Derek Jacobi

Derek Jacobi

CountryUnited Kingdom United Kingdom
GenderMale
BirthdayOct 22, 1938
BiographySir Derek George Jacobi (born 22 October 1938) is an English actor. Known for his roles on stage and screen as well as for his work at the Royal National Theatre, he has received numerous accolades including a Tony Award, a BAFTA Award, two Laurence Olivier Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards. He was given a knighthood for his services to theatre by Queen Elizabeth II in 1994.

Jacobi started his professional acting career with Laurence Olivier as one of the founding members of the National Theatre. He has appeared in numerous Shakespearean stage productions including Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing, Macbeth, Twelfth Night, The Tempest, King Lear, and Romeo and Juliet. Jacobi received the Laurence Olivier Award, for the title role in Cyrano de Bergerac in 1983 and Malvolio in Twelfth Night in 2009. He also won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his role as Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing in 1985.

On television, he portrayed Claudius in the BBC series I, Claudius (1976), for which he won the British Academy Television Award for Best Actor. He received two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie for The Tenth Man (1988), and Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for Frasier (2001). He also took roles in ITV drama series Cadfael (1994–1998), the HBO film The Gathering Storm (2002), the sitcom Vicious (2013-2016), in BBC's Last Tango in Halifax (2012–2020), and the Netflix series The Crown in 2019.

Jacobi has acted in numerous films including Othello (1965), The Day of the Jackal (1973), Henry V (1989), Dead Again (1991), Hamlet (1996), Nanny McPhee (2005), The Riddle (2007), My Week with Marilyn (2011), Anonymous (2011), Cinderella (2015), and Murder on the Orient Express (2017). Jacobi portrayed Senator Gracchus in Ridley Scott's Gladiator (2000) and Gladiator II (2024). Jacobi has also earned two Screen Actors Guild Awards along with the ensemble cast for Robert Altman's Gosford Park (2001), and Tom Hooper's The King's Speech (2010).

Biography from the Wikipedia article Derek Jacobi. Licensed under CC-BY-SA. Full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Known For

Recently Updated Shows

Recently updated shows that might be of your interest.
History's Greatest Mysteries
Running

History's Greatest Mysteries

History's Greatest Mysteries will investigate a wide range of historically compelling topics and the mysteries surrounding each including the Titanic, D.B. Cooper, Roswell, John Wilkes Booth, and more. Each program within the franchise will showcase fresh, new evidence and perspectives including never-before-released documents to the general public, personal diaries and DNA evidence to unearth brand-new information about these infamous and enigmatic chapters in history.

Blue Eye Samurai
Running

Blue Eye Samurai

Raised by a swordsmith and trained to wield blades with deadly precision, Mizu is a highly skilled warrior — and she's out for bloody revenge.

Futurama
Running

Futurama

Futurama follows pizza guy Philip J. Fry, who reawakens in 31st century New New York after a cryonics lab accident. Now part of the Planet Express delivery crew, Fry travels to the farthest reaches of the universe with his robot buddy Bender and cyclopsian love interest Leela, discovering freaky mutants, intergalactic conspiracies and other strange stuff.

Ghosts
Running

Ghosts

Samantha and Jay throw caution to the wind when they convert their recently inherited country estate into a bed-and-breakfast. Call it mislaid plans. Not only is the place falling apart, but it's also inhabited by spirits of previous residents -- whom only Samantha can see and hear. Ghosts spins the funny, heartfelt story about a newfound dream that reveals connection and self-discovery aren't just for the living.

Hijack
Running

Hijack

Told in real time, Hijack is a tense thriller that follows the journey of a hijacked plane as it makes its way to London over a seven-hour flight, as authorities on the ground scramble for answers. Sam Nelson is an accomplished negotiator in the business world who needs to step up and use all his guile to try and save the lives of the passengers — but his high-risk strategy could be his undoing.