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Derek Jacobi was invited to join the National Theatre Company in London by Sir Laurence Olivier - and his brilliant work as a theatre actor since the early 1960s earned him a legendary reputation as one of England's finest actors. In 1985, he received a Tony for his role as Benedick in Much Ado about Nothing, and he has famously acted as the mentor and acting instructor of Kenneth Branagh.

From his debut as Cassio in Olivier's OTHELLO (1965), he has also starred in over 50 feature films, including THE DAY OF THE JACKAL (1973); THE ODESSA FILE (1974); THE MEDUSA TOUCH (1978); LITTLE DORRIT (1988); HENRY V (1989); DEAD AGAIN (1991); LOOKING FOR RICHARD (1996) HAMLET (1996), LOVE IS THE DEVIL (which earned him awards for Best Performance at Edinburgh Film Festival and Best Actor by Evening Standard British Film Award 1998); JOAN OF ARC (2000); GLADIATOR (2000) and GOSFORD PARK (2001).

His many memorable television performances include Claudius in I, CLAUDIUS (1976); Hamlet in HAMLET, PRINCE OF DENMARK (1980) Hitler in INSIDE THE THIRD REICH (1982) Cyrano de Bergerac in CYRANO DE BERGERAC (1985) and Alan Turing in BREAKING THE CODE (1996).

Jacobi has also received both a British and a Danish Knighthood, and was made British Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 1985, and Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 1994.

Jacobi has previously worked with Paul Cox on MOLOKAI - THE STORY OF FATHER DAMIEN, which was filmed in Hawaii in 1998.