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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 a honorary doctorate in Literature (D.Litt.) from the Queen's University of Belfast in 1990.
Branagh has worked on both stage and screen. He received initial acclaim in the UK for his stage performances, including the title role in Hamlet. He is probably best known for his popular film adaptations of the works of William Shakespeare, beginning with Henry V in 1989 and including versions of Much Ado About Nothing (1993), Love's Labour's Lost (2000) and Hamlet (1996). He has also starred in a number of other successful films unrelated to Shakespeare.
Branagh 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. 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; they were married in 1989, and divorced in 1995. For several years, starting while he was still married to Thompson, he was in a well-publicised relationship with Helena Bonham Carter, with whom he also starred several times. Thompson has cited Branagh's affair with Carter (which ended in 1999) as the primary reason for their divorce. He married again, in 2003, to film art director Lindsay Brunnock, who had been introduced to him by Carter in 1997, although they had not started seeing each other seriously until 2002. ([1])
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).
Filmography
Selected Filmography (actor)
Warm Springs (2005) as Franklin D. Roosevelt
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) as Professor Gilderoy Lockhart
Shackleton (TV) (2002) as Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton
How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog (2002)
Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002) as A. O. Neville
Conspiracy (TV) (2001) as Reinhard Heydrich
Love's Labour's Lost (2000)
The Road to El Dorado (2000) (voice)
Wild Wild West (1999) as Dr. Arliss Loveless
Celebrity (1998)
The Theory of Flight (1998)
Hamlet (1996) as Hamlet
Othello (1995) as Iago
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994) as Dr. Victor Frankenstein
Much Ado About Nothing (1993) as Benedick
Swing Kids (1993) as Herr Knopp, Gestapo (uncredited)
Peter's Friends (1992)
Dead Again (1991) as Mike Church, P.I.
Henry V (1989) as Henry V
A Month in the Country (1988) as James Moon
Fortunes of War (TV) (1987)
Selected Filmography (director)
Branagh (bottom left) in his 2000 film version of Love's Labour's Lost.
The Magic Flute (2006)
As You Like It (2006)
Love's Labour's Lost (2000)
Hamlet (1996)
A Midwinter's Tale (1996)
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994)
Much Ado About Nothing (1993)
Peter's Friends (1992)
Dead Again (1991)
Henry V (1989)
Narrator
Cold War (TV series) (1996)
Walking with Dinosaurs (UK version) (TV series) (1999)
The Making of Walking with Dinosaurs (UK version) (TV series) (1999)
The Ballad of Big Al (UK version) (TV special) (2001)
Walking with Beasts (UK version) (TV series) (2001)
The Science of Walking with Beasts (Australia) (Two-part TV special) (2001)
Walking with Monsters: Life Before Dinosaurs (TV series) (2005)
