Brian Denis Cox CBE (born 1 June 1946) is a Scottish actor. He has worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre extensively, where he gained recognition for his portrayal of King Lear. He played supporting roles in Rob Roy (1995) and Mel Gibson's Academy Award-winning Braveheart (1995). He was the first actor to portray Hannibal Lecter on film in Manhunter (1986). A winner of two Olivier Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award, he has also been nominated for a British Academy Television Award and three Screen Actors Guild Awards. In 2003, he was appointed to the Order of the British Empire at the rank of Commander.

Cox won the Primetime Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series for his portrayal of Hermann Göring in Nuremberg, and received nominations at the Golden Globe Awards and Screen Actors Guild Awards. His performance in L.I.E. earned him an AFI Award nomination and an Independent Spirit Award nomination. His guest-starring role in the series Frasier earned him his second Emmy nomination in 2002, in which year he also appeared in seven films grossing $347 million at the box office. He received his second SAG Award nomination as part of the ensemble cast of Spike Jonze's Adaptation, in which he played Hollywood's screenwriting guru Robert McKee. He also played General William Stryker in X-Men 2. He currently stars as Logan Roy on HBO's series Succession (2018–present), 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.

Cox's notable film credits include The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996), 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), RED (2010), Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), Coriolanus (2011), RED 2 (2013), Churchill (2017), and Remember Me (2019). Cox is a veteran of the London stage, having won two Olivier Awards for Best Actor for his performances in Titus Andronicus for the Royal Shakespeare Company and Rat in the Skull for the Royal Court, and two more Olivier Award nominations for Misalliance and Fashion. His New York theatre credits include St. Nicholas, which earned him the Lucille Lortel Award as well as Drama Desk and Outer Critic's Circle nominations.

Cox has written three books: Salem to Moscow: An Actor's Odyssey, The Lear Diaries, and his autobiography Putting the Rabbit in the Hat. He was honoured at the 2004 BAFTA Scotland Awards with an Outstanding Achievement Award, and at the 2004 Great Scot Awards with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Empire Magazine awarded him the Empire Icon Award for his film achievements in 2006, and the UK Film Council named him one of the top 10 powerful British film stars in Hollywood in 2007.

Early life :

Cox was born on 1 June 1946 in Dundee, Scotland as the youngest of five children. He is from a working-class Roman Catholic family of Irish and Scottish descent. 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 police officer and later a shopkeeper, and died when Cox was eight years old. Cox was brought up by his three elder sisters, including Betty, with whom Cox has remained close.

In Dundee, Cox attended St Mary's Forebank Primary School and St Michael's Junior Secondary School, which he left at the age of 15. After working at Dundee Repertory Theatre for a few years, he began his training at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art at age 17, graduating in 1965.