Andrew Scott: The Life Story Behind the Hot Priest
In this post
Dublin: A Jesuit School and a Child Actor
Andrew Scott was born on 21 October 1976 in Dublin, Ireland, and he grew up in a middle-class household in the city, attending Gonzaga College, a Jesuit school in Ranelagh, where the education was serious, classical, and demanding. The Jesuit tradition, with its emphasis on rhetoric, on speaking well, on thinking clearly, and on performing, gave him a training that would serve him for the rest of his career, even though he did not know it at the time. He was, by his own account, a bright, sensitive boy, who loved drama, who performed in school plays, and who knew, even then, that acting was what he wanted to do.
He began acting as a child, appearing in a television advertisement and then in films, and his first film role was in Korea in 1995, a drama about a young man in Dublin, in which he played a small part. The experience of working on a film set as a teenager taught him what acting was, in practice, and it gave him a taste for it that never left him. He went on to study drama at Trinity College Dublin, one of the oldest universities in Ireland, but he left before finishing, to join the Abbey Theatre, the national theatre of Ireland, where he began to work as a professional actor, in productions that tested his classical skills and his ability to hold a stage.
The Abbey Theatre was a serious place to learn, and Scott learned quickly, playing in productions of the Irish repertoire, and working with actors who had been doing it for decades. He was young, he was talented, and he was ambitious, and he knew that Dublin, for all its theatrical tradition, was a small pond, and that he would eventually have to leave it, to go to London, where the work was bigger, and the audiences were larger. The decision to leave was not easy, because Dublin was home, and the Abbey was a home, but it was necessary, and he made it, with the confidence of a young man who knew what he wanted.
The Dublin childhood matters, because it gave him a voice, an Irish voice, that he has never lost, and a way of speaking that is musical, precise, and full of feeling. He speaks with a Dublin accent in interviews, he talks about Gonzaga, about Trinity, about the Abbey, and he has kept his Irish identity at the centre of his public life. That matters, because it tells young Irish actors that they do not have to become English to succeed, and it tells the world that Ireland produces actors of the highest quality. He is an Irish star, and he is proud of it, and the pride is justified.
Band of Brothers, the Royal Court and the Olivier
Andrew Scott’s first major international role came in 2001, in the HBO series Band of Brothers, in which he played Private John “Cowboy” Hall, an American soldier in the Second World War, in a series that was produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, and that became one of the most acclaimed television dramas ever made. The role was a small one, but it introduced him to an American audience, and to the experience of working on a large, ambitious production, with a cast of dozens, and with a standard of excellence that was very high. He learned, on that set, what was expected of him, and he took the lesson with him to London, where his career would take off.
In London, he worked in the theatre, and the theatre is where he made his name. In 2004 he appeared in A Girl in a Car with a Man at the Royal Court Theatre, a play by the Scottish writer Linda McLean, in which he played a young man who is involved in a strange, dangerous relationship, and the performance won him the Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in 2005, one of the highest honours in British theatre. The Olivier was a recognition, and it was also a beginning, because it announced him as a stage actor of the first rank, a man who could hold a stage, who could play a difficult role, and who could do it with a precision that left audiences breathless.
He continued to work in the theatre, in productions that were as demanding as the Olivier winner, including The Vertical Hour in 2006, at the Royal Court, opposite Julianne Moore, in a play by David Hare, and Cock in 2009, also at the Royal Court, in a play by Mike Bartlett, in which he played John, a man who is torn between a boyfriend and a girlfriend, in a performance that was widely praised for its honesty and its humour. Cock was a play about sexuality, about love, about the difficulty of choosing, and Scott played John as a man who is confused, funny, and heartbreaking, and the audience, who had come to see a play about a gay man, found themselves watching a play about a human being.
