Actor · Acting

Brian Cox

Born 1946-06-01

📍 Dundee, Scotland, UK

Brian Denis Cox (born June 1, 1946) is a Scottish actor. A classically trained Shakespearean actor, he is known for his work on stage and screen. His numerous accolades include two Laurence Olivier Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Golden Globe Award, as well as a nomination for a British Academy Television Award. In 2003, he was appointed to the Order of the British Empire at the rank of Commander.

Cox trained at the Dundee Repertory Theatre before becoming a founding member of the Royal Lyceum Theatre. He went on to train as a Shakespearean actor, starring in numerous productions with the Royal National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company, where he gained recognition for his portrayal of King Lear. Cox received two Laurence Olivier Awards for Best Actor for his roles in Rat in the Skull (1984), for Royal Court, and Titus Andronicus (1988). He received two more Olivier Award nominations for Misalliance (1986) and Fashion (1988).

Known as a character actor in film, he played Robert McKee in Spike Jonze's Adaptation (2002) and William Stryker in X2 (2003). For his starring role in L.I.E. (2001), he received an Independent Spirit Award nomination. His other notable films include Manhunter (1986), Iron Will (1994), Braveheart (1995), The Boxer (1997), The Rookie (2002), Troy (2004), Match Point (2005), The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep (2007), Coriolanus (2011), Pixels (2015), and Churchill (2017).

Cox won the Primetime Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series for his portrayal of Hermann Göring in the television film Nuremberg (2001). The following year, he guest starred on the NBC sitcom Frasier, earning his second Emmy nomination in 2002. He portrayed Jack Langrishe in the HBO series Deadwood. He starred as Logan Roy on the HBO series Succession (2018-2023), for which he won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series and was nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards for Best Actor in a Drama Series.

Filmography 276

Super Troopers 3

as Capt. John O’Hagan

The Sunrise File

as Oded Ailam (voice)

as Self - Interviewee

Raoul Wallenberg: Missing Inaction

as Gustaf Wallenberg (voice)

Dexter: Resurrection

as New York Ripper

The Electric State

as Popfly (voice)

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim

as Helm Hammerhand (voice)

as Santa (voice)

as Robert Dodds

007: Road to a Million

as The Controller

Shakespeare: Rise of a Genius

Made of Money with Brian Cox

Bill Douglas: My Best Friend

as Narrator (voice)

Prisoner's Daughter

Mending the Line

as Ike Fletcher

as Narrator (voice)

An Interview with Brian Cox

Ooh the Banter!

Peter O'Toole: Along the Sky Road to Aqaba

Brian Cox: How The Other Half Live

The Independent

Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg

as Self – Actor

Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg

as Self - Actor

Ukraine: Answering the Call

Piers Morgan Uncensored

Blade Runner: Black Lotus

as Niander Wallace Sr. (voice)

Amol Rajan Interviews

as Self - Interviewed Guest

Oleg: The Oleg Vidov Story

as Narrator (voice)

The Bay of Silence

John Rebus: The Lockdown Blues

Last Moment of Clarity

Lawrence After Arabia

as Father (Voice)

as Father Reilly

Strange but True

as Death (voice)

Kubrick by Candlelight

as The Narrator

Super Troopers 2

as John O'Hagen

The Etruscan Smile

as Rory MacNeil

The Russell Howard Hour

Carpool Karaoke: The Series

Bob the Builder: Mega Machines - The Movie

as Conrad / Crunch (voice)

as Winston Churchill

Brian Cox's Russia

Vegalta: Soccer, Tsunami and the Hope of a Nation

Darcey Bussell: My Life on the BBC

The Autopsy of Jane Doe

as Tommy Tilden

Medici: Masters of Florence

as Bernardo Guadagni

Alan Clarke: Out of His Own Light

as Mikhail Kutuzov

as James McCurdy

Pacific Warriors

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

as Self - Guest

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

as Admiral Porter

Andrew Carnegie: Rags to Riches, Power to Peace

as Andrew Carnegie (voice)

Variety Studio: Actors on Actors

The Gospel of John

as Narrator (voice) – King James Version

The Great War: The People's Story

as Rev. Andrew Clark

as Jared Talbot

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

Late Night with Seth Meyers

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon

as Alan Watts (voice)

An Adventure in Space and Time

as Sydney Newman

The Curse of Edgar

as Edgar Hoover

Addicted to Pleasure

as Lenny Fairburn

A Touch of Cloth

as The Mechanic

as Harry Montebello

Celebrity Antiques Road Trip

as Self - Participant

as Malcolm Young (voice)

Edwin Boyd: Citizen Gangster

The Jonathan Ross Show

The Jonathan Ross Show

as Self - Guest

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

The Sinking of the Laconia

as Captain Sharp

as Ivan Simanov

As Good As Dead

as Reverend Kalahan

The Day of the Triffids

as Dennis Masen

Fantastic Mr. Fox

as Action 12 Reporter (voice)

