Ewan McGregor

Ewan McGregor was born on March 31, 1971, in Perth, Scotland. He grew up in nearby Crieff, where his parents worked as teachers. He left Morrison's Academy at sixteen to join the Perth Repertory Theatre. A year later, he entered London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama. His first screen role came in the British television series Lipstick on Your Collar, created by Dennis Potter and broadcast in 1993. That same year, he appeared in the film Being Human, directed by Bill Forsyth, beginning a film career that soon moved between British independent cinema and major Hollywood productions. His early training also prepared him for demanding stage and screen work in public. He became widely known after starring as Mark Renton in Danny Boyle's Trainspotting (1996). The film, adapted from Irvine Welsh's novel, follows heroin users in Edinburgh, and McGregor's performance combined restless humor with physical and emotional intensity. He reunited with Boyle for A Life Less Ordinary and later played Robert Lewis in the thriller Shallow Grave, Boyle's feature debut. In 1999, George Lucas cast McGregor as the young Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars: Episode I—The Phantom Menace. He reprised that role in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, portraying Kenobi's transformation from apprentice to Jedi master on screen. He has pursued varied roles. In Moulin Rouge! (2001), Baz Luhrmann's musical, he played Christian, a writer who falls in love with Satine, performed by Nicole Kidman. His singing earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy. He also portrayed the troubled novelist Edward Bloom in Big Fish, directed by Tim Burton. As a producer and actor, he made American Pastoral, adapting Philip Roth's novel for his directorial debut in 2016. On television, he played fashion designer Halston in the 2021 Netflix miniseries Halston, earning an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series. He played Sky Masterson in the 2005 London production of Guys and Dolls, winning an Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical. With Charley Boorman, he rode motorcycles from London to New York in the documentary series Long Way Round, then continued through Scotland and Africa in Long Way Down and Long Way Up. McGregor became an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2013 for services to drama and charity. In 2021, he returned as Obi-Wan in a Disney+ series, bringing the character into a story set between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope.