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
- 2026 · Super Troopers 3: Winter Soldiers as Capt. John O’Hagan
- 2025 · The Electric State as Popfly (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 · 007: Road to a Million as The Controller
- 2023 · Shakespeare: Rise of a Genius as Self
- 2023 · Mending the Line as Ike Fletcher
- 2022 · Bonnie as Self
- 2022 · Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg as Self – Actor
- 2022 · Ukraine: Answering the Call as Self
- 2021 · Blade Runner: Black Lotus as Niander Wallace Sr. (voice)
- 2019 · Strange but True as Bill
- 2019 · Pretenders as Henry
- 2019 · Remember Me as Shane
- 2019 · Good Omens as Death (voice)
- 2018 · Succession as Logan Roy
- 2017 · The Russell Howard Hour as Self
- 2017 · Carpool Karaoke: The Series as Self
- 2016 · The Autopsy of Jane Doe as Tommy Tilden
- 2016 · Medici: Masters of Florence as Bernardo Guadagni
- 2016 · Morgan as Jim Bryce
- 2016 · The Carer as Sir Michael
- 2016 · War and Peace as Mikhail Kutuzov
- 2015 · Forsaken as James McCurdy
- 2015 · The Late Show with Stephen Colbert as
- 2015 · The Late Show with Stephen Colbert as Self
- 2015 · Pixels as Admiral Porter
- 2015 · The Slap as Manolis
- 2014 · Variety Studio: Actors on Actors as Self
- 2014 · The Game as Daddy
- 2014 · Penny Dreadful as Jared Talbot
- 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 · Her as Alan Watts (voice)
- 2013 · Anna as Sebastian
- 2013 · Believe as Matt Busby
- 2013 · RED 2 as Ivan
- 2013 · Shetland as Magnus Bain
- 2013 · The Last Leg as Self
- 2012 · Blood as Lenny Fairburn
- 2012 · The Campaign as Raymond
- 2012 · I Missed My Mother's Funeral as Old Man
- 2011 · Celebrity Antiques Road Trip as Self - Participant
- 2011 · Exit Humanity as Malcolm Young (voice)
- 2011 · Edwin Boyd: Citizen Gangster as Glover
- 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 · The Veteran as Gerry
- 2011 · Ironclad as Albany
- 2010 · RED as Ivan Simanov
- 2009 · The Day of the Triffids as Dennis Masen
- 2009 · Fantastic Mr. Fox as Action 12 Reporter (voice)
- 2009 · The Good Heart as Jacques
- 2009 · The Take as Ozzy
- 2009 · Tell-Tale as Van Doren
- 2009 · Kings as King Vesper Abaddon
- 2008 · Red as Avery Ludlow
- 2008 · The Escapist as Frank Perry
- 2008 · The Colour of Magic as Narrator
- 2007 · The Water Horse as Old Angus
- 2007 · Shoot on Sight as Daniel Tennant
- 2007 · Trick 'r Treat as Mr. Kreeg
- 2007 · The Bourne Ultimatum as Ward Abbott (voice) (archive footage) (uncredited)
- 2007 · Zodiac as Melvin Belli
- 2007 · The Graham Norton Show as Self
- 2006 · The Outsiders as Gabriel
- 2006 · The Flying Scotsman as Douglas Baxter
- 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 · Red Eye as Joe Reisert
- 2004 · The Tony Danza Show as Self
- 2004 · The Bourne Supremacy as Ward Abbott
- 2004 · Troy as King Agamemnon
- 2004 · Deadwood as Jack Langrishe
- 2003 · Real Time with Bill Maher as Self
- 2003 · Jimmy Kimmel Live! as Self - Guest
- 2003 · Sin as Captain Oakes
- 2002 · 25th Hour as James Brogan
- 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.