The Royal Court years established him as one of the finest stage actors of his generation, and they gave him a reputation for taking on difficult roles, for playing men who are complicated, who are flawed, and who are real. He was not a star yet, in the sense of being famous, but he was a respected actor, and the respect mattered, because it meant that directors trusted him, that writers wrote for him, and that the audience, in the theatre, knew his name. The fame was coming, and when it arrived, it would find a man who had already learned his craft, in the hardest school there is: the stage.
Moriarty: Sherlock and the Consulting Criminal
The role that made Andrew Scott famous around the world was Jim Moriarty in Sherlock, the BBC series created by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, in which he played the consulting criminal, the nemesis of Sherlock Holmes, played by Benedict Cumberbatch. Moriarty was a villain unlike any other on television: charming, funny, dangerous, and utterly unpredictable, a man who is a genius, who is bored, and who plays games with people’s lives because he can. Scott played him with a camp, theatrical energy that was both terrifying and delightful, and the performance became iconic, quoted, imitated, and loved by millions.
He first appeared as Moriarty in the first series in 2010, in the episode “The Great Game”, in which he is revealed as the man behind a series of crimes, and he returned in the second series in 2012, in “The Reichenbach Fall”, in which he apparently dies, falling from a roof, and then again in the third and fourth series, in 2014 and 2017, in appearances that were sometimes real, sometimes imagined, and always memorable. The role won him the BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor in 2012, and it made him a star, recognised on the street, quoted by fans, and offered roles that he had never been offered before.
Moriarty mattered because he was not a conventional villain. He was not a thug, or a gangster, or a monster. He was a man who is intelligent, who is funny, who is bored, and who is dangerous because he has nothing to lose. Scott played him as a performance, a man who is always acting, always playing a part, and the audience could see the performance, and could see the man underneath it, and the combination was mesmerising. The performance also showed his range: he could be camp, he could be terrifying, he could be funny, and he could be heartbreaking, often in the same scene, and the audience never knew what he would do next, which is exactly what a great villain should do.
The Sherlock years made him famous, and they also gave him a new kind of freedom. He could choose his roles, and he could expect to be taken seriously as a leading man, and he used that freedom well, choosing roles that were different from Moriarty, that showed other sides of his talent, and that kept the audience from thinking of him as only a villain. The decision to leave the show, when Moriarty’s story reached its end, was the right one, because it allowed him to move on before the role became a cage, and the roles that followed showed that he had made the right choice.
The Hot Priest: Fleabag and the Confessional
In 2019 Andrew Scott took on the role that would make him famous to a new generation, and that would give him a nickname he has never quite escaped: the Priest in Fleabag, the BBC and Amazon series created by and starring Phoebe Waller-Bridge. The Priest was a Catholic priest, a man who is kind, funny, and tortured, who falls in love with Fleabag, the heroine, and who cannot act on that love because of his vows. Scott played him with a warmth, a humour, and a sadness that made the audience fall in love with him, and the series became a phenomenon, winning awards, breaking hearts, and making the phrase “hot priest” a part of popular culture.
The Priest appeared in the second series of Fleabag, in 2019, and his scenes with Waller-Bridge, particularly the confessional scene, in which Fleabag tells him her sins, and he listens, and the scene in which he tells her that he loves her, and that he cannot be with her, are now considered among the great scenes in modern television. Scott played the Priest as a man who is good, who is trying to be good, and who is failing, and the failure is what makes him human. The performance won him the Critics’ Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in 2020, and a BAFTA nomination, and it made him a star in a way that Moriarty had not, because the Priest was not a villain. He was a man, and the audience loved him for it.
The role mattered because it showed a different side of Scott, a romantic, tender, vulnerable side, that Moriarty had hidden. The Priest is not camp, not theatrical, not dangerous. He is quiet, he is kind, he is funny, and he is broken, and Scott plays him with a stillness that is very different from the energy of Moriarty. The contrast is the proof of his range: he can play a villain who is a performance, and a priest who is a person, and he can play both convincingly, because he approaches both as people, not as types. The audience, which had known him as Moriarty, discovered a new Andrew Scott, and they loved him for it.
