Crossword Dictionary

KENNETH BRANAGH

Kenneth Branagh, in full Sir Kenneth Charles Branagh, (born December 10, 1960, Belfast, Northern Ireland), Irish-born English actor, director, and writer who is best known for his film adaptations of Shakespearean plays.

At age nine Branagh moved with his family from Northern Ireland to London. He began acting in school plays and graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1981. Six weeks later he made his professional stage debut. In 1984 he joined the prestigious Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), where he received acclaim for his performances in Hamlet and Henry V. Often compared to Laurence Olivier (whom he would later portray), Branagh was noted for his magnetic and often whimsical performances. In 1987 he left the RSC to cofound the Renaissance Theatre Company, for which he served as actor, writer, and director.

In 1989 Branagh brought Henry V to the screen. The movie received critical acclaim, and Branagh was nominated for an Academy Award for best director and another for best actor. Emma Thompson, whom Branagh married in 1989, costarred. The two appeared together in many film and stage productions until their divorce in 1995.

Credited with making Shakespeare accessible to the masses, Branagh also acted in and directed In the Bleak Midwinter (1995; U.S. title A Midwinter’s Tale), about a production of Hamlet staged in a local church, as well as film versions of Much Ado About Nothing (1993), Hamlet (1996), and Love’s Labour’s Lost (2000). In 1995 he appeared as Iago in the film Othello, and in 2006 he directed the film As You Like It. He also directed and acted in the motion pictures Dead Again (1991) and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1994).