Kenneth Branagh, a graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, made his West End acting debut in Another Country for which he won the Society of West End Theatre’s Award for ‘Most Promising Newcomer’. Numerous stage appearances followed including the RSC’s Henry V, Love Labour’s Lost and Hamlet.

In 1985 he co-founded the Renaissance Theatre Company. His first venture into film met with instant success when his 1989 production of Henry V won a score of international awards including Academy Award nominations for Best Actor and Best Director.

Branagh was subsequently invited to Hollywood to direct and star in Dead Again, before returning to England to direct the ensemble film Peters Friends, which won the Evening Standard Peters Sellers Award for Comedy. His second Shakespearean film success was Much Ado About Nothing and in the same year his short film of the Chekhov play Swan Song received an Academy Award nomination.

He went on to direct Robert De Niro in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. His black and white film In The Bleak Midwinter (A Midwinter’s Tale) opened the 1996 Sundance Film Festival and won the prestigious Osello d’Oro at the Venice Film Festival. His critically acclaimed full-length version of Hamlet in 70mm, received four Academy Award nominations. In 2000 Branagh directed his fourth Shakespeare film adaptation – a 1930s musical version of Love Labour’s Lost.

In addition to Channel 4 and A&E’s television epic Shackleton, Branagh has recently appeared in the HBO/BBC drama "Conspiracy", for which he won an Emmy as Best Actor and a Golden Globe nomination.