- 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 · Complicity as Inspector McDunn
- 2000 · Mad About Mambo as Sidney McLoughlin
- 2000 · The Invention of Dr. Morel as Dr. Morel
- 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 · Poodle Springs as Clayton Blackstone
- 1998 · Merchants of Venus as Uncle Vladimir
- 1998 · Desperate Measures as Captain Jeremiah Cassidy
- 1997 · Sharpe: The Legend as Hogan
- 1997 · Kiss the Girls as Chief Hatfield, Durham PD
- 1996 · The Long Kiss Goodnight as Dr. Nathan Waldman
- 1996 · Superman: The Animated Series as Dr. Earl Garver (voice)
- 1996 · Chain Reaction as Lyman Earl Collier
- 1996 · The Daily Show as Self
- 1995 · Braveheart as Argyle Wallace
- 1994 · The Negotiator as Charlie King
- 1993 · Frasier as Harry Moon
- 1993 · Sharpe as Major Hogan
- 1993 · Sharpe's Rifles as Major Michael Hogan
- 1992 · Macbeth as Macbeth
- 1992 · Shakespeare: The Animated Tales as Macbeth (voice)
- 1992 · Deceptions as Carlton Heard
- 1991 · Red Fox as Geoffrey Harrison
- 1991 · Performance as The Director
- 1990 · Have I Got News for You as Self
- 1989 · The Simpsons as Kostas Becker (voice)
- 1989 · The Blasphemers' Banquet as Rev. Wallace (voice)
- 1988 · LIVE with Kelly and Mark as Self - Guest
- 1988 · Red Dwarf as The King
- 1988 · The Modern World: Ten Great Writers as Henrik Ibsen (voice)
- 1987 · French & Saunders as King Lear
- 1987 · Inspector Morse as Michael Steppings
- 1983 · King Lear as Burgundy
- 1980 · Hammer House of Horror as Chuck
- 1980 · Dalhousie's Luck as Dalhousie
- 1979 · Minder as Frank
- 1979 · Question Time as Self - Panellist
- 1977 · Target as Billy Voss
- 1976 · Clay, Smeddum and Greenden as George Simpson
- 1974 · Churchill's People as William Wallace
- 1974 · Playhouse as Dalhousie
- 1971 · Great Performances as Self - Narration (voice)
- 1970 · Play for Today as Dr. Gillespie
- 1970 · Manhunt as Anton
- 1968 · The Year of the Sex Olympics as Lasar Opie
- 1964 · Theatre 625 as Lasar Opie
- Future · Have I Got a Bit More News for You as Himself - Panellist
- 2026 · Glenrothan as Sandy
- 2025 · VE Day 80 as Self
- 2025 · The Parenting as Frank
- 2024 · Unsinkable as Robert Dodds
- 2024 · Skelly as Grandpa
- 2023 · Made of Money with Brian Cox as
- 2023 · Bill Douglas: My Best Friend as Narrator (voice)
- 2023 · Prisoner's Daughter as Max
- 2023 · Quasi as Narrator (voice)
- 2022 · Ooh the Banter! as Self
- 2022 · Peter O'Toole: Along the Sky Road to Aqaba as Self
- 2022 · The Independent as Nick Booker
- 2022 · Piers Morgan Uncensored as Self
- 2021 · Separation as Rivers
- 2020 · The Bay of Silence as Milton
- 2020 · Last Moment of Clarity as Gilles
- 2019 · The Last Right as Father Reilly
- 2018 · Kubrick by Candlelight as The Narrator
- 2018 · Super Troopers 2 as John O'Hagen
- 2018 · The Etruscan Smile as Rory MacNeil
- 2017 · Churchill as Winston Churchill
- 2015 · Killing Thyme as Norman
- 2014 · The Great War: The People's Story as Rev. Andrew Clark
- 2014 · The Anomaly as Dr. Langham
- 2013 · An Adventure in Space and Time as Sydney Newman
- 2013 · Blumenthal as Harold Blumenthal
- 2013 · Bob Servant as Bob Servant
- 2012 · A Touch of Cloth as Bill Ball
- 2012 · Tooned as The Mechanic
- 2012 · The Straits as Harry Montebello
- 2011 · Coriolanus as Menenius
- 2011 · The Sinking of the Laconia as Captain Sharp
- 2010 · As Good As Dead as Reverend Kalahan
- 2009 · Scooby-Doo! and the Samurai Sword as Green Dragon (voice)
- 2008 · Agent Crush as Spanners (voice)
- 2007 · Battle for Terra as General Hemmer (voice)
- 2006 · Running with Scissors as Dr. Finch
- 2005 · Hitler in Colour as Narrator
- 2005 · Blue/Orange as Dr. Robert Smith
- 2004 · Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson as Other Voices (voice)
- 2004 · The Reckoning as Tobias
- 2003 · One Life as
- 2002 · Bug as Cyr
- 2002 · Smallpox 2002: Silent Weapon as Narrator
- 2001 · The Affair of the Necklace as Minister Breteuil
- 2001 · Inside 'Manhunter' as Himself
- 2000 · A Shot at Glory as Martin Smith
- 1999 · The Minus Man as Doug
- 1997 · The Boxer as Joe Hamill
- 1996 · The Glimmer Man as Mr. Smith
- 1995 · Rob Roy as Killearn
- 1994 · Grushko as Colonel Yevgeni Grushko
