Ewan McGregor

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Ewan McGregor

McGregor at the Stormbreaker premiere, July 2006
Born Ewan Gordon McGregor
31 March 1971 (1971-03-31) (age 37)
Crieff, Scotland
Years active 1993–present
Spouse(s) Eve Mavrakis (1995–present)

Ewan Gordon McGregor (born 31 March 1971; pronounced /ˌjuːən məˈgrɛgər/)[1] is a Scottish actor, who has had significant success in mainstream, indie and art house films. He is perhaps best known for playing the lead role in Danny Boyle's Trainspotting, his portrayal of the young Obi-Wan Kenobi in the prequel trilogy of Star Wars, his role as the romantic penniless writer, Christian, in the 2001 award-winning Moulin Rouge!, and his motorcycle adventures with friend Charley Boorman in Long Way Round and Long Way Down. He is due to appear in the upcoming films I Love You Phillip Morris and Amelia, and will portray Carlo Ventresca in the film adaption of Angels & Demons, awaiting release in 2009.

Aside from his film work, McGregor has starred in theatre productions of Guys and Dolls. He also appeared in television series such as The Scarlet and the Black, Lipstick On Your Collar, Tales from the Crypt, and ER. He was ranked No. 36 in Empire magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list.[2]

Contents

Biography

Early life and career

McGregor was born in the Perth Royal Infirmary, was brought up in the nearby small town of Crieff, Scotland, and went to the independent fee-paying school Morrison's Academy. His mother, Carol Diane (née Lawson), is a teacher and school administrator, and his father, James Charles Stuart McGregor, is a physical education teacher.[3][4] His mother is the sister of actor Denis Lawson,[5] the sister-in-law of the late actress Sheila Gish, and the step-aunt of the late Lou Gish. McGregor attended Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 1988 to study drama.[5] Six months before graduating, he won a leading role in Dennis Potter's six-part BBC series Lipstick on Your Collar,[5] and has been working steadily ever since. McGregor made his feature film debut in 1993 in Bill Forsyth's Being Human.[6] The following year, he earned widespread praise and won an Empire Award for his performance in the thriller Shallow Grave,[7] which marked his first collaboration with director Danny Boyle.[5] His major international breakthrough soon followed with the role of heroin addict Mark Renton in Boyle's film version of Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting (1996).[5][6]

Leading man

McGregor at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival

McGregor has been featured as the male romantic lead in Hollywood films such as Moulin Rouge! and Down With Love, and in the British film Little Voice.[5][8] He received excellent reviews for his performance as an amoral drifter mixed up in murder in the Scottish film Young Adam (2003), which co-starred the acclaimed British actress Tilda Swinton.[9][10]

He took on the role of a younger Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy, a role originally made famous by Sir Alec Guinness in the original Star Wars films.[5] McGregor took very special care (especially in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith) in his portrayal of Kenobi to ensure that Obi-Wan's mannerisms, speech timings, and accents closely resemble Obi-Wan's "Alec Guinness Self".[11] In appearing in Star Wars films, he was continuing a family tradition of sorts: his uncle, Denis Lawson, had played Wedge Antilles in the original Star Wars trilogy.[12] McGregor was offered the lead role as James Bond in the 2006 reboot Casino Royale but he turned it down because he feared becoming typecast.[13]

McGregor is one of the few major male actors to repeatedly do full-frontal nudity in many of his films, including Trainspotting, Velvet Goldmine, The Pillow Book, and Young Adam.[14] He also played gay and bisexual characters in Peter Greenaway's The Pillow Book (1996) and Todd Haynes' Velvet Goldmine (1998).[14]

In 2005, McGregor lent his voice to two successful animated features; the robot Rodney Copperbottom in Robots, which also featured the voices of Halle Berry and Robin Williams;[15] and the lead character in Gary Chapman's Valiant, alongside Jim Broadbent, John Cleese and Ricky Gervais.[16] Additionally in 2005, McGregor played two roles (one a clone of the other) opposite Scarlett Johansson in Michael Bay's The Island and then appeared in Marc Forster's Stay, a psychological thriller co-starring Naomi Watts and Ryan Gosling.[17][18]

