, though none for Branagh. Branagh did win an Emmy Award for his performance in the 2001 TV film Conspiracy which depicts the Wannsee Conference, in which high-ranking Nazi officials conceived the Final Solution. Branagh played Reinhard Heydrich.

Branagh has been nominated for four Academy Awards, including the two for directing and acting in Henry V and another for the screenplay of Hamlet. Branagh was also nominated for the worst supporting actor "Razzie" in 1999 for his work in the film Wild Wild West.

He starred several times with his then wife, Emma Thompson, including Henry V, Dead Again, and Peter's Friends; they were married in 1989, and divorced in 1995. For several years he was in a well-publicised relationship with Helena Bonham Carter, with whom he also starred, notably in another film he directed, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. He married again, in 2003, to film art director Lindsay Brunnock, who had been introduced to him by Carter in 1997, although they did not begin seeing each other seriously until 2002. ([1])

In 1991, at the age of 30, Branagh authored an autobiography, which he entitled "Beginning." He also narrated the book The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis for Harper Audio.

In 1994, Branagh declined to become a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).

[edit] Trivia

Co-founder of the Renaissance Theatre Company.
Cast in the lead role of the film Amadeus until the production company decided to hire American actors instead.
Branagh was the youngest actor to receive the Golden Quill (also known as the Gielgud Award) in 2000.
He is a Member of the RADA Council.
During pre-production of the Star Wars prequel films, there was speculation that he was being considered for the role of Obi-wan Kenobi.
He received an honorary doctorate in Literature from Queen's University of Belfast in 1990.
He was considered for the role of Jack Crawford in The Silence of the Lambs.
Speaks Italian.
Was the object of a scathing joke in the film Blackadder: Back & Forth. During a visit to Elizabethan England, time-travelling Lord Blackadder has a chance meeting with William Shakespeare himself (played by Colin Firth). He violently assaults the playwright in retaliation for, among other things, "Ken Branagh's endless, uncut, four-hour version of Hamlet." When Shakespeare asks "Who's Ken Branagh?" Blackadder replies "I'm going to tell him you said that. And I think he'll be very hurt."
Is a lifelong supporter of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club.([2])