
Brian Cox
Biography
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.
Gallery










Known For
Acting History
2026
Super Troopers 3: Winter Soldiers as Capt. John O’Hagan
2025The Marbles as Self - Interviewee
2025Raoul Wallenberg: Missing Inaction as Self — Gustaf Wallenberg (voice)
2025Glenrothan as Sandy
2025VE Day 80 as Self
2025The Parenting as Frank
2025AMR: Dying to Change the World as AMR
2025The Electric State as Popfly (voice)
2024The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim as Helm Hammerhand (voice)
2024That Christmas as Santa (voice)
2024Unsinkable as Robert Dodds
2024Skelly as Grandpa
2024Little Wing as Jaan Vari
2023007: Road to a Million as The Controller
2023Shakespeare: Rise of a Genius as Self
2023Made of Money with Brian Cox
2023Bill Douglas: My Best Friend as Narrator (voice)
2023Prisoner's Daughter as Max
2023Mending the Line as Ike Fletcher
2023Quasi as Narrator (voice)
2023An Interview with Brian Cox as Himself
2022Ooh the Banter! as Self
2022Peter O'Toole: Along the Sky Road to Aqaba as Self
2022Brian Cox: How The Other Half Live as Presenter
2022Bonnie as Self
2022The Independent as Nick Booker
2022Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg as Self – Actor
2022Ukraine: Answering the Call as Self
2022Piers Morgan Uncensored as Self
2021Blade Runner: Black Lotus as Niander Wallace Sr. (voice)
2021Separation as Rivers
2021Oleg: The Oleg Vidov Story as Narrator (voice)
2020The Bay of Silence as Milton
2020John Rebus: The Lockdown Blues as John Rebus
2020Last Moment of Clarity as Gilles
2020Lawrence After Arabia as Father (Voice)
2019The Last Right as Father Reilly
2019Strange But True as Bill
2019Pretenders as Henry
2019Remember Me as Shane
2019Good Omens as Death (voice)
2018Kubrick by Candlelight as The Narrator
2018Widdershins as voice
2018Succession as Logan Roy
2018Super Troopers 2 as John O'Hagen
2018The Etruscan Smile as Rory MacNeil
2017The Russell Howard Hour as Self
2017Carpool Karaoke: The Series as Self
2017An Evening with Brian Cox as Himself
2017Bob the Builder: Mega Machines - The Movie as Conrad / Crunch (voice)
2017Churchill as Winston Churchill
2017Brian Cox's Russia as Host
2017Vegalta: Soccer, Tsunami and the Hope of a Nation as Narrator
2016Darcey Bussell: My Life on the BBC as Self
2016The Autopsy of Jane Doe as Tommy Tilden
2016Medici: Masters of Florence as Bernardo Guadagni
2016Morgan as Jim Bryce
2016The Carer as Sir Michael
2016Alan Clarke: Out of His Own Light as Self
2016War and Peace as Mikhail Kutuzov
2015Killing Thyme as Norman
2015Forsaken as James McCurdy
2015Pacific Warriors as Narrator
2015The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
2015The Late Show with Stephen Colbert as Self
2015Pixels as Admiral Porter
2015Andrew Carnegie: Rags to Riches, Power to Peace as Andrew Carnegie (voice)
2015The Slap as Manolis
2014Variety Studio: Actors on Actors as Self
2014The Gospel of John as Narrator (voice) – King James Version
2014The Game as Daddy
2014Scotland In A Day
2014The Great War: The People's Story as Rev. Andrew Clark
2014The Anomaly as Dr. Langham
2014Penny Dreadful as Jared Talbot
2014Last Week Tonight with John Oliver as God
2014Late Night with Seth Meyers as Self