McGregor at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival

McGregor has narrated the STV show JetSet, a Scottish series following the lives of student pilots and navigators at RAF Lossiemouth as they undergo a gruelling six-month course learning to fly the Tornado GR4—the RAF's primary attack aircraft.[19] In theatre, he starred alongside Jane Krakowski, Douglas Hodge, and Jenna Russell in the original Donmar Warehouse production of Guys and Dolls[20] in London at the Piccadilly Theatre. He played the leading role of Sky Masterson, made famous by Marlon Brando in the movie, and he received the LastMinute.com award for Best Actor in 2005.[21] He was also nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical.[22] McGregor appears opposite Colin Farrell in Cassandra's Dream,[6][23] and will co-star with Daniel Craig in Dan Harris' upcoming film adaptation of Glen Duncan's novel I, Lucifer.[24]

From December 2007 to February 2008, he starred as Iago in Othello at the Donmar Warehouse alongside Chiwetel Ejiofor as Othello and Kelly Reilly as Desdemona,[25][26] a role he will reprise on BBC Radio 3 in May 2008.[25]

Personal life

On 22 July 1995, in a village in France, McGregor married Eve Mavrakis, a French production designer, who he met while filming a guest appearance on the British television series Kavanagh QC.[5] They have two daughters together, Clara Mathilde (born February 1996) and Esther Rose (born 7 November 2001).[5][8] In April 2006, McGregor and his wife adopted Jamiyan, a four-year-old girl from Mongolia (born June 2001).[27] They currently reside in North London.[27] McGregor refuses to talk about his family in interviews; "because it's private."[28] During the "fly-on-the-wall" filming of preparation for the Long Way Round and Long Way Down journeys, McGregor went to great lengths to keep his children and information that could reveal the location of his house away from the cameras. Unlike travelling companion Charley Boorman, whose daughters often appeared in front of the cameras, McGregor's children were not present at the send-off or any other filmed parts of either adventure.[28]

A keen motorcyclist since his youth, McGregor undertook a marathon motorcycle trip with his friend Charley Boorman and cameraman Claudio von Planta in 2004. From mid-April to the end of July, they travelled from London to New York via central Europe, Ukraine, Russia (including Siberia), Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and Canada on BMW R1150GS Adventure motorcycles, for a cumulative distance of 22,345 miles (35,960 km).[29] The trip formed the basis of a television series and a best-selling book, both called Long Way Round.[30] En route the Long Way Round team took time out to see some of UNICEF's work in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Mongolia.[30] The Long Way Round team reunited in 2007 for another motorcycle trip from John o' Groats in Scotland to Cape Town in South Africa.[30] The journey, entitled Long Way Down lasted from 12 May until 5 August 2007.[30]

McGregor once criticized fellow Scottish actor Sean Connery, saying that he resented being told how to feel about Scotland "by someone who hadn't lived there in 25 years". However, he later apologised to Connery, after Scottish National Party leader Alex Salmond, for whose party Connery is an occasional spokesman, contacted him about the statement.[31]

McGregor's brother, Colin, is a Tornado GR4 pilot in the Royal Air Force.[32] Colin joined the motorcycle team during the early stages of the Long Way Down journey.[30][32] His father Jim McGregor also rode on sections of both Long Way Round and Long Way Down, while his mother Carol surprised him in the latter stages of his African journey, serving him a can of Coca-Cola at a lodge in Malawi.[33][34]

In an episode of Parkinson in 2007, McGregor claimed that he has given up alcohol after a period where he was arguably a functioning alcoholic, and that he has not had a drink in seven years.[35] He has since been relatively open about his battles with clinical depression.[36] In 2008, he had a cancerous mole removed from underneath his right eye.[37]

