"I'm just into making quality stuff if I can, with interesting people and good scripts. But it's very important that it's about something and that it says something. Otherwise, I don't know what the point is, really."
You have allowed this TV Tropes to ruin your life, until now, you're on the very page you swore to describe.
Ewan Gordon McGregor OBE (born 31 March 1971 in Perth, Scotland) is a Scottish actor.
He is internationally best known for playing the Villain Protagonist of Trainspotting, Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel films and enamored poet Christian in Moulin Rouge!. He has made the bulk of his career with niche, indie, and arthouse films.
He married Mary Elizabeth Winstead in 2022.
It's over, troper! These roles have the high ground!
Film roles- Shallow Grave (1994) as Alex
- Trainspotting (1996) as Renton
- T2 Trainspotting (2017)
- The Pillow Book (1996) as Jerome
- Emma (1996) as Frank Churchill
- Brassed Off (1996) as Andy Barrow
- A Life Less Ordinary (1997) as Robert
- Nightwatch (1997 remake) as Martin Bells
- Velvet Goldmine (1998) as Curt Wild
- Little Voice (1998) as Billy
- Star Wars as Obi-Wan Kenobi
- The Phantom Menace (1999)
- Attack of the Clones (2002)
- Revenge of the Sith (2005)
- The Force Awakens (2015; voice only)
- The Rise of Skywalker (2019; voice only)
- Moulin Rouge! (2001) as Christian
- Black Hawk Down (2001) as John Grimes
- Down with Love (2003) Catcher Block
- Big Fish (2003) as Young Edward Bloom
- Robots (2005) as Rodney Copperbottom (voice)
- Valiant (2005) as Valiant (voice)
- The Island (2005) as Lincoln Six Echo/Tom Lincoln
- Stay (2005) as Dr. Sam Foster
- Stormbreaker (2006) as Ian Rider
- Cassandra's Dream (2007) as Ian Blane
- Angels & Demons (2009) as Camerlengo Patrick McKenna
- I Love You Phillip Morris (2009) as Phillip Morris
- The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009) as Bob Wilton
- Amelia (2009) as Gene Vidal
- The Ghost Writer (2010) as the Ghost Writer
- Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang (2010) as Rory Green
- Jackboots on Whitehall (2010) as Chris (voice)
- Perfect Sense (2011) as the Chef
- Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (2012) as Dr. Alfred Jones
- The Impossible (2012) as Henry Bennett
- Jack the Giant Slayer (2013) as Elmont
- August: Osage County (2013) as Bill Fordham
- A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014) in a cameo as Cowboy at Fair
- Son of a Gun (2014) as Brendan Lynch
- Mortdecai (2015) as Inspector Alistair Martland
- Jane Got a Gun (2015) as John Bishop
- Last Days in the Desert (2015) as Jesus
- American Pastoral (2016) as Seymour "Swede" Levov (also directed)
- Beauty and the Beast (2017) as Lumière
- Christopher Robin (2018) as Christopher Robin
- Doctor Sleep (2019) as Dan Torrance
- Birds of Prey (2020) as Roman Sionis / Black Mask
- Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (2022) as Cricket / Sebastian J. Cricket (voice)
Television roles
- Lipstick On Your Collar (1993): Pvt. Mick Hopper.
- ER (1997): Duncan Stewart in the episode "The Long Way Around"
- Long Way Round (2004), Long Way Down (2007), and Long Way Up (2020) — As Himself in Travelogue Shows
- Fargo (2017): Emmit and Ray Stussy
- Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022) as Obi-Wan Kenobi
- A Gentleman in Moscow (2024) as Alexander Rostov
Theatre roles
- Guys and Dolls: Sky (2005-2007, London)
- Othello: Iago (2007-2008, London)
Tropes associated with his work:
- Dyeing for Your Art:
- He's a brunette. Note his blond hair in I Love You Phillip Morris.
- He also shaved his head and lost over 25 pounds for his role in Trainspotting.
- Fake American: He's Scottish, but frequently plays American characters, more so since relocating to Los Angeles in 2008. He eventually obtained American citizenship in 2016.
- Fake Brit: The Scottish McGregor plays Obi-Wan with an English accent in order to match with Alec Guinness's performance from the original trilogy.
- I Am Not Spock: Or, in his case, he is not Obi-Wan Kenobi. He does prefer to distance himself from the famous Jedi Master, though that's not to say he didn't enjoy working on the Star Wars prequels. He's went on to play the role again to explore what happened to Obi-Wan in the gap between the two trilogies. He was happy when he reprised his role as a voice cameo in Episode VII, and played Obi-Wan again in Obi-Wan Kenobi, a Disney+ miniseries that is centered on the character.
- One for the Money; One for the Art: His reason for doing many of his blockbuster films is to get enough money so he can concentrate on smaller films that would give him little payment—usually Scottish indie films.
- Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: His American accent in I Love You Phillip Morris and Fargo and French accent in Beauty and the Beast (2017) do waver from time to time.
- Playing Their Own Twin: Though they are not technically twins, McGregor portrays both Tom Lincoln and his clone Lincoln Six Echo in The Island (2005). He also pulls double duty as Emmit and Ray Stussy in the third season of Fargo-but this is actually a case of Acting for Two as, contrary to popular belief, the brothers are not twins (they ARE relatively close in age, but Ray is slightly younger-which is a major plot point in the series).
- Promoted Fanboy: "I've been waiting nearly twenty years to have my own lightsaber. Nothing's cooler than being a Jedi Knight." Purportedly, he had trouble filming the action scenes because he wouldn't stop making lightsaber sounds (if you look close, you can even see his mouth moving during some of the lightsaber duels!). Denis Lawson, who played Wedge Antilles in the original trilogy, is his uncle.
- Reclusive Artist: While he has no issue at all doing promotional work or interviews, he's otherwise very protective of his family's privacy and doesn't participate in social media very much.
- Star-Making Role: His roles as Renton in Trainspotting and Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequels made him famous.
- What Could Have Been: He turned down the role of James Bond for Casino Royale.