Richard Brake

Richard Colin Brake (born 30 November 1964) is an American actor known for his supporting roles as Joe Chill in Batman Begins (2005), Doom-Head in 31 (2016), and the chemist in Mandy (2018), as well as his lead role as Bob Reid in Perfect Skin (2018). He also had supporting roles on television as the Night King on the fourth and fifth seasons of Game of Thrones, as Conrad Harlow on the first season of Absentia, and as Anton Kaledin in the third series of Peaky Blinders. Early life Brake was born in Ystrad Mynach, Wales. In 1967, he and his family migrated to the United States, where they first settled in Atlanta. He then grew up in the states of North Carolina, Tennessee, and Ohio, attending Western Reserve Academy in Hudson, Ohio, and Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. Brake studied acting under Sam Kogan, at his Academy of the Science of Acting and Directing in London, and Beatrice Straight, at the Michael Chekhov Studio in New York City. Despite growing up in the United States, Brake still considers himself Welsh. Career In 1993, he made his screen acting debut as a reporter on an episode of the British comedy series Jeeves and Wooster. In 1994, Brake and actress Rachel Weisz both made their film debuts in the science-fiction horror film Death Machine, which starred Brad Dourif. Following supporting roles in a few low-budget films (including Subterfuge, co-starring Matt McColm), Brake did not appear in a single film until six years later when he landed his first role by a major film distributor in Anthony Minghella's civil war film Cold Mountain. He played the leader of a group of Union foragers who attempts to rape the young widow Sara (played by Natalie Portman). The film was released on Christmas Day 2003 and was a critical and commercial success, receiving seven Academy Award nominations. In 2005, Brake finally achieved recognition from mainstream audiences in Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins. He played Joe Chill, the man responsible for murdering the parents of Bruce Wayne (played by Christian Bale), which leads him to become the vigilante Batman. The film was released on June 15, 2005, to critical acclaim and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography, losing to Memoirs of a Geisha. Brake appeared as the warped and perverted space Marine Dean Portman in Doom, with Karl Urban and Dwayne Johnson.