Brian Cox

Brian Denis Cox, CBE (born 1 June 1946) is a BAFTA- and Emmy Award-winning and Golden Globe-nominated Scottish actor.
Cox was born in Dundee, Scotland, the youngest of five children. His mother, Mary Ann Guillerline (née McCann), was a spinner who worked in the jute mills and suffered several nervous breakdowns during Cox's childhood. His father, Charles McArdle Campbell Cox, was a weaver who died when Cox was nine years old. Cox was subsequently raised by a sister and an aunt. He joined the Dundee Repertory Theatre at the age of fourteen and spent a season with the Birmingham Repertory Theatre in 1966.
Cox was trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. He made his first television appearance as an extra in several episodes of The Prisoner in 1967 before taking a lead role in The Year of the Sex Olympics the next year. In 1978, he played King Henry II of England in the acclaimed BBC2 drama serial The Devil's Crown, following which he starred in many other television dramas. His first film appearance was as Leon Trotsky in Nicholas and Alexandra in 1971.
Cox is an accomplished Shakespearean actor, spending seasons with both the Royal Shakespeare Company and the