Fleabag also introduced him to an American audience, through Amazon, and to a new generation of viewers who had not seen Sherlock, and who knew him only as the Priest. The nickname “hot priest” has followed him since, and he has spoken about it with humour, and with a slight exasperation, because it reduces a complex performance to a single adjective. But the nickname is also a compliment, because it means that the audience remembered him, and that they loved him, and that they wanted more of him. The role was a turning point, and it opened doors that Moriarty had not, to romantic leads, to leading men, to the kind of roles that had previously gone to other actors.
Pride, Spectre and the Film Years
Alongside his television work, Andrew Scott has built a film career, choosing roles that show his range and his judgement. In 2014 he appeared in Pride, a film about the alliance between gay activists and striking miners in 1980s Britain, playing Gethin Roberts, a Welshman who runs a bookshop with his partner, in a performance that was warm, funny, and moving, and that showed his ability to play an ordinary man, in an extraordinary story. The film was a critical and commercial success, and it won the BAFTA for Outstanding Debut, and Scott’s performance was praised as one of its highlights.
In 2015 he appeared in Spectre, the James Bond film, playing Max Denbigh, known as “C”, the head of a new intelligence agency who is secretly working for the villain, in a role that was a different kind of villain from Moriarty: quiet, bureaucratic, and dangerous because he is respectable. The film was a major commercial success, and Scott’s presence in it, as a Bond villain, was a sign of his standing, and of the industry’s recognition that he could play a villain in the biggest franchise in the world. He also appeared in 1917 in 2019, playing Lieutenant Leslie, a British officer in the First World War, in a small but memorable role in a film that won Academy Awards.
These film roles matter because they show that Scott is not only a television actor. He is a film actor, and a versatile one, who can move between a small British drama, a Bond film, and a war epic, and who can do it without losing himself. The roles are not the centre of his career, and they are not meant to be. The stage and the television are the centre, and the films are the proof that he can do both, and that he chooses his roles with the same care that he chooses his words. The film career is a testament to his range, and to his refusal to be limited to a single medium. It also shows his judgement, because he has chosen films that matter, that say something, and that give him something to play, rather than films that merely pay well, and that judgement is visible in every performance, from Pride to Spectre to All of Us Strangers, each one chosen for a reason, each one played with the same care.
The film years also include his work in All of Us Strangers in 2023, directed by Andrew Haigh, in which he played Adam, a screenwriter in London who meets a neighbour, played by Paul Mescal, and who begins a relationship that forces him to confront his past, and his parents, who died when he was a child. The performance earned him a BAFTA nomination for Best Actor and a Golden Globe nomination, and it was widely described as one of the finest performances of the year, a portrait of a man who is lonely, who is grieving, and who is learning to love. The film was a critical success, and it confirmed that Scott is now one of the leading actors of his generation, in film as well as in television and on stage.
Hamlet, Vanya and Ripley: The Leading Man
The stage has always been Andrew Scott’s home, and his stage career in recent years has given him some of his most acclaimed performances. In 2017 he played Hamlet at the Almeida Theatre in London, in a production directed by Robert Icke, which transferred to the West End, and which was praised for its modernity, its energy, and its intelligence. Hamlet is the hardest role in the theatre, and Scott played him with a clarity and a vulnerability that made the play feel new, even to audiences who knew it by heart. The performance earned him an Olivier nomination, and it confirmed what the theatre world had always known: that Scott is one of the great stage actors of his generation.
In 2019 he played Garry Essendine in Present Laughter at the Old Vic, in Noël Coward’s comedy about an actor who is charming, selfish, and beloved, in a performance that earned him another Olivier nomination, and that showed his ability to play comedy, and to play a leading man, with the same skill he brings to tragedy. The role was a different kind of challenge, a comedy that requires timing, charm, and a willingness to be unlikeable, and Scott played it with a delight that made the audience laugh and wince at the same time.
