WHAT A CHARACTER: BRIAN COX

Brian Cox is one of those actors that has been in countless movies, but you may not know know his name. Brian was born in 1946 in Scotland..An accomplished and classically trained Shakespearean actor, he is known for both his leading performances on stage and television as well as his supporting roles in film. He has received many awards and nominations including two Laurence Olivier Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild 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 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 performances in Rat in the Skull (1984) for the Royal Court and Titus Andronicus (1988) for the Royal Shakespeare Company. He received two more Olivier Award nominations for Misalliance and Fashion. His New York theatre credits include St. Nicholas, which earned him a Drama Desk Award nomination.

Known as a character actor in film he portrayed Hollywood's screenwriting guru Robert McKee in Spike Jonze's Adaptation (2002). He also played General William Stryker in X-Men 2 the same year. For his performance in L.I.E. (2001) he received an Independent Spirit Award nomination. Cox's notable film credits include Manhunter (1986), Rob Roy (1995), Braveheart (1995), The Boxer (1997), Rushmore (1998), Super Troopers (2001), The Bourne Identity (2002), The Ring (2002), 25th Hour (2002), Troy (2004), The Bourne Supremacy (2004), Red Eye (2005), Zodiac (2007), The Escapist (2008), Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), Coriolanus (2011), and Churchill (2017).

He just finished starring as Logan Roy on HBO series Succession (2018–2023), for which he won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series and was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series. I really started noticing him when I watched Succession, but I first noticed him as an actor in lesser roles in The Ring (2002) as a suicidal father and in the comedy The Ringer (2005) as Johnny Knoxville's crooked uncle. Whether Brian is playing one of these lesser roles or as the lead on a television series, he is one of this generation's greatest character actors...