Brian Cox
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.
Known For
Credits
- 2025 · The Electric State as Popfly (voice)
- 2024 · Unsinkable as Robert Dodds
- 2024 · Skelly as Grandpa
- 2023 · 007: Road to a Million as The Controller
- 2023 · Quasi as Narrator (voice)
- 2022 · The Independent as Nick Booker
- 2021 · Blade Runner: Black Lotus as Niander Wallace Sr. (voice)
- 2021 · Separation as Rivers
- 2021 · Oleg: The Oleg Vidov Story as Narrator (voice)
- 2020 · Last Moment of Clarity as Gilles
- 2018 · Succession as Logan Roy
- 2018 · Super Troopers 2 as John O'Hagen
- 2017 · Bob the Builder: Mega Machines - The Movie as Conrad / Crunch (voice)
- 2016 · Morgan as Jim Bryce
- 2016 · The Carer as Sir Michael
- 2015 · Forsaken as James McCurdy
- 2015 · The Late Show with Stephen Colbert as
- 2015 · The Late Show with Stephen Colbert as Self
- 2015 · The Slap as Manolis
- 2014 · Variety Studio: Actors on Actors as Self
- 2014 · The Game as Daddy
- 2014 · The Anomaly as Dr. Langham
- 2014 · Last Week Tonight with John Oliver as God
- 2014 · Late Night with Seth Meyers as Self
- 2014 · The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon as Self
- 2013 · Anna as Sebastian
- 2013 · Believe as Matt Busby
- 2013 · Shetland as Magnus Bain
- 2013 · The Last Leg as Self
- 2012 · Blood as Lenny Fairburn
- 2012 · A Touch of Cloth as Bill Ball
- 2012 · Tooned as The Mechanic
- 2012 · All at Sea as Wally
- 2012 · The Straits as Harry Montebello
- 2011 · Exit Humanity as Malcolm Young (voice)
- 2011 · The Veteran as Gerry
- 2011 · The Key Man as Irving
- 2011 · Coriolanus as Menenius
- 2009 · The Day of the Triffids as Dennis Masen
- 2009 · The Take as Ozzy
- 2009 · Tell-Tale as Van Doren
- 2009 · Scooby-Doo! and the Samurai Sword as Green Dragon (voice)
- 2008 · Red as Avery Ludlow
- 2008 · The Colour of Magic as Narrator
- 2007 · The Water Horse as Old Angus
- 2007 · Trick 'r Treat as Mr. Kreeg
- 2007 · The Bourne Ultimatum as Ward Abbott (voice) (archive footage) (uncredited)
- 2007 · The Graham Norton Show as Self
- 2006 · The One Show as Self - Guest
- 2005 · The Ringer as Gary Barker
- 2005 · Match Point as Alec Hewett
- 2005 · The Colbert Report as
- 2005 · The Strange Case of Sherlock Holmes & Arthur Conan Doyle as Joseph Bell
- 2004 · The Bourne Supremacy as Ward Abbott
- 2004 · Troy as King Agamemnon
- 2004 · Deadwood as Jack Langrishe
- 2003 · One Life as
- 2003 · Real Time with Bill Maher as Self
- 2003 · Sin as Captain Oakes
- 2002 · Adaptation. as Robert McKee
- 2002 · Top Gear as Self
- 2002 · The Ring as Richard Morgan
- 2002 · The Biographer as Michael O'Mara
- 2002 · The Bourne Identity as Ward Abbott
- 2002 · The Rookie as Jim Morris Sr.
