Kenneth Branagh

Kenneth Branagh, the middle of three children, was born and brought up in Belfast, the son of working class Protestant parents Frances and William Branagh, a plumber and joiner who ran a company that specialised in fitting partitions and suspended ceilings. Kenneth was educated at Grove Primary School. At the age of nine, he relocated with his family to Reading, Berkshire to escape "the troubles".

He attended Whiteknights Primary School, then Meadway School Tilehurst, where he appeared in school productions such as Toad of Toad Hall" and Oh, What a Lovely War! At school, he affected an English accent to avoid bullying.

On his identity today he has said, "I feel Irish. I don't think you can take Belfast out of the boy," and he attributes his "love of words" to his Irish heritage. He then went on, to train at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts on a BA Fine Arts Degree.

Branagh is known for his film adaptations of William Shakespeare, beginning with "Henry V" (1989), followed by "Much Ado About Nothing" (1993), "Hamlet" (1996), "Love's Labour's Lost" (2000) and "As You Like It" (2006). "As You Like It" premiered in theatres in Europe, but was sent directly to television in the U.S., where it aired on HBO in August 2007. Kenneth Branagh was also in the 1995 film version of Othello where he played Iago. However he did not direct the film, it was directed by Oliver Parker.

Catarina Oliveira, 1006