Biography

Ewan Gordon McGregor (born March 31, 1971) is a Scottish actor, filmmaker, and producer whose career has moved between independent cinema, major studio productions, television, theater, and documentary travel series. Known for his versatility and energetic screen presence, he has played romantics, rogues, historical figures, comic characters, and several iconic literary and popular-culture roles.

McGregor began acting professionally in the early 1990s after studying at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. His first significant screen role came in Dennis Potter's television drama Lipstick on Your Collar (1993). He followed it with appearances in Being Human (1994) and the television adaptation of Scarlet and Black, before working with director Danny Boyle on the dark thriller Shallow Grave (1994). The film established McGregor as a compelling young performer and began a creative partnership that would define the early part of his career.

That partnership reached an international audience with Trainspotting (1996), Boyle's adaptation of Irvine Welsh's novel. As Mark Renton, a heroin addict attempting to escape the destructive world around him, McGregor combined humor, vulnerability, and physical intensity. The performance made him one of the most prominent British actors of his generation. During the same period, he appeared in Brassed Off (1996), Emma (1996), and The Pillow Book (1996), demonstrating a willingness to alternate between social drama, literary adaptation, and more experimental material.

In 1999, McGregor took on the role that made him a global star: the young Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace. He reprised the character in Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) and Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005), portraying Obi-Wan's development from gifted apprentice to experienced Jedi and mentor. The part connected him to the earlier performance by Alec Guinness while giving the character a more youthful, impulsive dimension. McGregor later returned to the role in the Disney+ limited series Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022).

His work outside Star Wars remained varied. In Velvet Goldmine (1998), he played the flamboyant rock musician Curt Wild. He starred opposite Nicole Kidman in Baz Luhrmann's musical Moulin Rouge! (2001), earning major award recognition for his performance as the idealistic writer Christian. Other notable film roles included Black Hawk Down (2001), Big Fish (2003), The Island (2005), Miss Potter (2006), The Ghost Writer (2010), Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (2011), and August: Osage County (2013).

McGregor also became associated with the travel documentaries Long Way Round (2004), Long Way Down (2007), and Long Way Up (2020), which followed motorcycle journeys undertaken with Charley Boorman. The projects revealed an adventurous, conversational side of his public persona while expanding his work as a presenter and producer.

He made his feature directorial debut with American Pastoral (2016), in which he also played the lead. On television, he won a Golden Globe for portraying both brothers Ray and Emmit Stussy in the third season of Fargo (2017), and received a Primetime Emmy Award for his performance in the drama series Halston (2021). His later film work has included Christopher Robin (2018), Doctor Sleep (2019), Birds of Prey (2020), and Bleeding Love (2023). In 2013, McGregor was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to drama and charity.