Editing Derek Jacobi (section)

=== 1980–1999: Established career ===
[[File:Frank Barrie & Derek Jacobi.jpg|thumb|right|Jacobi with [[Frank Barrie]] performing ''[[The Merchant of Venice]]'' in 1971]]
In 1980, Jacobi took the leading role in the BBC's ''[[Hamlet]]'', made his Broadway debut in ''[[The Suicide (play)|The Suicide]]'' (a run shortened by Jacobi's return home to England due to the death of his mother), and joined the [[Royal Shakespeare Company]] (RSC). From 1982 to 1985, he played four demanding roles simultaneously: Benedick in Shakespeare's ''[[Much Ado About Nothing]]'', for which he won a Tony for its Broadway run (1984–1985); Prospero in ''[[The Tempest]]''; ''[[Peer Gynt]]''; and ''[[Cyrano de Bergerac (play)|Cyrano de Bergerac]]'' which he brought to the US and played in repertory with ''[[Much Ado About Nothing]]'' on Broadway and in Washington DC (1984–1985). In 1986, he made his West End debut in ''[[Breaking the Code]]'' by [[Hugh Whitemore]], starring in the role of [[Alan Turing]], which was written with Jacobi specifically in mind. The play was taken to Broadway. In 1988, Jacobi alternated in West End the title roles of Shakespeare's ''[[Richard II (play)|Richard II]]'' and ''[[Richard III (play)|Richard III]]'' in repertoire.

He appeared in the television dramas ''[[Inside the Third Reich (film)|Inside the Third Reich]]'' (1982), where he played [[Hitler]]; ''[[Mr Pye]]'' (1985); ''[[Little Dorrit (1987 film)|Little Dorrit]]'' (1987), based on [[Charles Dickens]]'s novel; and ''[[The Tenth Man (1988 film)|The Tenth Man]]'' (1988) with [[Anthony Hopkins]] and [[Kristin Scott Thomas]]. In 1982, he voiced Nicodemus in the animated film, ''[[The Secret of NIMH]]''. In 1990, he starred as [[Daedalus]] in episode 4 of ''[[Jim Henson's The Storyteller: Greek Myths]]''. Jacobi continued to play Shakespeare roles, notably in [[Kenneth Branagh]]'s 1989 film of ''[[Henry V (1989 film)|Henry V]]'' (as [[Greek chorus|the Chorus]]), and made his directing debut as Branagh's director for the 1988 [[Renaissance Theatre Company]]'s touring production of ''[[Hamlet]]'', which also played at [[Elsinore]] and as part of a Renaissance repertory season at the [[Phoenix Theatre, London|Phoenix Theatre]] in London. The 1990s saw Jacobi keeping on with repertoire stage work in ''Kean'' at [[The Old Vic]], ''[[Becket]]'' in the West End (the [[Haymarket Theatre]]) and ''[[Macbeth]]'' at the RSC in both London and [[Stratford-upon-Avon|Stratford]]. In 1993 Jacobi voiced Mr Jeremy Fisher in ''[[The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends]]''.

He was appointed the joint [[artistic director]] of the [[Chichester Festival Theatre]], with the West End impresario Duncan Weldon in 1995 for a three-year tenure. As an actor at Chichester he also starred in four plays, including his first ''[[Uncle Vanya]]'' in 1996 (he played it again in 2000, bringing the [[Chekhov]] play to Broadway for a limited run). Jacobi's work during the 1990s included the 13-episode series TV adaptation of the novels by [[Ellis Peters]], ''[[Cadfael (TV series)|Cadfael]]'' (1994–1998) and a televised version of ''Breaking the Code'' (1996). Film appearances of the era included performances in [[Kenneth Branagh]]'s ''[[Dead Again]]'' (1991), Branagh's full-text rendition of ''[[Hamlet (1996 film)|Hamlet]]'' (1996) as [[King Claudius]], [[John Maybury]]'s ''[[Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon|Love is the Devil]]'' (1998), a portrait of painter [[Francis Bacon (artist)|Francis Bacon]], as Senator Gracchus in ''[[Gladiator (2000 film)|Gladiator]]'' (2000) with [[Russell Crowe]], and as "The Duke" opposite [[Christopher Eccleston]] and [[Eddie Izzard]] in a post-[[apocalypse|apocalyptic]] version of [[Thomas Middleton]]'s ''[[The Revenger's Tragedy]]'' (2002).