Brake was born in Ystrad Mynach, Hengoed. 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. Brake 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. He also studied acting in New York City at the Michael Chekhov Studio under Beatrice Straight.

Later that year, Brake appeared as the warped and perverted space Marine Dean Portman in Doom, with Karl Urban and Dwayne Johnson. He also appeared as a hostile American man in Steven Spielberg's Munich, a cinematic retelling of the Munich massacre in the midst of the 1972 Summer Olympics. The film received positive reviews and was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, losing to Crash. In 2006, Brake made a cameo appearance in the music video for Muse's Knights of Cydonia, playing a villainous sheriff in a strange Futuristic western.

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, 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. Brake 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, winning Best Supporting Actress for Renée Zellweger's performance.

Brake and his ex-wife Rachel have two sons; Ryan (born 1999) and Henry (born August 20, 2002). After meeting actor Eddie Marsan at the Academy of the Science of Acting and Directing, the two became close friends. He is the godfather of Marsan's children.

After guest-starring on an episode of Keen Eddie, Brake finally achieved recognition from mainstream audiences as Joe Chill in Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins, the first instalment in The Dark Knight trilogy. 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. 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.

He then played released convict Bobby DeWitt in Brian De Palma's The Black Dahlia, a fictional account of the murder of Actress Elizabeth Short. Despite being a critical and commercial failure, the film received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography, losing to Pan's Labyrinth. In 2007, he had a supporting role in Hannibal Rising, which was based on the 2006 novel of the same name by Thomas Harris. He played Enrikas Dortlich, one of the war Criminals who murders Mischa Lecter, the younger sister of psychiatrist-turned-cannibalistic killer Hannibal Lecter.

His next role was that of ex-Marine Prior in the horror film Outpost, released on March 11, 2008. In 2009, following a guest appearance on the crime drama Cold Case and a supporting role as the titular character in Perkins' 14, he appeared as Gary Scott in Rob Zombie's Halloween II, the sequel to his remake of Halloween. Brake garnered the role based on a personal recommendation to Rob Zombie from Sid Haig. Later that year, Brake made a cameo in the thriller Cuckoo, starring Laura Fraser.

In 2010, he co-starred with Idris Elba in the psychological thriller Legacy. In 2011, he co-starred with Reese Witherspoon and Robert Pattinson in the romantic drama Water for Elephants, which was based on Sara Gruen's 2006 novel of the same name. The film was released on April 22, 2011 to positive reviews. Brake later appeared in the horror film The Incident, where his character Harry Green doesn't have any spoken dialogue throughout the film. The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 12, 2011, where it was nominated for the Midnight Madness Award.

Brake guest-starred on an episode of Grimm as a hunter with a penchant for severing a foot from his victims. He later co-starred with Melissa McCarthy and Jason Statham in the action comedy Spy, where he played Solsa Dudaev, a Chechen terrorist in pursuit of nuclear weapon. The film was universally praised and was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. Throughout 2016, Brake made numerous guest appearances on several award-winning television shows such as Hawaii Five-0 and Peaky Blinders. He also had a recurring role as Russian mobster Vlad on the Showtime series Ray Donovan.

Brake later co-starred with Colin Firth and Samuel L. Jackson in the action comedy Kingsman: The Secret Service, where he plays an unnamed man who interrogates Taron Egerton's character as part of his training to become a spy for the British intelligence agency Kingsman. The film was a sleeper hit with critics and at the box office. He made a cameo as a bar patron in the semi-biographical drama Set Fire to the Stars, which starred Elijah Wood and Kelly Reilly. The film premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival on June 23, 2014. In 2015, he appeared on the FX historical fiction drama The Bastard Executioner as Baron Edwin Pryce. Due to scheduling conflicts with The Bastard Executioner, Brake was unable to reprise the role for the sixth season of Game of Thrones and was replaced by Vladimir Furdik, one of the shows main stunt performers.

Brake worked with Rob Zombie for a second time, starring as the main antagonist Doom-Head in the horror film 31. The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 23, 2016 and was subsequently released on VOD on September 16. Despite mixed reviews from critics, Brake's performance was both unanimously praised and regarded as his best and most memorable performance to date. He received a nomination for the Fangoria Chainsaw Award for Best Supporting Actor, losing to Stephen Lang for Don't Breathe.

In 2017, Brake appeared as Medved in Bitter Harvest and as Tarasov in The Death of Stalin, both films focused on Soviet revolutionary and dictator Joseph Stalin. While the former was panned by critics, the latter received widespread praise. Brake had a recurring role on the crime thriller series Absentia as Conrad Harlow, a wealthy banker who is released from prison after Emily Byrne, the FBI agent who was hunting him down for the murders of several other women, is found alive. He is to star as tattoo Artist Bob Reid in the psychological horror-thriller Perfect Skin, and will co-star with Nicolas Cage and Andrea Riseborough in the crime film Mandy. Brake will appear in a film adaptation of the Patrick deWitt novel The Sisters Brothers, which will star Jake Gyllenhaal and Joaquin Phoenix.