Kevin R. McNally

Kevin Robert McNally is an English actor and writer born on 27 April 1956 in Bristol, England, who later spent his early years in Birmingham. He attended Redhill Junior School in Hay Mills and Mapledene Junior School in Sheldon before going on to Central Grammar School for Boys on Gressel Lane in Tile Cross.

McNally's professional acting career began at age 16 at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. In 1973 he received a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where he earned the Best Actor Bancroft Gold Medal in 1975. His screen debut came in 1976 with the BBC television adaptation of I, Claudius, and the following year he joined the regular cast of the second series of Poldark, portraying Drake Carne, the younger brother of Demelza Poldark.

Beyond acting, McNally has worked as a television writer. Between 1991 and 1994, he co-wrote nine episodes of Minder under the pseudonym Kevin Sperring, collaborating with writing partner Bernard Dempsey. The pair also co-wrote two episodes of Boon and two episodes of Lock, Stock.

McNally is widely recognized for his role as Joshamee Gibbs in the Pirates of the Caribbean film franchise, making him one of only three actors to appear in all five films. He reprised the role in the video game Kingdom Hearts III, becoming the only actor from the film series to do so in that franchise, and again in 2021 for the Sea of Thieves expansion A Pirate's Life. He appeared alongside British actors Ian McNeice and Kenneth Branagh in two films set during the Second World War, Valkyrie and Conspiracy, both depicting senior Nazi officials.

In 2011, McNally joined the American television series Supernatural as the recurring character Frank. The following year he provided both the voice and likeness of Robert Faulkner in the video game Assassin's Creed III. In 2014, he took the lead role in re-recorded radio productions of five lost episodes of Hancock's Half Hour for BBC Radio 4, with a further video episode subsequently broadcast on BBC Four as part of the Lost Sitcoms series. That same year he began a recurring role as Judge Richard Woodhull of Setauket, Long Island, in the AMC historical drama Turn: Washington's Spies, a part he held through 2017. In July 2019, he guest-starred as Inspector Grandjean in the second season of Amazon's Maigret. Also in 2019, McNally portrayed Captain Mainwaring in re-enactments of lost episodes of the sitcom Dad's Army.

In 2021, McNally appeared in three episodes of Doctor Who's thirteenth series, Flux, as Professor Jericho. He had previously appeared in the programme in the 1984 serial The Twin Dilemma, playing Lieutenant Hugo Lang.

McNally's stage work includes a Broadway appearance in 2009 in the play Hamlet. In his personal life, he was previously in a relationship with actress Stevie Harris, with whom he has two children. He met actress Phyllis Logan in 1994, and the couple married in 2011. Their son was born in 1996.