In 2023 he took on his most ambitious stage role: Vanya, a one-man adaptation of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya, in which he played all eight characters, alone on a stage, switching between them with a virtuosity that left audiences breathless. The production, directed by Sam Yates, opened in the West End in 2023 and transferred, and Scott won the Olivier Award for Best Actor in 2024 for the performance, the highest honour in British theatre, and a recognition of a feat that few actors could attempt, let alone achieve. Vanya is a masterpiece of a performance, and it is the reason Scott is now considered one of the great stage actors alive, and the reason the theatre world speaks of him with a reverence that is usually reserved for the legends.
In 2024 he starred in Ripley, the Netflix series based on Patricia Highsmith’s novel The Talented Mr Ripley, playing Tom Ripley, a con man who murders his way into a new life in Italy, in a performance that earned him Golden Globe and Emmy nominations. Ripley was a different kind of villain from Moriarty: quiet, lonely, and terrifying because he is ordinary, and Scott played him with a stillness that made the horror worse. The series was a critical success, and it confirmed that Scott is now a leading man in television, in film, and on stage, and that his career has reached a new level. The black-and-white photography, the Italian locations, and the slow, deliberate pace of the series all served his performance, giving him room to be still, to be watchful, and to let the audience see the calculation behind Ripley’s eyes, and the loneliness underneath it, and the fear that drives him to kill, again and again, in a performance that is both chilling and deeply human. In 2012 he won the BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor for Sherlock, a formal recognition of the Moriarty performance, and the win mattered because it came from his peers, from the television industry, and because it confirmed that a villain, a supporting player, and a man who appears in only a few episodes, could be honoured as one of the finest actors on British television. The BAFTA sits alongside the Olivier for Vanya, and the nominations for Hamlet, for Present Laughter, for All of Us Strangers and for Ripley, and together they make a shelf of honours that few actors possess, and that tells the story of a career that has been recognised, again and again, in every medium, on stage, on television, and in film, by the people who know the work best.
My Take:
What I admire most about Andrew Scott is the precision, and I want to be specific about what that precision means, because it is easy to say an actor is precise and hard to show it. Watch him as Moriarty, and you will see a man who is camp, theatrical, dangerous, and funny, often in the same line, and who never puts a foot wrong. Watch him as the Priest, and you will see a man who is quiet, kind, and broken, and who never overplays a moment. Watch him as Vanya, playing eight characters alone on a stage, and you will see a man who can switch between them in a breath, without a costume change, without a prop, without a pause. That is precision, and it is the result of years of training, of discipline, of paying attention, and of taking the work seriously. I think that is the highest form of acting, and Scott practises it every time he steps on a stage or in front of a camera.
I also think his Dublin childhood matters more than it is usually given credit for. He grew up in a Jesuit school, in a city with a great theatrical tradition, and he learned to speak well, to think clearly, and to perform, and those lessons stayed with him. The Irish voice is in his work, in the musicality of his speech, in the wit, in the feeling, and it is the reason his performances sound different from an English actor’s. I do not think a man who had grown up somewhere else could have played Moriarty, or the Priest, or Vanya, in quite the same way. The Dublin is in the work, and it is there because he grew up in it, and because he has never tried to hide it.
Moriarty is the role I return to most, because it is the clearest example of his genius. Jim Moriarty is a consulting criminal, a genius, a man who is bored, and who plays games with people’s lives because he can, and Scott plays him with a camp, theatrical energy that is both terrifying and delightful. I think the performance works because Scott understands that Moriarty is a performance, a man who is always acting, and the audience can see the performance, and can see the man underneath it, and the combination is mesmerising. The BAFTA he won for the role was deserved, and it was also a beginning, because it announced him as a star, and as an actor who could play a villain like no one else.
