Simon Russell Beale
ActingSir 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.
Known For
Thor: Love and Thunder
Dionysus
The Legend of Tarzan
Mr. Frum
The Magic Faraway Tree
Know All
Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale
Sir Hector Moreland
The Choral
Sir Edward Elgar
Into the Woods
Baker's Father
Persuasion
Charles Musgrove
Hamlet
Second Gravedigger
Mary Queen of Scots
Robert Beale
The Outfit
Roy Boyle
Filmography — Acting
Thor: Love and Thunder
Dionysus
The Legend of Tarzan
Mr. Frum
The Magic Faraway Tree
Know All
Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale
Sir Hector Moreland
The Choral
Sir Edward Elgar
Into the Woods
Baker's Father
Persuasion
Charles Musgrove
Hamlet
Second Gravedigger
Mary Queen of Scots
Robert Beale
The Outfit
Roy Boyle
De Gaulle: Tilting Iron (Film 1)
Winston Churchill
The Death of Stalin
Lavrenti Beria
Operation Finale
David Ben-Gurion
Radioactive
Professor Lippmann
Alice in Wonderland
King Cedric of Hearts
Firebrand
Stephen Gardiner
Operation Mincemeat
Winston Churchill
My Week with Marilyn
Cotes-Preedy
My Cousin Rachel
Couch
Orlando
Earl of Moray
The Gathering
Luke Fraser
National Theatre Live: King Lear
Lear, King of Britain
Benediction
Robbie Ross
An Ideal Husband
Sir Edward
The Deep Blue Sea
Sir William Collyer
Blackadder: Back & Forth
Wellington
Muse of Fire
Self
Legacy
Hookey
De Gaulle: The Sovereign Edge (Film 2)
Winston Churchill
National Theatre Live: 50 Years on Stage
Hamlet
National Theatre Live: The Lehman Trilogy
Henry Lehman
Museo
Frank Graves
Shakespeare Live! From the RSC
Richard II
Cunk on Shakespeare
Self - Actor
A Christmas Carol
Scrooge's voice (voice)
The Young Visiters
Prince of Wales
Royal Opera House: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
The Duchess / Introduced by
Prima Facie
RSC Live: The Tempest
Prospero
Deep Water
Donald Crowhurst (voice)
National Theatre Live: London Assurance
Sir Harcourt Courtly
Time and the Conways
Party Guest
The Temptation of Franz Schubert
Franz Schubert
Home! Home!
Narrator (voice)
Shakespeare's Sonnets
The Hour
Himself
The Mysterious Mr Webster
Self - Interviewee
National Theatre Live: Collaborators
Joseph Stalin
Sacred Music: God's Composer
Presenter
Sacred Music: A Christmas History
Presenter
National Theatre Live: Timon of Athens
Timon
Monteverdi in Mantua - The Genius of the Vespers
presenter
A Musical Nativity with John Rutter
Lava Land - Glowing Hawaii
Narrator
BBC Proms: Sondheim's 80th Birthday
Himself - Performer
National Theatre Live: The Tragedy of King Richard the Second
Richard II
An Easter Celebration
presenter