Stage, screen and television actor. Born in Dundee and beginning in the Dundee Repertory Theatre, Cox went on to success with the Royal Shakespeare Company. On screen he has taken on to take a range of roles from Trotsky in Nicholas and Alexandra (1971) to Killearn in Rob Roy (1995), Argyle Wallace in Braveheart (1995) and King Agamemnon in Troy (2004). Other notable films have included The Bourne Identity (2002), X-Men 2 (2003), Woody Allen's Match Point (2005) and television mini-series The Day of the Triffids (2009), with Dougray Scott. He has also narrated, written and directed.
Cox was awarded a CBE in the New Year Honours List (2003), and has also been the recipient of Emmy (2001) and Laurence Olivier Theatre (1985 and 1989) awards. He was installed as Rector of the University of Dundee in 2010.