The Priest is the role I think about when I consider his range, because it is the opposite of Moriarty. The Priest is quiet, kind, funny, and broken, a man who is trying to be good and failing, and Scott plays him with a stillness that is very different from the energy of Moriarty. The confessional scene, in which Fleabag tells him her sins, and he listens, is one of the great scenes in modern television, because it is a scene between two people, talking, listening, and understanding each other, and Scott plays it without a trace of vanity, trusting the writing and the audience. I think the performance is a masterpiece, and it is the reason the phrase “hot priest” entered the language, because the audience fell in love with a man who is good, and who is trying, and who is failing, and who is human.
Vanya is the performance I would show to anyone who doubts that Scott is one of the great stage actors alive. Eight characters, alone on a stage, switching between them in a breath, without a costume change, without a prop, without a pause, and winning the Olivier for Best Actor in 2024. I have seen actors attempt one-man shows before, and most of them fail, because they cannot sustain the energy, or the clarity, or the emotion. Scott does not fail. He sustains it, for two hours, and the audience, who came to see a trick, stays to see a performance, and leaves having seen something they will never forget. That is not a trick. That is acting, at the highest level, and it is why Vanya is a landmark.
Ripley is the series I think about when I consider his maturity, because Tom Ripley is a different kind of villain from Moriarty: quiet, lonely, and terrifying because he is ordinary, and Scott plays him with a stillness that makes the horror worse. The series earned him Golden Globe and Emmy nominations, and it confirmed that he is now a leading man in television, in film, and on stage. I think the performance matters because it shows that Scott has grown, that he is no longer the young actor who played Moriarty, but a mature artist who can play a man who is both a murderer and a human being, and who can make the audience understand him, without forgiving him. That is a difficult balance, and Scott holds it, episode after episode, without ever tipping into caricature.
Hamlet is the role I admire for its ambition, because Hamlet is the hardest role in the theatre, and Scott played him at the Almeida in 2017, in a production that was modern, energetic, and intelligent, and that earned him an Olivier nomination. I think the performance matters because it shows that he is not afraid of the great roles, that he will take them on, and that he will play them in his own way, without imitating the actors who came before him. The Hamlet was his, and the audience knew it, and the production transferred to the West End, and it is still talked about, as one of the great Hamlets of recent years. That is a legacy, and it is one that Scott earned, one performance at a time.
All of Us Strangers is the film I return to most, because Adam is a man who is lonely, who is grieving, and who is learning to love, and Scott plays him with a tenderness that is heartbreaking. The film, directed by Andrew Haigh, is about a screenwriter who meets a neighbour, played by Paul Mescal, and who begins a relationship that forces him to confront his past, and his parents, who died when he was a child. The performance earned Scott a BAFTA nomination for Best Actor, and it was widely described as one of the finest of the year. I think the film matters because it shows that Scott can be vulnerable, that he can play a man who is not a villain, not a priest, not a genius, but an ordinary man, who is trying to live, and to love, and to heal. That is the hardest role of all, and Scott plays it beautifully.
What I take from the whole story, finally, is a picture of a career built on precision and on courage. Scott takes the work seriously, whether it is a villain, a priest, a prince, or a murderer, and he brings the same preparation, the same intelligence, and the same commitment to every role, and he does it with a precision that is rare, and with a courage that is rarer still, the courage to play eight characters alone, to play a priest who falls in love, to play a villain who is camp, and to play a man who is ordinary. That combination, precision and courage, is the reason his career has lasted, and will keep lasting, while other actors have faded.
If I were recommending Andrew Scott to a new viewer, I would start with Sherlock, because it shows his villainy, and then I would watch Fleabag, because it shows his heart, and then I would watch All of Us Strangers, because it shows his soul, and then I would see Vanya on stage, if I could, because it shows his genius. That is my honest path through his work, and I think it gives a new viewer the four corners of the story: the criminal, the priest, the lover and the artist. Each one is real, and each one is worth your time, and together they make a career that is among the finest of any Irish actor alive.
I also think about what he means for Ireland, because he is one of the most famous Irish actors in the world, and he has never hidden where he came from. He speaks with a Dublin accent, he talks about Gonzaga, about Trinity, about the Abbey, and he has kept his Irish identity at the centre of his public life. That matters, because it tells young Irish actors that they do not have to become English to succeed, and it tells the world that Ireland produces actors of the highest quality. He is an Irish star, and he is proud of it, and the pride is justified.
