Cover From Shakespeare to superheroes, Kenneth Branagh has never taken the predictable path. Explore the bold career choices that helped make him one of cinema’s most versatile filmmakers and actors (Photo: Eamonn M McCormack/Getty Images)
From Shakespeare to superheroes, Kenneth Branagh has never taken the predictable path. Explore the bold career choices that helped make him one of cinema’s most versatile filmmakers and actors (Photo: Eamonn M McCormack/Getty Images)
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From directing a Shakespeare epic at just 28 to tackling blockbuster franchises and unexpected comedies, Kenneth Branagh has built a career defined by bold creative choices
Kenneth Branagh has spent four decades making the kind of career most actors would never attempt. Shakespeare sits alongside superhero blockbusters, intimate memoirs beside glossy murder mysteries, each project seemingly chosen to avoid repeating the last.
Few filmmakers have moved as comfortably between classical theatre and mainstream cinema, receiving Academy Award nominations as an actor (Henry V, My Week with Marilyn), director (Henry V, Belfast), screenwriter (Hamlet, Belfast) and even for his short film Swan Song, which earned a nomination for Best Live Action Short Film, before winning Best Original Screenplay for Belfast.
As Branagh’s slate expands again in 2026—with Cold War comedy Mayday and Highland dynasty drama Laird both on the horizon—these are the films that best chart his evolution as actor, director and storyteller.
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‘Henry V’ (1989)
Above ‘Henry V’ turns Shakespeare's warrior king into a gritty battlefield realist
At just 28, Kenneth Branagh directed and starred in a bruising, mud-caked retelling of Shakespeare’s history play, deliberately rejecting the polished heroics of Laurence Olivier’s wartime version. The gamble—helming a prestige classical adaptation before he’d proven himself as a filmmaker—earned three Academy Award nominations, including Best Director, and announced him as a rare talent capable of making four-century-old verse feel urgently contemporary.
‘Much Ado About Nothing’ (1993)
Above ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ pairs Hollywood stars with classical stage talent
Kenneth Branagh cast Hollywood names Denzel Washington and Keanu Reeves alongside seasoned British stage actors, betting that mainstream star power could sell Shakespeare to audiences who’d never buy a cinema ticket for it otherwise. The risk worked: the film became one of the most commercially and critically successful Shakespearean adaptations ever made, anchored by its now-famous single-take crane shot.
‘Thor’ (2011)
Above ‘Thor’ brings a classical stage director into Marvel's cosmic universe
Handed a US$150 million Marvel tentpole, Kenneth Branagh leaned into what he knew best—family betrayal, Shakespearean-scale drama—and applied it to a comic-book god. It was an unlikely pairing on paper, yet Thor helped legitimise the idea that superhero films could carry real dramatic weight, paving the way for directors from outside the blockbuster mould to take on the genre.
‘Cinderella’ (2015)
Above ‘Cinderella’ reworks the animated classic into a lavish live-action fairy tale
Taking on Disney’s beloved animated original meant inviting direct comparison with a cultural touchstone. Kenneth Branagh’s version, starring Lily James and Cate Blanchett, leaned into old-fashioned romanticism rather than subverting it—a choice that paid off handsomely, delivering the biggest box-office opening weekend of his career.
‘Belfast’ (2021)
Above ‘Belfast’ trades studio spectacle for an intimate black-and-white childhood memoir
After years of blockbuster work, Kenneth Branagh stepped back into deeply personal territory, writing and directing a black-and-white account of his own childhood during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. The smaller scale was itself the gamble—no franchise, no built-in audience. It became his most acclaimed work in years, winning him his first Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ (2026)
Above ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ casts Branagh as Miranda Priestly's new husband
Stepping into a beloved pop-culture sequel meant sharing scenes with Meryl Streep’s iconic character—hardly a low-stakes assignment. Kenneth Branagh’s turn as Stuart Simmons added unexpected warmth to the glossy US$100 million comedy, which went on to gross over US$690 million worldwide.
‘Mayday’ (2026)
Above ‘Mayday’ pairs Branagh with Ryan Reynolds in a Cold War buddy comedy
Teaming up with Ryan Reynolds, Branagh plays a gruff former KGB operative opposite a downed American pilot, turning tense Cold War espionage into a genre-bending buddy comedy. Leaning into comedy rather than solemn historical drama is a deliberate tonal risk—one that has already sparked online debate ahead of its September release.
‘Laird’ (TBA)
Heading into premium streaming territory, Kenneth Branagh will headline a modern Highland family saga for Paramount+, playing a laird defending his estate against a wealthy American buyer. Written by Jez Butterworth, the prestige drama stakes Branagh’s claim in the crowded streaming-television field—a new arena for an actor who keeps choosing the harder path.
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After more than a decade in lifestyle media, Clifford has mastered the art of writing seriously about things that are fun—and writing fun things about people who take themselves very seriously. At Tatler Asia, he helped steer its flagship lists, Tatler’s Most Influential and Asia’s Most Stylish. And today, he leads T-Labs, Tatler Asia’s content innovation hub, where he continues the noble pursuit of lifestyle storytelling, spinning stories on wealth, entertainment, necessary style, Hallyu, Hollywood, beauty and more for audiences across Asia.
