| Ewan McGregor | |
|---|---|
McGregor at the Venice Film Festival in 2009 |
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| Born | Ewan Gordon McGregor 31 March 1971 Perth, Scotland |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1993–present |
| Spouse | Eve Mavrakis (1995–present; 4 children) |
Ewan Gordon McGregor (born 31 March 1971) is a Scottish actor. He has had success in mainstream, indie, and art house films. McGregor is perhaps best known for his roles as heroin addict Mark Renton in the drama Trainspotting (1996), Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy (1999–2005), and poet Christian in the musical film Moulin Rouge! (2001). He has also received critical acclaim for his starring roles in theatre productions of Guys and Dolls (2005–07) and Othello (2007–08). McGregor was ranked No. 36 on Empire magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list in 1997.[1]
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Born in the Royal Infirmary in Perth, Scotland, McGregor was brought up in the nearby small town of Crieff, where he attended the independent Morrison's Academy. His mother, Carole Diane (née Lawson), is a teacher and school administrator, and his father, James Charles Stewart "Jim" McGregor, is a physical education teacher.[2][3] He has an older brother, Colin, who is a former Tornado GR4 pilot in the Royal Air Force.[4][5] He is the nephew of actor Denis Lawson and the late actress Sheila Gish, and the step-cousin of the late actress Lou Gish.[6] McGregor studied drama at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.[6]
In 1993, six months prior to his graduation from Guildhall, McGregor won a leading role in Dennis Potter's six-part Channel 4 series Lipstick on Your Collar.[6] That same year, he starred in the BBC adaptation of Scarlet and Black with a young Rachel Weisz, and made his film debut in Bill Forsyth's Being Human.[7] In 1994, McGregor earned critical praise for his performance in the thriller Shallow Grave, for which he won an Empire Award,[8] and which marked his first collaboration with director Danny Boyle.[6] His international breakthrough followed in 1996 with the role of heroin addict Mark Renton in Boyle's Trainspotting, an adaptation of Irvine Welsh's novel of the same name.[6][7] The film was the first of several times that McGregor would appear nude on screen; he told The Scotsman in 2003 that audiences in the United States are "a bit worried about seeing my old chap", referring to his foreskin and the cultural influence of infant circumcision in the U.S.
McGregor played the male romantic lead in the 1998 British film Little Voice. In 1999, McGregor starred in the blockbuster Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace as the young Obi-Wan Kenobi, a role originally made famous by Sir Alec Guinness in the original Star Wars trilogy.[6] By appearing in Star Wars, he continued a family tradition of sorts: his uncle, Denis Lawson, had played Wedge Antilles in the original trilogy.[9] In 2001, he starred in Moulin Rouge! as the young poet Christian, who falls in love with the terminally-ill courtesan Satine, played by Nicole Kidman. McGregor reprised his role of Obi-Wan Kenobi for the subsequent prequel Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones in 2002. In 2003, he starred alongside Renée Zellweger in Down With Love,[6][10]. He also portrayed the younger Edward Bloom in the critically acclaimed film "Big Fish" alongside Albert Finney, Jessica Lange, Alison Lohman and Billy Crudup. During that year he also received critical acclaim for his portrayal of an amoral drifter mixed up with murder in the drama Young Adam, which co-starred Tilda Swinton.[11][12]
In 2005, McGregor appeared for the final time as Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. He took very special care—especially in Revenge of the Sith—to ensure that his portrayal of Obi-Wan's mannerisms, speech timings, and accents closely resembled Alec Guinness' version.[13] That same year, McGregor lent his voice to two successful animated features; he played the robot Rodney Copperbottom in Robots, which also featured the voices of Halle Berry and Robin Williams,[14] and he voiced the lead character in Gary Chapman's Valiant, alongside Jim Broadbent, John Cleese and Ricky Gervais.[15] Also in 2005, McGregor played two roles—one a clone of the other—opposite Scarlett Johansson in Michael Bay's The Island, and he appeared in Marc Forster's Stay, a psychological thriller co-starring Naomi Watts and Ryan Gosling.[16][17]