2014The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon as Self
2013Her as Alan Watts (voice)
2013An Adventure in Space and Time as Sydney Newman
2013The Curse of Edgar as Edgar Hoover
2013Anna as Sebastian
2013Believe as Matt Busby
2013Blumenthal as Harold Blumenthal
2013RED 2 as Ivan
2013Shetland as Magnus Bain
2013The Last Leg as Self
2013Bob Servant as Bob Servant
2012Addicted to Pleasure as Self - Host
2012Blood as Lenny Fairburn
2012A Touch of Cloth as Bill Ball
2012The Campaign as Raymond
2012Tooned as The Mechanic
2012All at Sea as Wally
2012The Straits as Harry Montebello
2012I Missed My Mother's Funeral as Old Man
2011Celebrity Antiques Road Trip as Self - Participant
2011Exit Humanity as Malcolm Young (voice)
2011Edwin Boyd: Citizen Gangster as Glover
2011The Jonathan Ross Show as Self
2011The Jonathan Ross Show as Self - Guest
2011Rise of the Planet of the Apes as John Landon
2011The Veteran as Gerry
2011Ironclad as Albany
2011The Key Man as Irving
2011Coriolanus as Menenius
2011The Sinking of the Laconia as Captain Sharp
2010RED as Ivan Simanov
2010On Expenses
2010As Good As Dead as Reverend Kalahan
2009The Day of the Triffids as Dennis Masen
2009Fantastic Mr. Fox as Action 12 Reporter (voice)
2009Brian Cox's Jute Journey as Self
2009The Good Heart as Jacques
2009The Take as Ozzy
2009Tell-Tale as Van Doren
2009Scooby-Doo! and the Samurai Sword as Green Dragon (voice)
2009Kings as King Vesper Abaddon
2008Red as Avery Ludlow
2008The Escapist as Frank Perry
2008The Colour of Magic as Narrator
2008Agent Crush as Spanners (voice)
2007The Water Horse as Old Angus
2007The Secret of the Nutcracker as Drosselmeyer
2007Shoot on Sight as Daniel Tennant
2007Trick 'r Treat as Mr. Kreeg
2007Battle for Terra as General Hemmer (voice)
2007The Bourne Ultimatum as Ward Abbott (voice) (archive footage) (uncredited)
2007A Woman in Winter as Dr. Hunt
2007Zodiac as Melvin Belli
2007The Graham Norton Show as Self
2006Running with Scissors as Dr. Finch
2006The Outsiders as Gabriel
2006The Flying Scotsman as Douglas Baxter
2006The One Show as Self - Guest
2006Carry On Ken as Self
2005The Ringer as Gary Barker
2005Match Point as Alec Hewett
2005The Colbert Report
2005The Strange Case of Sherlock Holmes & Arthur Conan Doyle as Joseph Bell
2005Red Eye as Joe Reisert
2005Hitler in Colour as Narrator
2005Blue/Orange as Dr. Robert Smith
2005Japan's War in Colour as Self - Narrator (voice)
2004The Tony Danza Show as Self
2004Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson as Other Voices (voice)
2004The Bourne Supremacy as Ward Abbott
2004Troy as King Agamemnon
2004Deadwood as Jack Langrishe
2004Murder by Numbers as Self
2004The Reckoning as Tobias
2003The Second Uncanny Issue of X-Men! Making 'X2'
2003One Life
2003The Evolution of an American Filmmaker as Self
2003X2 as William Stryker
2003Real Time with Bill Maher as Self
2003Sin as Captain Oakes
200225th Hour as James Brogan
2002Adaptation. as Robert McKee
2002Aleister Crowley - The Wickedest Man in the World as Narrator
2002Top Gear as Self
2002The Ring as Richard Morgan
2002The Trials of Henry Kissinger
2002The Biographer as Michael O'Mara
2002The Bourne Identity as Ward Abbott
2002Loch Lomond: Legend of the Loch as Narrator
2002The Rookie as Jim Morris Sr.
