Andrew Clement Serkis (born 20 April 1964) is an English actor and director. He is best known for his critically acclaimed roles comprising motion capture acting, animation, and voice acting for computer-generated characters such as Gollum in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy (2001–2003) and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012), King Kong in the eponymous 2005 film, Caesar in the Planet of the Apes reboot series (2011–2017), Captain Haddock / Sir Francis Haddock in Steven Spielberg's The Adventures of Tintin (2011), Baloo in his self-directed film Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle (2018) and Supreme Leader Snoke in the Star Wars sequel trilogy films The Force Awakens (2015) and The Last Jedi (2017). Serkis' film work in motion capture has been critically acclaimed. He has received various accolades including a BAFTA Award, an Emmy Award, an Empire Award, two Actor Awards and two Saturn Awards. He earned a BAFTA and a Golden Globe nomination for his portrayal of serial killer Ian Brady in the television film Longford (2006) and was nominated for another BAFTA for his portrayal of new wave and punk rock musician Ian Dury in the biopic Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll (2010). In 2020, Serkis received the BAFTA Award for Outstanding British Contribution To Cinema. In 2021, he won a Daytime Emmy Award for the series The Letter for the King (2020). Serkis portrayed Ulysses Klaue in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) and Black Panther (2018), as well as the Disney+ series What If...? (2021). He also played Alfred Pennyworth in The Batman (2022) and Kino Loy in the Star Wars Disney+ series Andor (2022). Serkis has his own production company and motion capture workshop, The Imaginarium in London, which he used for Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle. He made his directorial debut with Imaginarium's 2017 film Breathe and also directed Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021).