People

Simon Russell Beale

Acting · follow into films and chains

Biography

Sir Simon Russell Beale CBE (born January 12, 1961) is an English actor. He is known for his appearances in film, television and theatre, and work on radio, on audiobooks and as a narrator. For his services to drama, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace in 2019. He has spent much of his theatre career working in productions for both the Royal Shakespeare Company and National Theatre. He has received ten Laurence Olivier Award nominations, winning three awards for his performances in Volpone (1996), Candide (2000), and Uncle Vanya (2003). For his work on the Broadway stage he has received a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play nomination for his performance as George in the Tom Stoppard play Jumpers in 2004. For his role as Henry Lehman in The Lehman Trilogy, he won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play and was nominated for an Olivier Award. Beale has been described by The Independent as "the greatest stage actor of his generation". Beale made his film debut in Sally Potter's period drama Orlando (1992). He continued acting in films such as Persuasion (1995), Hamlet (1996), My Week with Marilyn (2011), The Deep Blue Sea (2011), Into the Woods (2014), and Mary Queen of Scots (2018). In 2017, he starred in Armando Iannucci's dark comedy The Death of Stalin playing Lavrentiy Beria for which he received the British Independent Film Award for Best Supporting Actor. He has also appeared in the television projects The Young Visiters (2003), Dunkirk (2004), and as Falstaff in the BBC made-for-television films Henry IV, Part I and Part II (2012). He was part of the main cast of Showtime's Penny Dreadful.

Notable films

Where to start

Highlights from credits and KinoChain journeys.

The Magic Faraway Tree

Appears in a KinoChain journey

The Death of Stalin

Appears in a KinoChain journey

Benediction

Appears in a KinoChain journey

Into the Woods

As Baker's Father

Vanity Fair

As John Sedley

Operation Mincemeat

As Winston Churchill

Mary Queen of Scots

As Robert Beale

Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale

As Sir Hector Moreland

Chains

KinoChain journeys

Public chains that pass through their films — or name them as a bridge.

Browse all chains

The High Was Never the Point

When Trainspotting arrived in 1996, it was quickly labelled as the ultimate "drugs movie". Decades on, its true subject matter is far clearer. It is not fundame...

8 films

Anarchy in the UK

From Ealing's sly subversions to Python's surreal dismantling of authority, a journey through the films that taught Britain to laugh at itself.

7 films

Into the Woods We Go

From Enid Blyton's enchanted tree to the haunted forests of world cinema, a journey through the woods where magic, memory, and transformation await.

8 films

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