2002Bug as Cyr
2002Rasputin: The Devil in the Flesh as Narrator
2002Smallpox 2002: Silent Weapon as Narrator
2001The Affair of the Necklace as Minister Breteuil
2001Richard & Judy as Self
2001L.I.E. as Big John Harrigan
2001Strictly Sinatra as Chisolm
2001Super Troopers as John O'Hagen
2001Inside 'Manhunter' as Himself
2000Aqua Teen Hunger Force as Anubis (voice)
2000Saltwater as George Beneventi
2000Nuremberg as Herman Wilhelm Goering
2000Complicity as Inspector McDunn
2000A Shot at Glory as Martin Smith
2000Mad About Mambo as Sidney McLoughlin
2000The Invention of Dr. Morel as Dr. Morel
2000The Making of 'Rushmore' as Self
2000Longitude as Lord Morton
2000Longitude as Lord Morton
1999The History of the British Police Force as Narrator (voice)
1999The Minus Man as Doug
1999For Love of the Game as Gary Wheeler
1999The Corruptor as Sean Wallace
1998Rushmore as Dr. Nelson Guggenheim
1998Poodle Springs as Clayton Blackstone
1998Merchants of Venus as Uncle Vladimir
1998Desperate Measures as Captain Jeremiah Cassidy
1997The Boxer as Joe Hamill
1997Food for Ravens as Aneurin Bevan
1997Sharpe: The Legend as Hogan
1997Kiss the Girls as Chief Hatfield, Durham PD
1996The Long Kiss Goodnight as Dr. Nathan Waldman
1996The Glimmer Man as Mr. Smith
1996Superman: The Animated Series as Dr. Earl Garver (voice)
1996Chain Reaction as Lyman Earl Collier
1996The Daily Show as Self
1996Witness Against Hitler as Judge Freisler
1995Braveheart as Argyle Wallace
1995Rob Roy as Killearn
1994The Maltese Double Cross as Narrator (voice)
1994The Negotiator as Charlie King
1994Grushko as Colonel Yevgeni Grushko
1994Prince of Jutland as Aethelwine
1994Iron Will as Angus McTeague
1993Frasier as Harry Moon
1993Sharpe's Eagle as Major Michael Hogan
1993Sharpe as Major Hogan
1993Sharpe's Rifles as Major Michael Hogan
1992Six Characters in Search of An Author as The Director
1992Macbeth as Macbeth
1992The Big Battalions as Edward Hoyland
1992Shakespeare: The Animated Tales as Macbeth (voice)
1992The Cutter
1992The Lost Language of Cranes as Owen Benjamin
1992The Cloning of Joanna May as Carl May
1992Deceptions as Carlton Heard
1991Red Fox as Geoffrey Harrison
1991Performance as The Director
1990Hidden Agenda as Peter Kerrigan
1990Have I Got News for You as Self
1990The Making of 'Hidden Agenda' as self
1990Perfect Scoundrels as Father Amedy
1990Secret Weapon as Andrew Neil
1989The Simpsons as Kostas Becker (voice)
1989Brian Cox on Acting in Tragedy as Self
1989The Blasphemers' Banquet as Rev. Wallace (voice)
1989Murder on the Moon as Voronov
1988Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky as Voiceover Narrator
1988LIVE with Kelly and Mark as Self - Guest
1988Beryl Markham: A Shadow on the Sun as Jack Purves
1988Red Dwarf as The King
1988The Modern World: Ten Great Writers as Henrik Ibsen (voice)
1987Acting
1987Shoot for the Sun as Dunny
1987French & Saunders as King Lear
1987Inspector Morse as Michael Steppings
1987Rat in the Skull as Detective Inspector Nelson
1987Gramsci: Everything that Concerns People as Narrator
1986Home Cooking as Vic
1986Unnatural Causes as Vic
1986Manhunter as Dr. Hannibal Lecktor
1985Florence Nightingale as Dr. McGregor
1985The Cantor of St Thomas's as Johann Sebastian Bach
1984Pope John Paul II as Father Góra
1983King Lear as Burgundy
1982A Cotswold Death as Dr. Gillespie
1982The Privilege as Young Laird
1981House on the Hill as Leon Douglas
1980Hammer House of Horror as Chuck
1980Dalhousie's Luck as Dalhousie
1980Therese Raquin as Laurent
1979Minder as Frank
1979Question Time as Self - Panellist
1978Out as McGrath
1978The Devil's Crown as Henry II
1977Target as Billy Voss
1976Clay, Smeddum and Greenden as George Simpson
1975In Celebration as Steven Shaw
1974Churchill's People as William Wallace
1974Playhouse as Dalhousie
1974The Changeling as Alsemero
1972Van der Valk as Stefan Szabo
1971Nicholas and Alexandra as Trotsky
1971Great Performances as Self - Narration (voice)
1970Play for Today as Dr. Gillespie
1970Manhunt as Anton
1968The Year of the Sex Olympics as Lasar Opie
1967The Gamblers as Mickey
1965BBC Play of the Month as Alsemero
1965A Knight in Tarnished Armour as Nelson
1964Theatre 625 as Lasar Opie
—Have I Got a Bit More News for You as Himself - Panellist
—Old Pals as Jimmy
—The Planets
—A Modern Magician as The Voice
—Wittgenstein's Poker as Bertrand Russell (voice)
—The Glove








