Ewan Gordon McGregor OBE (/ˈjuːən/ YOO-ən; born 31 March 1971) is a Scottish actor. His accolades include a Golden Globe Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and the BAFTA Britannia Humanitarian Award. In 2013, he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his services to drama and charity.
His first professional role was in 1993, as a leading role in the British Channel 4 series Lipstick on Your Collar. He then achieved international fame with his portrayals of heroin addict Mark Renton in the drama films Trainspotting (1996) and T2 Trainspotting (2017), Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy (1999–2005), poet Christian in the musical film Moulin Rouge! (2001), SPC John Grimes in Black Hawk Down (2001), young Edward Bloom in Big Fish (2003), Catcher Block in Down With Love (2003), Rodney Copperbottom in Robots (2005), Camerlengo Father Patrick McKenna in Angels and Demons (2009), "the ghost" in Roman Polanski's political thriller The Ghost Writer (2010), Dr. Alfred Jones in the romantic comedy-drama Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (2011), Lumière in the live-action adaptation of the musical romantic fantasy Beauty and the Beast (2017), the adult version of the titular character in the fantasy comedy-drama Christopher Robin (2018), the adult version of Dan Torrance in the horror film Doctor Sleep (2019), and Black Mask in the DC Extended Universe superhero film Birds of Prey (2020). He made his directorial debut with the historical crime-drama American Pastoral (2016), where he also played Seymour "Swede" Levov.
In 2018, McGregor won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film for his dual role as brothers Ray and Emmit Stussy in the third season of FX anthology series Fargo, and received Golden Globe nominations for Best Actor – Musical or Comedy for both Moulin Rouge! and Salmon Fishing in the Yemen. McGregor has also starred in theatre productions of Guys and Dolls (2005–2007) and Othello (2007–2008). In 2021, he portrayed fashion designer Halston in a Netflix miniseries Halston for which he won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie. He returned as Obi-Wan in the 2022 Disney miniseries Obi-Wan Kenobi.
McGregor was ranked number 36 on Empire magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list in 1997. In a 2004 poll for the BBC, He was named the fourth most influential person in British culture. IndieWire named McGregor one of the best actors never to have received an Academy Award nomination. McGregor has been involved in charity work and has served as an ambassador for UNICEF UK since 2004. He became an American citizen in 2016.
Early life
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. 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.
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.
