Ewan McGregor
Ewan Gordon McGregor was born on March 31, 1971 in Crieff, Perthshire, a small country town of 5,500 in Scotland. The son of two teachers, he and his older brother Colin had a quiet childhood where the most exciting thing around was his actor uncle Denis Lawson (he was in all three Star Wars movies as Wedge, a friend of Luke Skywalker, and in Local Hero).
He and Colin went to Morrison Academy where his father was the gym teacher and career advisor. Colin was a jock / achiever who would go on to become a Royal Air Force pilot. Ewan however didn't get much out of school. His heroes were Elvis, Billy Idol and his uncle who's life as an actor seemed very glamorous to a little boy in a small town. He decided he wanted to be an actor too and with his parents blessing he left Morrison at sixteen to persue acting at the Perth Repertory Theatre. He soon moved to London to study for three years at London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He left just before graduation when he got his first break in a British TV show called Lipstick on your Collar playing clerk Mick Potter.
Success in films came quickly for Ewan. His first experience was in Morocco where he had one line in Being Human. But next came the lead role of Julien Sorel in a BBC mini-series Scarlet and Black filmed in France. After that came a big break, Shallow Grave where he played Alex Law, one of three roommates who hide the body of a dead roommate so they can keep his suitcase full of cash. It was a big hit in Britain and made a name for Ewan.
Grave was directed by Dany Boyle, written by John Hodge and produced by Andrew MacDonald. This same team would get together again a few years later with Ewan to make Trainspotting, his best known movie before Star Wars. This black comedy about a group of heroin addicted young men was wild, horribly realistic yet funny at the same time. Ewan played an addict named Mark Renton who decides to go straight, but thanks to his friends and his habit, has a very hard time of it. His breakthrough performance opened the door in Hollywood and led to a steady flow of movies including: A Life Less Ordinary, Little Voice, Brassed Off (one of my personal favorites), and of course that little film you may have heard of, Star Wars, The Phantom Menace in which he plays the young Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jedi Knight.
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