Iain Glen

Iain Alan Sutherland Glen was born on 24 June 1961 in Edinburgh, Scotland, and received his early education at the Edinburgh Academy. He went on to study at the University of Aberdeen before training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, where he graduated in 1985 with an Acting Diploma and was awarded the Bancroft Gold Medal. His older brother, Hamish Glen, has served as artistic director of both the Dundee Repertory Theatre and the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry.

Glen made his big screen debut in the 1988 film Paris by Night, appearing alongside Charlotte Rampling and Michael Gambon, and that same year had a role in Gorillas in the Mist with Sigourney Weaver. In 1990, he won the Silver Bear for Best Actor at the 40th Berlin International Film Festival for his performance in Silent Scream, playing Larry Winters. That year he also appeared as Hamlet in Tom Stoppard's film adaptation of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, which won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. His subsequent film credits include John Hanning Speke in Mountains of the Moon (1990), Manfred Powell in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001), Brother John in Song for a Raggy Boy (2003), and James Willett in Eye in the Sky (2015). He portrayed Dr. Alexander Isaacs and the Tyrant across three installments of the Resident Evil film series between 2004 and 2016.

On television, Glen took on the title role in the Irish crime series Jack Taylor from 2010 to 2016, adapted from Ken Bruen's novels and set in Galway. He appeared in the second series of Downton Abbey as Sir Richard Carlisle, a tabloid publisher engaged to Lady Mary. In 2010, he played Father Octavian in the Doctor Who two-part story comprising "The Time of Angels" and "Flesh and Stone." Among his most prominent television work is the role of Ser Jorah Mormont in HBO's Game of Thrones, which he played from 2011 to 2019, portraying a knight in exile who becomes an adviser to Daenerys Targaryen. He won the Best Actor award at the 2016 Taormina Film Fest for his performance in that series. From 2019 to 2021, Glen portrayed Bruce Wayne in the DC Universe series Titans. In 2023, he joined the cast of The Rig as Magnus MacMillan, the man in charge of the Kinloch Bravo oil rig, and that same year began appearing as Dr. Pete Nichols in Silo, a role he continued through 2025.

Glen's stage career has been extensive, encompassing classical and contemporary work across major British theatres. He has played the title roles in productions of Hamlet, Macbeth, and Henry V, as well as Wallenstein at the Minerva Theatre in Chichester and Uncle Vanya at The Print Room in 2012. He starred alongside Richard McCabe in Fortune's Fool at the Old Vic in 2013, directed by Lucy Bailey, though he was forced to withdraw before the end of the run due to illness. His theatre credits also include Edward II at the Royal Exchange in Manchester in 1986, A Streetcar Named Desire in 2002, Hedda Gabler in 2005, and Ghosts in 2010, which he also directed.

Glen received three Laurence Olivier Award nominations for his stage performances: for the original production of the musical Martin Guerre, for the West End production of The Blue Room, and for the 2006 West End revival of The Crucible, in which he played John Proctor. His Broadway appearance came in 1998, when he appeared in The Blue Room opposite Nicole Kidman, a production that also earned him his Olivier nomination for Best Actor.

Glen lives in south London with his wife and three children and is a keen cricketer who has played for the Actors XI.