Simon Russell Beale
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.
74 acting credits
Acting · 74
House of the Dragon
2022
American Experience
1988
Spooks
2002
Thor: Love and Thunder
2022
Penny Dreadful
2014
The Magic Faraway Tree
2026
The Hollow Crown
2012
The Outfit
2022
Remembers…
2022
The Legend of Tarzan
2016
Mary & George
2024
Into the Woods
2014
Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale
2025
A Very Peculiar Practice
1986
Mary Queen of Scots
2018
A Dance to the Music of Time
1997
De Gaulle: Tilting Iron
2026
The Death of Stalin
2017
Vanity Fair
2018
The Choral
2025
Radioactive
2020
Hamlet
1996
Persuasion
1995
Douglas Is Cancelled
2024
Alice in Wonderland
1999
Operation Mincemeat
2022
Orlando
1992
Operation Finale
2018
My Week with Marilyn
2011
Dunkirk
2004
Firebrand
2024
My Cousin Rachel
2017
National Theatre Live: 50 Years on Stage
2013
Benediction
2021
De Gaulle: The Sovereign Edge (Film 2)
2026
Simon Schama's Shakespeare
2012
The Deep Blue Sea
2011
An Ideal Husband
1999
Sacred Music
2008
Muse of Fire
2013
The Gathering
2003
Shakespeare Live! From the RSC
2016
National Theatre Live: London Assurance
2010
National Theatre Live: King Lear
2014
The Young Visiters
2003
The Mushroom Picker
1993
National Theatre Live: The Lehman Trilogy
2019
Museo
2018
Legacy
2013
Deep Water
2006
Blackadder: Back & Forth
1999
Symphony
2011
Royal Opera House: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
2011
A Christmas Carol
2020
National Theatre Live: Timon of Athens
2012
RSC Live: The Tempest
2017
Prima Facie
—
Time and the Conways
1985
Shakespeare's Sonnets
2012
National Theatre Live: Collaborators
2011
The Hour
2020
National Theatre Live: The Tragedy of King Richard the Second
2019
Home! Home!
2024
Cunk on Shakespeare
2016
BBC Proms: Sondheim's 80th Birthday
2010
Sacred Music: A Christmas History
2010
Lava Land - Glowing Hawaii
2013
The Temptation of Franz Schubert
1997
The Mysterious Mr Webster
2014
Sacred Music: God's Composer
2011
A Musical Nativity with John Rutter
2011
An Easter Celebration
2008
This Is Your Five Minute Call
—
Monteverdi in Mantua - The Genius of the Vespers
2015