
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