He subsequently appeared in numerous horror films such as Doom (2005), Hannibal Rising (2007), Mandy (2018), and Barbarian (2022), as well as his first lead role in Perfect Skin (2018).

Brake appeared as the warped and perverted space Marine Dean Portman in Doom, a live action adaptation of the video game series, with Karl Urban and Dwayne Johnson.

Brake played paroled convict Bobby DeWitt in Brian De Palma's The Black Dahlia, a fictional account of the murder of actress Elizabeth Short.

He plays Gary Scott, a sleazy and perverted coroner who is brutally decapitated by Michael Myers following a car crash that kills his co-worker.

[citation needed] In 2010, he co-starred with Idris Elba in the psychological thriller Legacy, which premiered at the Glasgow Film Festival on 28 February 2010.

Brake had a recurring role as mobster Terry Mandel on Frank Darabont's neo-noir crime drama Mob City.

[citation needed] From 2014 to 2015, Brake portrayed the Night King on the HBO fantasy series Game of Thrones, appearing in the show's fourth and fifth seasons, most notably in the fifth-season episode "Hardhome", which received seven Emmy nominations.

He made an appearance as a bar patron in the semi-biographical drama Set Fire to the Stars, which premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival on 23 June 2014.

Due to scheduling conflicts with The Bastard Executioner, Brake was unable to reprise as The Night King for the sixth season of Game of Thrones and was replaced by Vladimir Furdik, one of the shows main stunt performers.

He co-starred with Melissa McCarthy and Jason Statham in the action comedy Spy, where he played Solsa Dudaev, a Chechen terrorist in pursuit of a nuclear weapon.

He played Doom-Head, a contract killer who participates in the annual titular game by murdering a group of victims who are kidnapped by goons.

[11] Despite mixed reviews from critics, Brake received enormous praise for his performance and was nominated for the Fangoria Chainsaw Award for Best Supporting Actor, losing to Stephen Lang for Don't Breathe.

Brake had a recurring role on the crime thriller series Absentia as Conrad Harlow, a wealthy banker who is released from prison after FBI agent Emily Byrne (played by Stana Katic), who was hunting him down for the murders of several women, is found alive.