- 2002 · Bug as Cyr
- 2001 · Richard & Judy as Self
- 2001 · L.I.E. as Big John Harrigan
- 2001 · Strictly Sinatra as Chisolm
- 2001 · Super Troopers as John O'Hagen
- 2000 · Aqua Teen Hunger Force as Anubis (voice)
- 2000 · Saltwater as George Beneventi
- 2000 · Nuremberg as Herman Wilhelm Goering
- 2000 · Longitude as Lord Morton
- 2000 · Longitude as Lord Morton
- 1999 · For Love of the Game as Gary Wheeler
- 1999 · The Corruptor as Sean Wallace
- 1998 · Rushmore as Dr. Nelson Guggenheim
- 1998 · Merchants of Venus as Uncle Vladimir
- 1998 · Desperate Measures as Captain Jeremiah Cassidy
- 1997 · The Boxer as Joe Hamill
- 1997 · Kiss the Girls as Chief Hatfield, Durham PD
- 1996 · The Glimmer Man as Mr. Smith
- 1996 · Chain Reaction as Lyman Earl Collier
- 1996 · The Daily Show as Self
- 1995 · Rob Roy as Killearn
- 1994 · Grushko as Colonel Yevgeni Grushko
- 1994 · Iron Will as Angus McTeague
- 1993 · Frasier as Harry Moon
- 1993 · Sharpe's Eagle as Major Michael Hogan
- 1992 · Shakespeare: The Animated Tales as Macbeth (voice)
- 1992 · Deceptions as Carlton Heard
- 1991 · Performance as The Director
- 1990 · Hidden Agenda as Peter Kerrigan
- 1990 · Have I Got News for You as Self
- 1989 · The Simpsons as Kostas Becker (voice)
- 1988 · LIVE with Kelly and Mark as Self - Guest
- 1980 · Hammer House of Horror as Chuck
- 1979 · Minder as Frank
- 1979 · Question Time as Self - Panellist
- 1978 · Out as McGrath
- 1977 · Target as Billy Voss
- 1971 · Nicholas and Alexandra as Trotsky
- 1971 · Great Performances as Self - Narration (voice)
- 1970 · Play for Today as Dr. Gillespie
- 1970 · Manhunt as Anton
- 1965 · BBC Play of the Month as Alsemero
- Future · Have I Got a Bit More News for You as Himself - Panellist
- 2025 · VE Day 80 as Self
- 2025 · The Parenting as Frank
- 2023 · Prisoner's Daughter as Max
- 2023 · Mending the Line as Ike Fletcher
- 2022 · Bonnie as Self
- 2022 · Piers Morgan Uncensored as Self
- 2019 · Strange But True as Bill
- 2014 · The Gospel of John as Narrator (voice) – King James Version
- 2013 · The Curse of Edgar as Edgar Hoover
- 2011 · Edwin Boyd: Citizen Gangster as Glover
- 2011 · The Sinking of the Laconia as Captain Sharp
- 2008 · The Escapist as Frank Perry
- 2007 · The Secret of the Nutcracker as Drosselmeyer
- 2007 · Battle for Terra as General Hemmer (voice)
- 2006 · Running with Scissors as Dr. Finch
- 2006 · The Outsiders as Gabriel
- 2006 · Carry On Ken as Self
- 2005 · Blue/Orange as Dr. Robert Smith
- 2004 · Murder by Numbers as Self
- 2004 · The Reckoning as Tobias
- 2002 · 25th Hour as James Brogan
- 2000 · A Shot at Glory as Martin Smith
- 2000 · The Making of 'Rushmore' as Self
- 1996 · Witness Against Hitler as Judge Freisler
- 1992 · The Lost Language of Cranes as Owen Benjamin
- 1991 · Red Fox as Geoffrey Harrison
- 1990 · The Making of 'Hidden Agenda' as self
- 1990 · Perfect Scoundrels as Father Amedy
- 1990 · Secret Weapon as Andrew Neil
- 1988 · The Modern World: Ten Great Writers as Henrik Ibsen (voice)
- 1987 · Acting as
- 1986 · Unnatural Causes as Vic
- 1985 · Florence Nightingale as Dr. McGregor
- 1975 · In Celebration as Steven Shaw
- Future · The Glove as
