Ewan McGregor

He has an older brother, Colin (born 1969), a former Tornado GR4 pilot in the Royal Air Force.

His uncle is actor Denis Lawson and his aunt by marriage was actress Sheila Gish, which makes him a step-cousin of Gish's actress daughters, Kay Curram and Lou Gish.

Ewan Gordon McGregor (born 31 March 1971) is a Scottish actor.

His accolades include a Golden Globe Award and a Primetime Emmy Award.

McGregor was born on 31 March 1971 in Perth, Scotland, and was raised in nearby Crieff.

His mother, Carol Diane (née Lawson), is a retired teacher at Crieff High School and latterly deputy head teacher at Kingspark School in Dundee.

His father, James Charles Stewart "Jim" McGregor, is a retired physical education teacher and careers master at the independent Morrison's Academy in Crieff.

While studying drama at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, McGregor began his career with a leading role in the British series Lipstick on Your Collar (1993).

Six months prior to his graduation from Guildhall, McGregor began a leading role in Dennis Potter's six-part Channel 4 series Lipstick on Your Collar (1993).

Not long afterwards, he starred in the BBC adaptation of Scarlet and Black (also 1993) with a young Rachel Weisz and made his film debut in Bill Forsyth's Being Human (1994).

For his role in the thriller Shallow Grave (also 1994), he won an Empire Award.

The film was his first collaboration with director Danny Boyle.

He gained stardom for starring as drug addict Mark Renton in Trainspotting (1996) and as Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy (1999–2005).

He had a major role in the 1996 Channel 4 comedy-drama film Brassed Off, written and directed by Mark Herman.

His international breakthrough followed with the role of heroin addict Mark Renton in Boyle's Trainspotting (1996), an adaptation of Irvine Welsh's novel of the same name.

McGregor played the male romantic lead role in the British film Little Voice (1998).

He was cast as the young Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy, released between 1999 and 2005.

Kenobi was originally played by Alec Guinness in the first Star Wars trilogy.

McGregor's uncle, Denis Lawson, had played Wedge Antilles in the original trilogy.

While the prequels received mixed reviews, McGregor's performance was well received.

McGregor said making the prequels was difficult, as he had to act mostly against green screens and the dialogue was "not exactly Shakespeare".

He also stated that the negative reaction to the films had been difficult.

His career progressed with starring roles in the musical Moulin Rouge! (2001), action film Black Hawk Down (2001), fantasy film Big Fish (2003), and thriller Angels and Demons (2009).

McGregor starred in Moulin Rouge! (2001) as the young poet Christian, who falls in love with the terminally-ill courtesan Satine (Nicole Kidman), for which his performance was widely praised and nabbed McGregor his first Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy nomination.

He also appeared in Ridley Scott's war film Black Hawk Down (2001) as John Grimes.

He starred alongside Renée Zellweger in Down with Love (2003).

He also portrayed the younger Edward Bloom in Tim Burton's critically acclaimed film Big Fish (2003) alongside Albert Finney, Jessica Lange, Alison Lohman and Billy Crudup.

In the same period, he also received critical acclaim for his portrayal of an amoral drifter mixed up with murder in the drama Young Adam (also 2003), which co-starred Tilda Swinton.

He has been involved in charity work and has served as an ambassador for UNICEF UK since 2004.

McGregor has also starred in theatre productions of Guys and Dolls (2005–2007) and Othello (2007–2008).

He gained praise for his performances in the thriller The Ghost Writer (2010) and romantic comedy Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (2011).

In 2013, he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his services to drama and charity.

McGregor made his directorial debut with the crime film American Pastoral (2016), in which he also starred.

For his dual role as brothers Ray and Emmit Stussy in the third season of the anthology series Fargo (2017), he won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film.

He voiced Lumière in Beauty and the Beast (2017), and played the title role in Christopher Robin (2018), Dan Torrance in Doctor Sleep (2019), and Black Mask in Birds of Prey (2020).

He reprised his role as Kenobi in the 2022 miniseries Obi-Wan Kenobi, and won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for his portrayal of fashion designer Halston in the miniseries Halston (2021).

In September 2020, after travelling through Chile for his motorcycle documentary Long Way Up, he revealed that one of his great-grandfathers, John “Juan” Charles McIndoe, was born in Chile to Scottish parents while his father worked with the American engineers in the construction of the railways at the end of the 19th century.

Later, John McIndoe went to Glasgow and worked as a wine importer and diplomat.

For his education McGregor attended Morrison's Academy.

After leaving school at the age of 16, he worked as a stagehand at Perth Theatre and studied a foundation course in drama at Kirkcaldy College of Technology, before moving to London to study drama at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama when he was 18 years old.