Background
Brake was born in Ystrad Mynach, Hengoed, Wales, United Kingdom to Welsh parents, and grew up in the United States states of North Carolina, Tennessee, and Ohio.
Brake was born in Ystrad Mynach, Hengoed, Wales, United Kingdom to Welsh parents, and grew up in the United States states of North Carolina, Tennessee, and Ohio.
He also studied acting in New York City at the Michael Chekhov Studio under Beatrice Straight.
In 1967, he and his family immigrated to the United States, where they first settled in Atlanta. In this film (as in most versions of the Batman comic series), his character is the criminal who murdered Bruce Wayne"s parents, effectively starting him on his path to becoming Batman. Following this, Brake appeared as the warped Portman in Doom, with Karl Urban and The Rock.
Brake also made a cameo appearance in the video for Muse"s "Knights of Cydonia", playing a villainous sheriff in a strange futuristic western.
He then played the villain Bobby DeWitt in The Black Dahlia, and appears in 2007"s Hannibal Rising as Enrikas Dortlich, one of the war criminals who murders young Hannibal Lecter"s sister. The production was directed by Matthew Dunster.
Returning to film, his next starring role was that of Prior in Outpost from director Steve Barker. Brake starred in Craig Singer"s Perkins" 14, which was featured in the After Dark Horrorfest film festival.
In 2009, Brake appeared as Gary Scott in Rob Zombie"s Halloween II, a sequel to his remake of Halloween – a role he garnered based on a personal recommendation to Rob Zombie from Sid Haig.
He has also appeared in several British television shows including Military Intelligence High, Keen Eddie and Jeeves and Wooster, as well as the American television show Cold Case. Brake portrayed a captain in the einherjar in the 2013 film Thor: The Dark World. In March 2015 Rob Zombie casted Brake as killer Doom-Head in the horror film 31, which will premiere at the Sundance Festival in January 2016.
He attended Western Reserve Academy in Hudson, Ohio and trained in The Science of Acting under the technique"s founder, and founding Principal of The Academy of the Science of Acting and Directing, Sam Kogan. Having appeared in numerous productions (including brief appearances in Cold Mountain and Munich), Brake achieved his first significant role in mainstream cinema being cast as Joe Chill in Christopher Nolan"s 2005 film, Batman Begins.
In September 2007, Brake appeared on stage at the Young Vic in The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers.