Finally, I want to say why this story stays with me. It stays with me because it is a story about a boy from Dublin who went to a Jesuit school, who acted as a child, who joined the Abbey, who went to London, who won an Olivier, who became Moriarty, who became the Priest, who played Hamlet, who played Vanya, who became Ripley, and who is still working, still choosing, still surprising people. That is not a straight line. It is a winding road, and it is a road that was walked with precision, with courage, and with a refusal to settle. The boy from Dublin is still walking it, and I expect the next chapter to be as interesting as the last.
I will keep watching, because the pattern of this career is that the best work is always ahead, and because Scott has never repeated himself. Moriarty was a villain, the Priest was a lover, Hamlet was a prince, Vanya was eight people, Ripley was a murderer, and the next role will be something else entirely, something nobody expects, something only he could play. That is the definition of an artist, and it is the reason I will be first in line, whenever the next work arrives, ready to be surprised again.
One more thought, about the voice. Scott’s voice is one of the great instruments of modern acting, musical, precise, and full of feeling, and it is the reason his stage work, his television work, and his film work all succeed. He can whisper, he can shout, he can be funny, he can be terrifying, and he can do it all in a Dublin accent that he has never tried to hide. The voice is the gift of his childhood, of Gonzaga, of Trinity, of the Abbey, and he has used it well, in every medium, without ever letting it become a trick. When he speaks, the audience listens, and that is the highest praise I can give an actor.
I also think about his openness, because Scott has spoken publicly about being gay since 2013, with a directness that is refreshing, and without making it the centre of his public identity. He is an actor who happens to be gay, and he has played gay men, straight men, priests, villains, and murderers, without ever being limited by his sexuality. That is a quiet form of courage, and it is a form of honesty, and it has helped other actors, particularly young Irish actors, to be open about who they are. The work is public. The life is his, and he has shared what he chose to share, on his own terms, and that is as it should be. I will keep watching, because the man who played Moriarty, the Priest, Hamlet, Vanya and Ripley has not finished surprising me, and the next surprise will be worth the wait, and the wait will be short, because he works constantly, and the work is always good, and always worth seeing, and always worth the price of admission, and always worth the time it takes to watch it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where did Andrew Scott grow up?
He was born on 21 October 1976 in Dublin, Ireland, and attended Gonzaga College, a Jesuit school in Ranelagh. He acted as a child, studied drama at Trinity College Dublin, and left to join the Abbey Theatre, the national theatre of Ireland, before moving to London.
What was Andrew Scott’s first Olivier Award?
He won the Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in 2005 for A Girl in a Car with a Man at the Royal Court Theatre. He later won the Olivier for Best Actor in 2024 for Vanya, his one-man adaptation of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya.
Who did Andrew Scott play in Sherlock?
He played Jim Moriarty, the consulting criminal and nemesis of Sherlock Holmes, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, in Sherlock from 2010 to 2017. He won the BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor in 2012 for the role.
Who is the Hot Priest in Fleabag?
Andrew Scott played the Priest in the second series of Fleabag in 2019, opposite Phoebe Waller-Bridge. The character, a Catholic priest who falls in love with Fleabag, became known as the Hot Priest, and Scott won the Critics’ Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.
Did Andrew Scott play Tom Ripley?
Yes, he starred as Tom Ripley in the Netflix series Ripley in 2024, based on Patricia Highsmith’s novel The Talented Mr Ripley, earning Golden Globe and Emmy nominations for the performance.
What was Andrew Scott nominated for in All of Us Strangers?
He played Adam, a screenwriter in London who begins a relationship with a neighbour played by Paul Mescal, in All of Us Strangers in 2023, directed by Andrew Haigh. He was nominated for the BAFTA for Best Actor and for a Golden Globe for the performance.