- 1994 · Prince of Jutland as Aethelwine
- 1994 · Iron Will as Angus McTeague
- 1993 · Sharpe's Eagle as Major Michael Hogan
- 1990 · Hidden Agenda as Peter Kerrigan
- 1990 · Perfect Scoundrels as Father Amedy
- 1990 · Secret Weapon as Andrew Neil
- 1988 · Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky as Voiceover Narrator
- 1988 · Beryl Markham: A Shadow on the Sun as Jack Purves
- 1987 · Acting as
- 1986 · Unnatural Causes as Vic
- 1986 · Home Cooking as Vic
- 1985 · Florence Nightingale as Dr. McGregor
- 1982 · The Privilege as Young Laird
- 1981 · House on the Hill as Leon Douglas
- 1980 · Therese Raquin as Laurent
- 1978 · Out as McGrath
- 1975 · In Celebration as Steven Shaw
- 1971 · Nicholas and Alexandra as Trotsky
- 1967 · The Gamblers as Mickey
- 1965 · A Knight in Tarnished Armour as Nelson
- Future · A Modern Magician as The Voice
- Future · Old Pals as Jimmy
- 2022 · Brian Cox: How The Other Half Live as Presenter
- 2021 · Amol Rajan Interviews as Self - Interviewed Guest
- 2021 · Oleg: The Oleg Vidov Story as Narrator (voice)
- 2017 · Bob the Builder: Mega Machines - The Movie as Conrad / Crunch (voice)
- 2015 · Pacific Warriors as Narrator
- 2014 · The Gospel of John as Narrator (voice) – King James Version
- 2014 · Scotland In A Day as
- 2013 · The Curse of Edgar as Edgar Hoover
- 2012 · Addicted to Pleasure as Self - Host
- 2012 · All at Sea as Wally
- 2009 · Brian Cox's Jute Journey as Self
- 2007 · A Woman in Winter as Dr. Hunt
- 2005 · The Strange Case of Sherlock Holmes & Arthur Conan Doyle as Joseph Bell
- 2005 · Japan's War in Colour as Self - Narrator (voice)
- 2003 · The Second Uncanny Issue of X-Men! Making X2 as Self
- 2003 · X2 as William Stryker
- 2002 · Aleister Crowley: The Wickedest Man in the World as Narrator
- 2002 · The Trials of Henry Kissinger as Self
- 2002 · Loch Lomond: Legend of the Loch as Narrator
- 2002 · Masters of Darkness as Narrator
- 2000 · The Making of 'Rushmore' as Self
- 1997 · Food for Ravens as Aneurin Bevan
- 1997 · I, Caesar – The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire as Narrator
- 1996 · Witness Against Hitler as Judge Freisler
- 1992 · Six Characters in Search of An Author as The Director
- 1992 · The Big Battalions as Edward Hoyland
- 1992 · The Lost Language of Cranes as Owen Benjamin
- 1992 · The Cloning of Joanna May as Carl May
- 1990 · The Making of 'Hidden Agenda' as self
- 1989 · Murder on the Moon as Voronov
- 1987 · Shoot for the Sun as Dunny
- 1987 · Rat in the Skull as Detective Inspector Nelson
- 1984 · Pope John Paul II as Father Góra
- 1978 · The Devil's Crown as Henry II
- 1974 · The Changeling as Alsemero
- Future · The Planets as
- Future · Wittgenstein's Poker as Bertrand Russell (voice)
- 2025 · The Marbles as Self - Interviewee
- 2025 · Raoul Wallenberg: Missing Inaction as Self — Gustaf Wallenberg (voice)
- 2025 · AMR: Dying to Change the World as AMR
- 2023 · An Interview with Brian Cox as Himself
- 2020 · John Rebus: The Lockdown Blues as John Rebus
- 2020 · Lawrence After Arabia as Father (Voice)
- 2018 · Widdershins as voice
- 2017 · An Evening with Brian Cox as Himself
- 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 · Alan Clarke: Out of His Own Light as Self
- 2015 · Andrew Carnegie: Rags to Riches, Power to Peace as Andrew Carnegie (voice)
- 2011 · The Key Man as Irving
- 2010 · On Expenses as
- 2007 · The Secret of the Nutcracker as Drosselmeyer
- 2006 · Carry On Ken as Self
- 2005 · Danny Phantom: Reign Storm as Pariah Dark (Voice)
- 2004 · Murder by Numbers as Self
- 2003 · The Evolution of an American Filmmaker as Self
- 2002 · Rasputin: The Devil in the Flesh as Narrator
- 1999 · The History of the British Police Force as Narrator (voice)
- 1994 · The Maltese Double Cross as Narrator (voice)
- 1992 · The Cutter as
- 1989 · Brian Cox on Acting in Tragedy as Self
- 1987 · Gramsci: Everything that Concerns People as Narrator
- 1986 · Manhunter as Dr. Hannibal Lecktor
- 1985 · The Cantor of St Thomas's as Johann Sebastian Bach
- 1982 · A Cotswold Death as Dr. Gillespie
- 1972 · Van der Valk as Stefan Szabo
- 1965 · BBC Play of the Month as Alsemero
- Future · The Glove as