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Name: Kenneth Branagh (pronounced "bran-na")
Birthplace: Belfast, Northern Ireland
Birthdate: December 10, 1960
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Blonde
Height: 5'9½"

Best Known for: His film adaptations of Shakespearean plays

Kenneth Branagh was born to parents William Branagh, a carpenter, and Frances Branagh. He has a brother named William Branagh Jr. who was born in 1955 and a sister named Joyce Branagh born in 1970. At 23, Kenneth joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, where he took on starring roles in Henry V and Romeo and Juliet. He soon found the R.S.C. too large and impersonal and formed his own, the Renaissance Theatre Company, which now counts Prince Charles as one of its royal patrons. At 29, he directed and starred in the film Henry V, which costarred his then-wife, Emma Thompson. The film brought him Best Actor and Best Director Oscar nominations. In 1993, he brought Shakespeare to mainstream audiences again with his hit adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing, which featured an all-star cast that included Denzel Washington and Keanu Reeves. At 30, he published his autobiography and at 34 he directed and starred as Victor Frankenstein in the big-budget adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein with Robert De Niro as the monster himself. The bad reviews may have had some effect on his marriage, though, because in October 1995, Branagh and Thompson announced their plans to divorce. In 1996, Branagh wrote, directed and starred in a lavish adaptation of Hamlet.

Filmography:
Warm Springs (2005) (TV) Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Five Children and It (2004) Uncle Albert
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) Professor Gilderoy Lockhart
Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002) A.O. Neville
Shackleton (2002) (TV) Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton
Alien Love Triangle (2002) Steven Chesterman
Conspiracy (2001) (TV) Reinhard Heydrich
Schneider's 2nd Stage (2001) Joseph Barnett
Big Al Uncovered (2000) (TV) Narrator (UK version)
How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog (2000) Peter McGowan
The Road to El Dorado (2000) (voice) Miguel
Love's Labour's Lost (2000) Berowne
Wild Wild West (1999) Dr. Arliss Loveless
The Periwig-Maker (1999) (voice) Periwig-maker
The Dance of Shiva (1998) Col. Evans
The Theory of Flight (1998) Richard
Celebrity (1998) Lee Simon
The Proposition (1998) Father Michael McKinnon
The Gingerbread Man (1998) Rick Magruder
Hamlet (1996) Hamlet
Othello (1995) Iago
Shadow of a Gunman (1995) (TV) Donal Davoren
Frankenstein (1994) Victor Frankenstein
Much Ado About Nothing (1993) Benedick
Swing Kids (1993) (uncredited) Herr Knopp, Gestapo
Peter's Friends (1992) Andrew Benson
Dead Again (1991) Roman Strauss/Mike Church
Henry V (1989) Henry V
Look Back in Anger (1989) (TV) Jimmy Porter
"Thompson" (1988) TV Series Various roles
Strange Interlude (1988) (TV) Gordon Evans
"Fortunes of War" (1987) (mini) TV Series Guy Pringle
High Season (1987) Rick
A Month in the Country (1987) James Moon
The Lady's Not for Burning (1987) (TV) Thomas Mendip
Ghosts (1986) (TV) Oswald
Coming Through (1985) D.H. Lawrence
A Coming to Terms for Billy (1984) (TV) Billy Martin
"Boy in the Bush" (1984) (mini) TV Series Jack Grant
To the Lighthouse (1983) (TV) Charles Tansley
A Matter of Choice for Billy (1983) (TV) Billy Martin
Easter 2016 (1982) (TV) Student
Too Late to Talk to Billy (1982) (TV) Billy
"Maybury" (1981) (mini) TV Series Robert Clyde Moffat

www.branaghcompendium.com

Information courtesy of [I do believe in faeries I do I do]