- 2025 · Glenrothan as Sandy
- 2025 · AMR: Dying to Change the World as AMR
- 2023 · Shakespeare: Rise of a Genius as Self
- 2023 · Made of Money with Brian Cox as
- 2022 · Ooh the Banter! as Self
- 2019 · Remember Me as Shane
- 2018 · The Etruscan Smile as Rory MacNeil
- 2013 · Blumenthal as Harold Blumenthal
- 2010 · On Expenses as
- 2007 · Shoot on Sight as Daniel Tennant
- 2007 · A Woman in Winter as Dr. Hunt
- 2004 · Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson as Other Voices (voice)
- 2003 · The Second Uncanny Issue of X-Men! Making 'X2' as
- 2003 · The Evolution of an American Filmmaker as Self
- 2003 · X2 as William Stryker
- 2002 · Aleister Crowley - The Wickedest Man in the World as Narrator
- 2002 · Rasputin: The Devil in the Flesh as Narrator
- 2002 · Smallpox 2002: Silent Weapon as Narrator
- 2000 · Mad About Mambo as Sidney McLoughlin
- 1997 · Food for Ravens as Aneurin Bevan
- 1992 · The Big Battalions as Edward Hoyland
- 1978 · The Devil's Crown as Henry II
- Future · Super Troopers 3 as Capt. John O’Hagan
- 2002 · Loch Lomond: Legend of the Loch as Narrator
- 2000 · The Invention of Dr. Morel as Dr. Morel
- 1992 · The Cutter as
- 1989 · The Blasphemers' Banquet as Rev. Wallace (voice)
- 1988 · Beryl Markham: A Shadow on the Sun as Jack Purves
- 1987 · Gramsci: Everything that Concerns People as Narrator
- 1986 · Home Cooking as Vic
- 1984 · Pope John Paul II as Father Góra
- 1982 · The Privilege as Young Laird
- 1981 · House on the Hill as Leon Douglas
- 1980 · Dalhousie's Luck as Dalhousie
- 1976 · Clay, Smeddum and Greenden as George Simpson
- Future · Old Pals as Jimmy
- 2025 · The Marbles as Self
- 2025 · Raoul Wallenberg: Missing Inaction as Self — Gustaf Wallenberg (voice)
- 2024 · The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim as Helm Hammerhand (voice)
- 2024 · That Christmas as Santa (voice)
- 2024 · Little Wing as Jaan Vari
- 2023 · Bill Douglas: My Best Friend as Narrator (voice)
- 2023 · An Interview with Brian Cox as Himself
- 2022 · Peter O'Toole: Along the Sky Road to Aqaba as Self
- 2022 · Brian Cox: How The Other Half Live as Presenter
- 2022 · Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg as Self – Actor
- 2022 · Ukraine: Answering the Call as Self
- 2020 · The Bay of Silence as Milton
- 2020 · John Rebus: The Lockdown Blues as John Rebus
- 2020 · Lawrence After Arabia as Father (Voice)
- 2019 · The Last Right as Father Reilly
- 2019 · Pretenders as Henry
- 2019 · Good Omens as Death (voice)
- 2018 · Kubrick by Candlelight as The Narrator
- 2018 · Widdershins as voice
- 2017 · The Russell Howard Hour as Self
- 2017 · Carpool Karaoke: The Series as Self
- 2017 · An Evening with Brian Cox as Himself
- 2017 · Churchill as Winston Churchill
- 2017 · Brian Cox's Russia as Host
- 2017 · Vegalta: Soccer, Tsunami and the Hope of a Nation as Narrator
- 2016 · Darcey Bussell: My Life on the BBC as Self
- 2016 · The Autopsy of Jane Doe as Tommy Tilden
- 2016 · Medici: Masters of Florence as Bernardo Guadagni
- 2016 · Alan Clarke: Out of His Own Light as Self
- 2016 · War and Peace as Mikhail Kutuzov
- 2015 · Killing Thyme as Norman
- 2015 · Pacific Warriors as Narrator
- 2015 · Pixels as Admiral Porter
- 2015 · Andrew Carnegie: Rags to Riches, Power to Peace as Andrew Carnegie (voice)
- 2014 · Scotland In A Day as
- 2014 · The Great War: The People's Story as Rev. Andrew Clark
- 2014 · Penny Dreadful as Jared Talbot
- 2013 · Her as Alan Watts (voice)
- 2013 · An Adventure in Space and Time as Sydney Newman
- 2013 · RED 2 as Ivan
- 2013 · Bob Servant as Bob Servant
- 2012 · Addicted to Pleasure as Self - Host
- 2012 · The Campaign as Raymond
- 2012 · I Missed My Mother's Funeral as Old Man
- 2011 · Celebrity Antiques Road Trip as Self - Participant
- 2011 · The Jonathan Ross Show as Self
- 2011 · The Jonathan Ross Show as Self - Guest
- 2011 · Rise of the Planet of the Apes as John Landon
- 2011 · Ironclad as Albany
- 2010 · RED as Ivan Simanov
- 2010 · As Good As Dead as Reverend Kalahan
- 2009 · Fantastic Mr. Fox as Action 12 Reporter (voice)
- 2009 · Brian Cox's Jute Journey as Self
- 2009 · The Good Heart as Jacques
- 2008 · Agent Crush as Spanners (voice)
- 2007 · Zodiac as Melvin Belli
- 2006 · The Flying Scotsman as Douglas Baxter
- 2005 · Red Eye as Joe Reisert
- 2005 · Hitler in Colour as Narrator
- 2005 · Japan's War in Colour as Self - Narrator (voice)
- 2004 · The Tony Danza Show as Self
- 2002 · The Trials of Henry Kissinger as
- 2001 · The Affair of the Necklace as Minister Breteuil
- 2001 · Inside 'Manhunter' as Himself
- 2000 · Complicity as Inspector McDunn
- 1999 · The History of the British Police Force as Narrator (voice)
- 1999 · The Minus Man as Doug
- 1998 · Poodle Springs as Clayton Blackstone
- 1997 · Sharpe: The Legend as Hogan
- 1996 · The Long Kiss Goodnight as Dr. Nathan Waldman
- 1996 · Superman: The Animated Series as Dr. Earl Garver (voice)
- 1995 · Braveheart as Argyle Wallace
- 1994 · The Maltese Double Cross as Narrator (voice)
- 1994 · The Negotiator as Charlie King
- 1994 · Prince of Jutland as Aethelwine
- 1993 · Sharpe as Major Hogan
- 1993 · Sharpe's Rifles as Major Michael Hogan
- 1992 · Six Characters in Search of An Author as The Director
- 1992 · Macbeth as Macbeth
- 1992 · The Cloning of Joanna May as Carl May
- 1989 · Brian Cox on Acting in Tragedy as Self
- 1989 · Murder on the Moon as Voronov
- 1988 · Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky as Voiceover Narrator
- 1988 · Red Dwarf as The King
- 1987 · Shoot for the Sun as Dunny
- 1987 · French & Saunders as King Lear
- 1987 · Inspector Morse as Michael Steppings
- 1987 · Rat in the Skull as Detective Inspector Nelson
- 1986 · Manhunter as Dr. Hannibal Lecktor
- 1985 · The Cantor of St Thomas's as Johann Sebastian Bach
- 1983 · King Lear as Burgundy
- 1982 · A Cotswold Death as Dr. Gillespie
- 1980 · Therese Raquin as Laurent
- 1974 · Churchill's People as William Wallace
- 1974 · Playhouse as Dalhousie
- 1974 · The Changeling as Alsemero
- 1972 · Van der Valk as Stefan Szabo
- 1968 · The Year of the Sex Olympics as Lasar Opie
- 1967 · The Gamblers as Mickey
- 1965 · A Knight in Tarnished Armour as Nelson
- 1964 · Theatre 625 as Lasar Opie
- Future · The Planets as
- Future · Wittgenstein's Poker as Bertrand Russell (voice)
- Future · A Modern Magician as The Voice