A charismatic, auburn-haired leading man with gray eyes and a heavy brow, Ewan McGregor knew he wanted to be an actor at age nine and by age 16 had left home to work with the Perth Repertory Theatre in his native Scotland. He then migrated to London where he studied acting at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. An early break came with the Channel 4 series "Lipstick on Your Collar" (1993), written by Dennis Potter. That same year the actor made his feature film debut in Bill Forsyth's uneven "Being Human" (released in the USA in 1994) and continued his streak, landing the leading role of Julien Sorel in the BBC miniseries adaptation of "Scarlet and Black", in which he was a 19th-century Frenchman who dreams of becoming another Napoleon but is betrayed by the married woman who loves him.
McGregor came to prominence as Alex Law, the cocky young journalist who becomes enmeshed in murder, in Danny Boyle's "Shallow Grave" (1994), written by John Hodge. He reteamed with Boyle and Hodge for "Trainspotting" (also 1995), a kinetic and dramatic look at the street culture of Glasgow, essaying the role of Mark Renton, a charming heroin addict who attempts to straighten out his life but gets caught up in other crimes. The popularity of "Trainspotting" both with critics and rabid fans successfully launched the actor's career, thanks in no small part to his harrowing and disarming performance. Subsequent high profile roles have included the dashing Frank Churchill opposite Gwyneth Paltrow's "Emma" (1996) in Douglas McGrath's winning adaptation of Jane Austen's classic, and a bisexual whom Vivian Wu uses as a writing pad in Peter Greenaway's erotic "The Pillow Book" (1997). McGregor displayed his romantic side (paired with Tara Fitzgerald) as an unemployed mineworker performing in a brass band in the comedy "Brassed Off" (1997).
After an appearance as a burglar who comes up against a vampire in a 1996 episode of HBO's "Tales From the Crypt", McGregor reached mainstream American TV viewers as a petty crook whose attempted robbery of a convenience store goes awry in an episode of the hit NBC series "ER" (1997), for which he earned an Emmy Award nomination. Reteaming with Boyle and Hodge, the actor was cast a recently fired janitor who seeks revenge on his employer by kidnapping the man's daughter (Cameron Diaz) in 1997's quirky caper "A Life Less Ordinary". McGregor continued to display his prodigious talents as a Dutchman who romances a mother and her daughter in the period drama "A Serpent's Kiss" (1997), as an innocent man who becomes the prime suspect in a murder in "Nightwatch" and as a glam-rock musician (not unlike Iggy Pop) in Todd Haynes' "Velvet Goldmine" (both 1998). An uncharacteristic but well-played role in "Little Voice" as a painfully telephone installer who keeps carrier pigeons rounded out 1998. McGregor then appeared on stage in the London Comedy Theatre's 1999 production of "Little Malcolm And His Struggle Against The Eunuchs."
Though he has publicly decried the big-budget blockbuster on numerous occasions, McGregor made headlines and magazine covers when he landed the coveted role of the youthful Obi-Wan Kenobi in George Lucas' "Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace" (1999). Though the film itself was something of a disappointment, faltering from the modern fairy tale feel of its predecessors that attracted the actor to the project in the first place, it struck box-office gold allowing McGregor to emerge as a bona fide star.
After playing a man somewhat innocently stalking a woman (Ashley Judd) in the promising but ultimately unsuccessful "Eye of the Beholder" (2000), McGregor was impressive in his portrayal of James Joyce in "Nora", a little-seen 2000 biopic of the legendary Irish author's longtime love that was produced by Natural Nylon, the film company he formed with fellow actors Jude Law, Jonny Lee Miller, Sadie Frost and Sean Pertwee. The following year he won raves and new fans as the star of Baz Luhrmann's popular musical spectacular "Moulin Rouge!". An often over-the-top production, "Moulin Rouge!" was saved from complete campiness by McGregor's heartfelt turn as the talented but naive writer who falls in love with a magnetic courtesan (Nicole Kidman). The film also offered the actor the opportunity to showcase his very capable singing voice (previously hinted at in a karaoke scene in "A Life Less Ordinary" and some more edgier material in "Velvet Goldmine") with several challenging numbers that led Luhrmann to claim the actor "could be the Frank Sinatra of this new period". That same year, McGregor was featured in Ridley Scott's fact-based war film "Black Hawk Down", bringing strength and vulnerability -- as well as an American accent much improved from his efforts in the 1998 misfire "Nightwatch" -- to his role as a desk jockey soldier who first sees combat in the 1993 Somalian humanitarian mission that turned into a devastating battle.
McGregor then reprised the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi in Lucas' anticipated "Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones" (2002) and teamed with Tilda Swinton in the thriller "Young Adam" (lensed 2002), then dove into another singing and dancing role as the Rock Hudson-esqe swinging playboy Catcher Block opposite Renee Zellweger in "Down With Love" (2003), director Peyton Reed's to the fluffy Doris Day sex comedies of the 1960s. McGregor delivered a wonderfully dry and winking performance in the well-reviewed but little-seen film. The actor closed out 2003 with a part in director Tim Burton's fanciful "Big Fish," playing the role of Young Ed Bloom in the fanciful, mythically embellished flashbacks as related by Albert Finney as the older version of the same character. While awaiting the third installment of the second Star Wars trilogy to be released, McGregor appeared in the erotic noir thriller, "Young Adam" (2004), based on Alexander Trocchi's Beat Generation novel. Mixed reviews trickled in for the bleak tale about an amoral drifter who descends into increasingly erratic behavior while carrying on with the wife (Tilda Swinton) of a co-worker (Peter Mullan).
After narrating the motorcycle racing documentary "Faster" (2004), McGregor provided the voice of Rodney Copperbottom, a genius inventor who finds himself out of work in "Robots" (2005), an animated sci-fi tale about a world entirely inhabited by robots. He then returned to another sci-fi world when he reprised his role as Obi-Wan once again for the third and final prequel "Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith" (2005). Although he had publically voiced disappointment in the earlier prequels, the actor dutifully fulfilled his role for the final outing and in the process turned in his best performance as the Jedi Knight who discovers his apprentice has embraced the Dark Side. Ever the physical actor, McGregor also continued to demonstrate his commitment and facility with a weapon in the film's extensive lightsaber battles.
In June 2005 McGregor sang and danced on stage when starred as Sky Masterson in a London production of "Guys and Dolls" at the West End's Piccadilly Theatre alongside Jane Krakowski. That same year, he revealed to Playboy magazine that he had once battled alcohol addiction, but had remained sober for four years. The actor returned to the big screen for the sci-fi actioner "The Island" (2005) as Lincoln Six Echo, a man who lives in a orderly facility seemingly in a post-Apaclyptic world hoping to win the right to relocate to the only remaining pure bio-zone on the planet, only to discover his world was a facade disguising a more sinister existence That film failed to score with audiences, as did "Stay" (2005), a murky psychological thriller that cast McGregor as a shrink with a suicidal patient (Ryan Gosling) who somehow begins invading his dreams and blurring the lines of their realities and individualities. |