Filmography

Year Film Role Other notes
1993 Being Human Alvarez
1994 Shallow Grave Alex Law Empire Award - Best British Actor
1995 Blue Juice Dean Raymond
1996 Trainspotting Mark Renton Scottish BAFTA Awards - Best Actor in a Leading Role
Empire Awards - Best British Actor
ALFS Awards - British Actor of the Year
Nominated: MTV Movie Awards - Best Breakthrough Performance
The Pillow Book Jerome
Emma Frank Churchill
Brassed Off Andy
1997 Nightwatch Martin Bells
The Serpent's Kiss Meneer Chrome
A Life Less Ordinary Robert Lewis Empire Awards - Best British Actor
Nominated: MTV Movie Award - Best Dance Sequence (shared with Cameron Diaz)
1998 Desserts Stroller
Velvet Goldmine Curt Wild
Little Voice Billy Nominated: Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture - shared with Annette Badland Brenda Blethyn Jim Broadbent Michael Caine Jane Horrocks Philip Jackson
1999 Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace Obi-Wan Kenobi Nominated: Saturn Award - Best Supporting Actor
Nominated: Blockbuster Entertainment Awards - Favorite Actor; Action/Science Fiction
Nominated: MTV Movie Award - Best Fight, shared with Liam Neeson and Ray Park
Rogue Trader Nick Leeson
Eye of the Beholder Stephen Wilson
2000 Nora James Joyce Nominated: Irish Film and Television Awards - Best Actor
2001 Moulin Rouge! Christian ALFS Awards - British Actor of the Year
Empire Awards - Best British Actor
MTV Movie Award - Best Musical Sequence (shared with Nicole Kidman)
Golden Satellite Award - Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical
Nominated: Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture - shared with Jim Broadbent, Nicole Kidman, John Leguizamo, Richard Roxburgh
Nominated: Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated: Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards - Best Actor
Nominated: MTV Movie Award - Best Kiss (shared with Nicole Kidman)
Black Hawk Down SPC John Grimes Nominated: Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards - Best Acting Ensemble (shared with Eric Bana, Ewen Bremner, William Fichtner, Josh Hartnett, Jason Isaacs, Sam Shepard, Tom Sizemore)
2002 Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones Obi-Wan Kenobi
Solid Geometry Phil
2003 Down with Love Catcher Block
Young Adam Joe Taylor Scottish BAFTA Awards - Best Actor In A Leading Role
Nominated: British Independent Film Award - Best Actor
Nominated: Empire Awards - Best British Actor
Faster Narrator (voice)
Big Fish Young Edward Bloom
2005 Robots Rodney Copperbottom (voice)
Valiant Valiant (voice)
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith Obi-Wan Kenobi Nominated: MTV Movie Awards - Best Fight (shared with Hayden Christensen)
Nominated: MTV Movie Awards - Best Hero
The Island Lincoln Six Echo/Tom Lincoln
Stay Sam Foster
2006 Scenes of a Sexual Nature Billy
Miss Potter Norman Warne
Stormbreaker Ian Rider
2007 Cassandra's Dream Ian
2008 Deception Jonathan
Incendiary Jasper Black awaiting release
Jackboots on Whitehall Chris (voice) post-production
2009 I Love You Phillip Morris Phillip Morris post-production
Amelia Gene Vidal post-production
Angels & Demons Carlo Ventresca filming

Television

Discography

  • "Gimme Danger" single (Soundtrack for movie Velvet Goldmine Cover version of original song by The Stooges - 1998)
  • "TV Eye" single (Soundtrack for movie Velvet Goldmine Cover version of original song by The Stooges - 1998)
  • "Come What May" Single (Duet with Nicole Kidman - October 2001) UK #27
  • "Your Song" single
  • "Elephant Love Medley" single (Duet with Nicole Kidman - October 2001)