McGregor was offered the role of James Bond in the 2006 reboot Casino Royale, but he turned it down because he feared becoming typecast.[18] In 2006, he narrated the Fulldome production Astronaut, created for the National Space Centre. That same year, he also narrated the STV show JetSet, a six-part series following the lives of student pilots and navigators at RAF Lossiemouth as they undergo a gruelling six-month course learning to fly the Tornado GR4, the RAF's primary attack aircraft.[19] In 2007, McGregor starred opposite Colin Farrell in the Woody Allen film Cassandra's Dream.[7][20] In 2009, he co-starred with Jim Carrey in I Love You Phillip Morris and appeared in Amelia alongside Hilary Swank. Also in 2009, he portrayed Camerlengo Patrick McKenna in Angels & Demons, the film adaptation of Dan Brown's novel of the same name. McGregor is scheduled to co-star with Daniel Craig in Dan Harris' upcoming film adaptation of Glen Duncan's novel I, Lucifer.[21]
From November 1998 to March 1999, McGregor starred as Malcolm Scrawdykein in a production of Little Malcolm and His Struggles Against the Eunuchs, directed by his uncle, Denis Lawson. The play was first staged at the Hampstead Theatre before transferring to the Comedy Theatre in London's West End.[22] In November 2001, McGregor made a cameo appearance in The Play What I Wrote.[23]
From June 2005 to April 2007, McGregor starred alongside Jane Krakowski, Douglas Hodge, and Jenna Russell in the original Donmar Warehouse production of Guys and Dolls at the Piccadilly Theatre in London.[24] He played the leading role of Sky Masterson, made famous by Marlon Brando in the film of the same name. McGregor received the LastMinute.com award for Best Actor for his performance in 2005,[25] and he was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical in 2007.[26]
From December 2007 to February 2008, McGregor starred as Iago in Othello at the Donmar Warehouse alongside Chiwetel Ejiofor as Othello and Kelly Reilly as Desdemona.[27][28] He reprised the role on BBC Radio 3 in May 2008.[27]
A keen motorcyclist since his youth, McGregor undertook a marathon international motorcycle trip with his best friend Charley Boorman and cameraman Claudio von Planta in 2004. From mid-April to the end of July, they travelled from London to New York via central Europe, Ukraine, Russia (including Siberia), Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and Canada on BMW R1150GS Adventure motorcycles, for a cumulative distance of 22,345 miles (35,960 km).[29] The trip formed the basis of a television series and a best-selling book, both called Long Way Round.[30]
The Long Way Round team reunited in 2007 for another motorcycle trip from John o' Groats in Scotland to Cape Town in South Africa.[30] The journey, entitled Long Way Down, lasted from 12 May until 5 August 2007.[30] McGregor's brother Colin joined the motorcycle team during the early stages of the Long Way Down journey,[4][30] and his father Jim also rode on sections of both Long Way Round and Long Way Down.[31][32]
In September 2010, Charley Boorman stated that the third instalment of the Long Way series is planned for 2011, riding up through South America.
On 22 July 1995, in a village in France, McGregor married Eve Mavrakis, a French production designer, whom he met while filming a guest appearance on the British television series Kavanagh QC in 1994.[6] They have four daughters, Clara Mathilde (born February 1996), Esther Rose (born 7 November 2001), Jamiyan (born June 2001 in Mongolia; adopted April 2006),[33] and a girl whose name has not been released (born January 2011).[34][35][36] McGregor has a heart and dagger tattoo of the names of his wife and daughters on his right arm.[10][37] The family currently resides in Los Angeles, California, after moving from London.[38]
McGregor is involved in charity work, including with UNICEF and GO Campaign. During the Long Way Round journey in 2004, McGregor and his travelling companions took time out to see some of UNICEF's work in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Mongolia,[30] and during the Long Way Down trip in 2007, he and Charley Boorman did work for UNICEF in Africa. McGregor hosted the annual Hollywood gala for GO Campaign in 2009 and 2010. He has also worked with the Children's Hospice Association Scotland, as featured in Long Way Down.
In 2007, on an episode of Parkinson, McGregor stated that he had given up alcohol after a period where he was arguably a functioning alcoholic, and that he had not had a drink in seven years.[39] In 2008, he had a cancerous mole removed from underneath his right eye.[40]
| Title | Year | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lipstick on Your Collar | 1993 | PVT Mick Hooper | Six episodes |
| Scarlet and Black | 1993 | Julien Sorel | Mini-series |
| Kavanagh QC | 1995 | David Robert Armstrong | Episode: "Nothing But the Truth" |
| Karaoke | 1996 | Young Man | Episode: "Tuesday" |
| Tales from the Crypt | 1996 | Ford | Episode: "Cold War" |
| ER | 1997 | Duncan Stewart | Episode: "The Long Way Around" Nominated—Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor – Drama Series[41] |
| The Polar Bears of Churchill with Ewan McGregor | 2002 | Himself | Documentary series |
| Long Way Round | 2004 | Himself | Documentary series |
| Long Way Down | 2007 | Himself | Documentary series |
| The Battle of Britain | 2010 | Himself | Documentary |
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