Date of birth: 1971
Place of birth: Perthshire, Scotland
Marital status: Married, with two children
By the time he was nine he knew he would become an actor, having seen his uncle, Denis Lawson, in ‘Local Hero’ and ‘Star Wars’. He grew up playing the French Horn and singing in choirs and his passions were art, music and old black and white films.
He joined the Perth Reperatory Theatre before enrolling in drama school at Kirkcaldy in Fife. A year later he moved to London and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. His first feature film was Bill Forsythe’s ‘Being Human’ and he shot to prominence soon after in ‘Shallow Grave’ before gaining international acclaim as Mark Renton in ‘Trainspotting’.
Since then he’s appeared in as diverse a range of films, including ‘The Pillow Book’, ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Young Adam’. While filming ‘Moulin Rouge’, Ewan bought a Harley and took off into the Australian outback. When he finished shooting ‘Big Fish’ in Alabama, he bought another Harley and five days later rolled into Los Angeles.
Still a keen musician, he has three abiding passions; making movies, looking after his family and, of course, riding motorbikes, especially with his best mate Charley.