References

  1. ^ See "Pronunciation of Ewan McGregor". Inogolo. Retrieved on 2008-07-09.
  2. ^ "Biography for Ewan McGregor". IMDB.com. Retrieved on 2008-01-23.
  3. ^ "Ewan McGregor biography". tiscali.co.uk. Retrieved on 2008-01-15.
  4. ^ "Ewan McGregor Biography (1971-)". filmreference.com. Retrieved on 2008-01-15.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Hello Magazine Profile - Ewan McGregor". Hello Magazine. Retrieved on 2008-07-09.
  6. ^ a b c "Hello Magazine Filmography - Ewan McGregor". Hello Magazine. Retrieved on 2008-07-09.
  7. ^ "Empire Awards, UK: 1996". IMDB.com. Retrieved on 2008-07-09.
  8. ^ a b "Ewan McGregor Biography". Yahoo!. Retrieved on 2008-07-09.
  9. ^ Slater, Matthew (2003-10-09). "Young Adam's dark tale". BBC. Retrieved on 2008-07-09.
  10. ^ Dawtrey, Adam (2003-09-21). "Thomas' distrib misstep". Variety. Retrieved on 2008-07-09.
  11. ^ (2005). Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith - Web Documentaries of Revenge of the Sith DVD [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
  12. ^ (2004). Star Wars Trilogy [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
  13. ^ Stansfield, Robert (2006-10-23). "007 role offered to Ewan", Daily Mirror. 
  14. ^ a b Farndale, Nigel (2003-09-13). "McGregor the brave". Telegraph. Retrieved on 2008-07-09.
  15. ^ Hartlaub, Peter (2005-03-11). "It's a bucket of bolts that rattles agreeably. 'Robots' mingles brass, laughs and, yes, Robin Williams". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved on 2008-07-09.
  16. ^ Holden, Stephen (2005-08-19). "Thse Brave Pigeons Are Doing Their Part for the War". New York Times. Retrieved on 2008-07-09.
  17. ^ Clinton, Paul (2005-07-22). "'Island' just interesting enough". CNN. Retrieved on 2008-07-09.
  18. ^ Dargis, Manohla (2005-10-21). "Something Is Happening, but Who Knows What It Is?". New York Times. Retrieved on 2008-07-09.
  19. ^ "Ground School". STV (2007-07-27). Retrieved on 2008-07-10.
  20. ^ "Guys and Dolls musical". Guys and Dolls the Musical. Retrieved on 2008-07-09.
  21. ^ Singh, Anita (2005-10-25). "McGregor wins theatre award", Scotsman. 
  22. ^ "The nominees and winners of the 2006 Laurence Olivier Awards". The Society of London Theatre. Retrieved on 2008-01-15.
  23. ^ Moore, Roger (2008-01-29). ""Dream" gives wakeup call to Woody Allen". The Orlando Sentinel. Denver Post. Retrieved on 2008-07-09.
  24. ^ "I, Lucifer (2009)". Internet Movie Database. Amazon.com.
  25. ^ a b "Ewan McGregor returns to London stage for minimum wage", International Herald Tribune (2007-05-12). 
  26. ^ "Ewan McGregor to Play Iago in Othello at London's Donmar", Broadway.com (2007-05-11). 
  27. ^ a b "Ewan McGregor Adopts a Daughter". People (2006-04-12). Retrieved on 2008-07-09.
  28. ^ a b "Ewan McGregor". Cineman. Retrieved on 2008-01-23.
  29. ^ "Long Ride to Self Discovery". Telegraph. Long Way Around (2004-10-14). Retrieved on 2008-07-09.
  30. ^ a b c d e "Ewan McGregor gets back on his bike – this time for BBC Two". BBC (2007-05-15). Retrieved on 2008-01-23.
  31. ^ Synnot, Siobhan (2003-07-13). "The force is with him", Scotland on Sunday. Retrieved on 7 June 2007. 
  32. ^ a b Spencer, Ben (2006-09-18). "Ewan felt the force of my lightsaber", Daily Record. 
  33. ^ "Long Way Round". Ewan McGregor, Charley Boorman, David Alexanian, and Russ Malkin. Long Way Round. 2004-10-18. 42 minutes in.
  34. ^ "Long Way Down". Ewan McGregor, Charley Boorman, David Alexanian, and Russ Malkin. Long Way Down. BBC Two. 2007-10-28.
  35. ^ C Taylor (2007-11-17). "Ewan McGregor Admits To Drinking Problem". Entertainment Wise. Retrieved on 2008-07-09.
  36. ^ "Ewan McGregor". Female First. Retrieved on 2008-07-09.
  37. ^ "McGregor fine after cancer scare". BBC. Retrieved on 2008-04-22.

Further reading

  • Adams, Billy. Ewan McGregor: The Unauthorized Biography. Overlooks Press, 1999. ISBN 0879517042
  • Bassom, David. Ewan McGregor: An Illustrated Story. Hamlyn, 1999. ISBN 0600596532
  • Jones, Veda Boyd. Ewan McGregor. Facts On File Inc., 1999. ISBN 0791055019
  • Nickson, Chris. Ewan McGregor: An Unauthorized Biography. Macmillan, 1999. ISBN 0312969104
  • Pendreigh, Brian. Ewan McGregor. Thunder's Mouth Press, 1999. ISBN 1560252391
  • Robb, Brian J. Ewan McGregor: From Junkie to Jedi. Plexus, 1999. ISBN 0859652769

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
Boorman & McGregor motorcycle adventures
Television programmes
Long Way Round (2004) • Race To Dakar (2006) • Long Way Down (2007)
People


Persondata
NAME McGregor, Ewan
ALTERNATIVE NAMES McGregor, Ewan Gordon
SHORT DESCRIPTION
DATE OF BIRTH 1971-3-31
PLACE OF BIRTH Crieff, Scotland
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH


Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ewan_McGregor"

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