Ewan McGregor

Ewan Gordon McGregor was born on 31 March 1971 in Perth, Scotland, and raised in the nearby town of Crieff. His father, Jim McGregor, worked as a physical education teacher and careers master at Morrison's Academy, the independent school McGregor himself attended, while his mother, Carol Diane McGregor, was a teacher and later deputy head teacher. McGregor has an older brother, Colin, born in 1969, who served as a Tornado GR4 pilot in the Royal Air Force. His uncle is actor Denis Lawson, and his aunt by marriage was actress Sheila Gish, making him a step-cousin of Gish's daughters, actresses Kay Curram and Lou Gish.

McGregor left school at 16 and took work as a stagehand at Perth Theatre before completing a foundation course in drama at Kirkcaldy College of Technology. He subsequently moved to London to study at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and six months before graduating, he secured the lead in Dennis Potter's six-part Channel 4 series Lipstick on Your Collar (1993). That same year he appeared in the BBC adaptation of Scarlet and Black alongside Rachel Weisz, and in 1994 he made his film debut in Bill Forsyth's Being Human. His role in the thriller Shallow Grave (1994), his first collaboration with director Danny Boyle, earned him an Empire Award.

International recognition came with Boyle's Trainspotting (1996), in which McGregor played heroin addict Mark Renton, an adaptation of Irvine Welsh's novel. He was subsequently cast as the young Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy, released between 1999 and 2005, a role originally portrayed by Alec Guinness. His uncle Denis Lawson had played Wedge Antilles in the original trilogy. McGregor starred in the musical Moulin Rouge! (2001) as the poet Christian opposite Nicole Kidman, earning a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. That same year he appeared in Ridley Scott's Black Hawk Down. Further prominent film roles followed in Big Fish (2003), Angels and Demons (2009), and the political thriller The Ghost Writer (2010).

McGregor made his directorial debut with the crime film American Pastoral (2016), in which he also starred. His performance as twin brothers Ray and Emmit Stussy in the third season of the anthology series Fargo (2017) brought him the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Miniseries or Television Film. He won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor for his portrayal of fashion designer Halston in the miniseries Halston (2021), and reprised his role as Obi-Wan Kenobi in the 2022 miniseries of the same name. His screen credits also include Beauty and the Beast (2017), Christopher Robin (2018), Doctor Sleep (2019), and Birds of Prey (2020). He appeared alongside Charley Boorman in the motorcycle-travel documentary series Long Way Round, Long Way Down, Long Way Up, and Long Way Home.

In theatre, McGregor appeared in productions of Guys and Dolls from 2005 to 2007 and Othello from 2007 to 2008. He made his Broadway debut in 2014, appearing in The Real Thing. In 2013, McGregor was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire for his service to drama and charity. He has served as an ambassador for UNICEF UK since 2004.