Brian Cox's Jute Journey

Scooby-Doo! and the Samurai Sword

as Green Dragon (voice)

as King Vesper Abaddon

as Avery Ludlow

The Colour of Magic

as Spanners (voice)

The Water Horse

The Secret of the Nutcracker

as Drosselmeyer

as Daniel Tennant

Battle for Terra

as General Hemmer (voice)

The Bourne Ultimatum

as Ward Abbott (voice) (archive footage) (uncredited)

A Woman in Winter

as Melvin Belli

The Graham Norton Show

as Voice of the Mastermind

Running with Scissors

The Flying Scotsman

as Douglas Baxter

as Self - Guest

The Colbert Report

The Strange Case of Sherlock Holmes & Arthur Conan Doyle

Hitler in Colour

as Dr. Robert Smith

Japan's War in Colour

as Self - Narrator (voice)

Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson

as Other Voices (voice)

The Bourne Supremacy

as King Agamemnon

as Jack Langrishe

Murder by Numbers

The Second Uncanny Issue of X-Men! Making X2

The Evolution of an American Filmmaker

as William Stryker

Real Time with Bill Maher

Jimmy Kimmel Live!

as Self - Guest

as Captain Oakes

as James Brogan

as Robert McKee

as Richard Morgan

The Trials of Henry Kissinger

as Michael O'Mara

The Bourne Identity

Loch Lomond: Legend of the Loch

as Jim Morris Sr.

Rasputin: The Devil in the Flesh

Smallpox 2002: Silent Weapon

The Affair of the Necklace

as Minister Breteuil

as Big John Harrigan

Strictly Sinatra

as Captain O'Hagen

Inside 'Manhunter'

Aqua Teen Hunger Force

as Anubis (voice)

as George Beneventi

as Herman Wilhelm Goering

as Herman Wilhelm Goering

as Inspector McDunn

A Shot at Glory

as Martin Smith

Mad About Mambo

as Sidney McLoughlin

The Invention of Dr. Morel

The Making of 'Rushmore'

For Love of the Game

as Gary Wheeler

as Sean Wallace

as Dr. Nelson Guggenheim

as Clayton Blackstone

Battle of the Clans

Merchants of Venus

as Uncle Vladimir

Desperate Measures

as Captain Jeremiah Cassidy

Food for Ravens

as Aneurin Bevan

Sharpe: The Legend

as Chief Hatfield, Durham PD

I, Caesar – The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire

The Long Kiss Goodnight

as Dr. Nathan Waldman

The Glimmer Man

Superman: The Animated Series

as Dr. Earl Garver (voice)

as Lyman Earl Collier

Witness Against Hitler

as Judge Freisler

as Argyle Wallace

The Maltese Double Cross

as Narrator (voice)

as Charlie King

as Colonel Yevgeni Grushko

Prince of Jutland

as Angus McTeague

as Major Michael Hogan

Sharpe's Rifles

as Major Michael Hogan

Six Characters in Search of An Author

as The Director

The Big Battalions

as Edward Hoyland

Shakespeare: The Animated Tales

as Macbeth (voice)

The Lost Language of Cranes

as Owen Benjamin

The Cloning of Joanna May

as Carlton Heard

as Geoffrey Harrison

as The Director

as Peter Kerrigan

Have I Got News for You

The Making of 'Hidden Agenda'

Perfect Scoundrels

as Father Amedy

as Kostas Becker (voice)

Brian Cox on Acting in Tragedy

The Blasphemers' Banquet

as Rev. Wallace (voice)

Murder on the Moon

Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky

as Voiceover Narrator

LIVE with Kelly and Mark

as Self - Guest

Beryl Markham: A Shadow on the Sun

The Modern World: Ten Great Writers

as Henrik Ibsen (voice)

Shoot for the Sun

French & Saunders

Inspector Morse

as Michael Steppings

Gramsci: Everything that Concerns People

as Dr. Hannibal Lecktor

Florence Nightingale

as Dr. McGregor

Pope John Paul II

as Father Góra

A Cotswold Death

as Dr. Gillespie

House on the Hill

as Leon Douglas

Hammer House of Horror

Dalhousie's Luck

as Laurent LeClaire

as Self - Panellist

The Devil's Crown

Clay, Smeddum and Greenden

as George Simpson

Churchill's People

as William Wallace

as Stefan Szabo

Nicholas and Alexandra

Great Performances

as Self - Narration (voice)

as Dr. Gillespie

The Year of the Sex Olympics

BBC Play of the Month

A Modern Magician

Have I Got a Bit More News for You

as Himself - Panellist