At age 10, Irish-born Kenneth Branagh moved with his family to London. Frankly determined to be a star, Branagh scored his first stage hit in Another Country when barely out of his teens. He joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, where he quickly built up a reputation for brilliance -- and for being imperious, arrogant and argumentative. Unhappy with the perceived conservatism of the RSC, Branagh bolted to form his own Renaissance Theatre Company. Hailed as the brightest young talent since Laurence Olivier, Branagh had the marvelous audacity to follow precisely in Olivier's footsteps by directing and starring in a lavish film version of Shakespeare's Henry V in 1989. While he'd already appeared in two films, as well as the 1987 Masterpiece Theatre serial Fortunes of War, Branagh was lauded as 1989's most stellar newcomer. Branagh switched from the classics to a contemporary original for his next acting/directing film effort, Dead Again (1991), a nail-biting murder mystery in which he played a dual role as a 1940s Briton and his 1990s American forebear; likewise essaying two roles was Branagh's then-wife, actress Emma Thompson, who appeared in virtually all of her husband's projects. Branagh's box-office magic faltered slightly with Peter's Friends (1992), a romantic comedy which he directed from a screenplay by comedienne Rita Rudner, but he regained his lost footing with a lusty 1993 filmization of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. Unfortunately, Kenneth Branagh's next directorial effort, 1994's Frankenstein, was a conspicuous failure despite its spectacular special effects and its horrendously effective makeup work. Conversely, he had greater success when he again returned to the Bard and made Hamlet (1996). It was the first time any director had made a film of the entire play. Despite the plays many complexities, Branagh successfully rendered it accessible to a broad audience.