Graham McTavish

BBC's crime Drama Murphy's Law (2004), a serial revolving around an undercover police officer in London, saw McTavish guest-star in the series two episode "Bent Moon on the Rise", followed by a turn as Captain James Stagg in BBC's made for TV Film D-Day 6 June 1944.

Graham McTavish (born 4 January 1961) is a Scottish actor and author.

He is known for his roles as Dwalin in The Hobbit film trilogy, The Saint of Killers in the AMC series Preacher, and Dougal MacKenzie and William Buccleigh MacKenzie in the Starz series Outlander. He is also known for his roles in the video game franchise Uncharted as the main antagonist Zoran Lazarević in Uncharted 2: Among Thieves and Charlie Cutter in Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception.

McTavish was born 4 January 1961 in Glasgow, Scotland.

He is the son of Alec and Ellen McTavish.

The family, especially his father, was politically active, and po litical discourse was common in their household.

His family left Glasgow when McTavish was a child, and throughout his adult life, he has lived in places such as Canada, the United States, and England before settling in New Zealand.

During school, McTavish and a friend would write and perform comedy sketches, which led to his Drama teacher asking him to step in to cover a role in Sheridan's The Rivals after the principal actor became ill.

He went on to attend Queen Mary University of London, earning a degree in English literature.

This degree course allowed him to perform in three Shakespeare plays per year while at school, and led to McTavish earning his Equity card after performing in a play by Samuel Beckett.

Early in his career, McTavish did theatre work with the repertory theatres of London's West End and at the Dundee Rep with colleagues that included Jimmy Logan and Robert Robertson.

McTavish's first professional role, in 1986, was in episode two of Walt Disney's mini-series Return to Treasure Island.

He next featured in 1988's Freedom Fighter (aka Wall of Tyranny), which was broadcast on ITV and starred Tony Danza as a man who helped those living in East Berlin cross the Berlin Wall.

Popular fantasy-adventure series Highlander, which centered on an immortal man tasked with fighting evil, saw McTavish in the series four episode "Judgment Day" in 1996 and the television film Merlin saw him co-star as Rengal in 1998.

Between 1998 and 1999, he went on to appear in several episodic television series including a three-part episode of ITV's Glasgow based crime Drama Taggart, BBC One medical Drama Casualty, BBC Two's sci-fi sitcom Red Dwarf, and ITV's police Drama Heartbeat.

In 2000, McTavish guest-starred in ITV's mini-series The Stretch, a two-part crime Drama centering on crime boss Terry Green and his wife Sam.

The next year guest-starred on a series two episode of BBC One's long-running medical Drama Doctors.

In 2002, he had guest spots on BBC One's comedy Celeb, ITV's crime Drama Rose & Maloney, and ABC's fantasy mini-series Dinotopia.

The following year he featured in an episode of ITV's mystery Drama Rosemary & Thyme, three episodes of ITV's gangster Drama Family, and two episodes of BBC's mini-series The Last King (aka Charles II: The Power and the Passion).

McTavish returned to the crime Drama Taggart in 2005's episode "Mind Over Matter" and to medical Drama Casualty in the series nineteen episode "Baby Love".

That same year he was cast in two separate series based upon events from the rise of the Roman Empire.

First was a five episode role as General Rapax in ABC's mini-series Empire, which chronicled Octavius, who would become Emperor Augustus.

Second was a two-episode stint as Urbo in HBO's Golden Globe nominated series Rome.

He went on to a recurring role in ITV's police procedural Drama The Bill.

McTavish finished out the year by starring in two television films: Good Girl, Bad Girl, the story of a set of twins who tangle with a drug dealer, and Sharpe's Challenge, a Drama surrounding a British Soldier (Sean Bean) during the Napoleonic Wars.

2007 saw McTavish feature in numerous episodic television productions.

He portrayed The Dark Spirit in a three episode guest appearance on CBS's web series Ghost Whisperer: The Other Side, which explored the world through the ghost's perspective.

The series is a spin-off of their supernatural series Ghost Whisperer.

From there he had guest appearances in BBC One's dramas Jekyll and New Tricks, ITV's medical Drama The Royal, CBS's FBI centered Drama Numb3rs, police procedural NCIS, and family Drama Cane.

The next year he landed the role of Ferguson in the fourth season of Fox's popular Drama Prison Break.

In the fourth season of ABC's hit science fiction series Lost, McTavish guest starred as Desmond's drill sergeant.

He also appeared in ABC's supernatural thriller Pushing Daisies and CBS's crime Drama CSI: Miami.

In 2009, McTavish returned to CBS for a guest starring role, opposite Jennifer Love Hewitt, in the supernatural Drama Ghost Whisperer.

McTavish portrayed Russian foreign minister Mikhail Novakovich in a seven-episode stint on Fox's hit series 24 in 2010. He went on to appear in an episode of Fox's action comedy series The Good Guys, which revolves around two detectives stuck solving small crimes.

In September 2013, it was announced that he had been cast as Dougal MacKenzie, war chief of the MacKenzie clan, in Starz's time-travel Drama series Outlander.

The series is an adaption of the bestselling novels by author Diana Gabaldon and premiered on 9 August 2014 to positive reviews from both critics and television audiences.

McTavish would reprise the role throughout seasons one and two.

In 2016, McTavish landed the recurring role of William Munny, the Saint of Killers in AMC's Drama Preacher, which is based upon Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon's comic book series of the same name.

2018 saw McTavish feature in the recurring role of Andrew MacGregor in USA Network's science fiction series Colony, which explores earth after an alien attack.

In 2020, McTavish and Outlander co-star Sam Heughan co-wrote Clanlands: Whisky, Warfare, and a Scottish Adventure Like No Other, which hit No. 1 on the New York Times ' Best Seller Lists for hardcover nonfiction and for combined print and e-book nonfiction.