Brian Cox

Born in 1946 in Dundee, Brian Cox is a two-time Olivier Award-winning actor. Cox will play James Tyrone in a West End revival of Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night.

Growing up, Cox showed a keen interest in the arts, and eventually joined Dundee Repertory Theatre as a teenager — Alan Cumming and Joanna Lumley are also Dundee Rep alumni. Cox later auditioned for the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA), graduating in 1965.

He made his West End debut in 1967, playing Orlando in Shakespeare’s As You Like It at the Vaudeville Theatre. Following this, Cox started a long relationship with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre: shows include Julius Caesar, Herod, The Putney Debates and The Taming of the Shrew.

In the 1980s, Cox won two acting Olivier Awards for Rat in the Skull (1984) and Titus Andronicus (1988). For both those years, Cox was up against his own performance in the same category; he received a further two nominations for Misalliance (1984), and Fashion (1988).

In recent years, Cox’s West End credits include Rock ‘n’ Roll at the Royal Court Theatre, and The Weir at the Donmar Warehouse. In a four-star review of The Weir, our critic said: “Cox has a crumpled authority that is spellbinding to watch. They are a beautiful ensemble in a beautiful, bracing play. It is a slow-burner of an evening, but it produces a lasting flame.”

Cox is a regular on the Broadway stage too. He made his Broadway debut in a 1985 revival of Eugene O’Neill’s Strange Interlude. He’s also played the Coach in That Championship Season, and Lyndon B. Johnson in the 2019 play, The Great Society.

As well as a busy career on stage, Cox’s television and film career is similarly lengthy. Cox’s notable credits include Manhunter, Braveheart, The Bourne Identity, Troy, Zodiac, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and Churchill. He’s also played Hermann Göring in Nuremberg to Emmy-winning acclaim, and also stars as Logan Roy in Succession.

Cox will return to the West End to play James Tyrone in Long Day’s Journey Into Night.