Ewan McGregor: The Life Story Behind Obi-Wan

Ewan McGregor is the Scottish actor who became a Jedi, a romantic hero, a heroin addict, and a motorbike adventurer, and he did it all with a charm and an energy that made him one of the most loved actors in the world. When he appeared in “Trainspotting” in 1996, audiences were stunned by his raw, funny, terrifying performance as Mark Renton, a young man trying to escape addiction in Edinburgh. Then came Obi-Wan Kenobi in the “Star Wars” prequels, a role that made him a global star and that he would return to decades later. He has sung in “Moulin Rouge!”, ridden a motorbike around the world in “The Long Way Round”, and won an Emmy for playing a fashion designer in “Halston”. His story is about a boy from Perth who left school at sixteen to become an actor, who worked his way up through theatre and small films, and who became one of the most versatile stars in cinema. It is a story of Scotland, of adventure, and of a man who has never stopped exploring.

Long before the fame, there was simply a child in Perth, Scotland, learning, watching, and dreaming. His father, James, was a teacher, and his mother, Carol, was also a teacher, and he grew up in Crieff, Scotland, with his older brother, Colin, who became a pilot. His uncle, Denis Lawson, played Wedge Antilles in Star Wars. He attended Morrison’s Academy in Crieff, and he later studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, after leaving school at sixteen to pursue acting. Those early years explain more of the later career than most people realise.

Below is the life story as it happened, not just the highlights, because the quiet years explain the loud ones, and the setbacks explain the comebacks.

A Perth Boyhood and an Uncle in Star Wars

Ewan McGregor was born in Perth, Scotland, in 1971, and he grew up in Crieff, a small town where his parents were both teachers. His older brother, Colin, became a pilot, and his uncle, Denis Lawson, played Wedge Antilles in the original “Star Wars” films, which meant that the young Ewan grew up with a connection to the galaxy far, far away long before he became part of it. He attended Morrison’s Academy in Crieff, and he was a lively, adventurous boy, more interested in performing than in studying. He left school at sixteen to pursue acting, a bold decision that showed his determination, and he worked in theatre in Perth before moving to London to study at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. The decision to leave school early was unusual, and it worried his parents, yet they supported him, because they could see how much he wanted it. Scotland gave him his accent, his humour, and his identity, and he has carried all three throughout his career. He has never forgotten where he came from, and he returns to Scotland whenever he can.

By 1980, Childhood in Crieff had arrived, and Ewan McGregor knew the work in Perth, Scotland would be judged on its own terms, not on Ewan McGregor’s past. McGregor grew up in a small Scottish town, the son of two teachers, with a love of performing. The project added a new colour to the career of Ewan McGregor, and that colour from Childhood in Crieff has never quite faded in Perth, Scotland. It is a useful reminder that the career of Ewan McGregor was built as much in the small jobs as in the famous ones like Childhood in Crieff.

Around 1983, Uncle Denis Lawson put Ewan McGregor in front of a new audience in Perth, Scotland, and the response mattered to Ewan McGregor. His uncle played Wedge Antilles in Star Wars, giving the young Ewan a family connection to the saga. The job mattered because Uncle Denis Lawson stretched what people in Perth, Scotland believed Ewan McGregor could take on next. The quiet discipline of Ewan McGregor behind Uncle Denis Lawson is easy to miss in Perth, Scotland, and it is the most important part.

1987 paired Ewan McGregor with Leaving school at sixteen, a project in Perth, Scotland that needed patience, nerve, and long hours from Ewan McGregor. He left school to pursue acting, a bold decision that showed his determination. For Ewan McGregor, Leaving school at sixteen was proof that the long hours and the early sacrifices in Perth, Scotland had not been wasted. Such work builds trust for Ewan McGregor, and trust is the currency of Leaving school at sixteen that never goes out of fashion in Perth, Scotland.

What Childhood in Crieff gave the career of Ewan McGregor was range rather than noise, and range is what keeps a performer working for years in Perth, Scotland.

Guildhall, Danny Boyle, and the First Films

McGregor studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, where he trained as an actor, and he quickly caught the attention of directors. His first film roles included “Being Human” in 1994, and “Shallow Grave” in 1994, Danny Boyle’s dark thriller about three flatmates who find a suitcase of money. The film was a success, and it began his collaboration with Boyle, one of the most important directors of his career. He followed it with “Trainspotting” in 1996, a film that would change his life. He also appeared on stage, in London and in Scotland, building a reputation as a serious young actor. The early years were McGregor’s apprenticeship, a run of small parts made memorable and directors who believed in the young Scot. He was not famous yet, but he was building a body of work that showed his range, from dark drama to comedy to romance. Those years taught him the craft, and they gave him the foundation he would need when the big roles came.

In 1988, Ewan McGregor took on Guildhall training, and Ewan McGregor knew the job in Perth, Scotland would ask for more than talent alone. He trained at the Guildhall in London, learning the classical technique that would define his acting. It also proved how much Ewan McGregor had grown in craft, confidence, and control of Guildhall training since 1988. It is the kind of step that looks simple for Ewan McGregor in hindsight and felt anything but simple in Perth, Scotland at the time.

In 1994, Shallow Grave opened a new chapter for Ewan McGregor, and Ewan McGregor walked into it in Perth, Scotland without looking back. His first collaboration with Danny Boyle became a hit, and it showed his talent for dark drama. It also proved how much Ewan McGregor had grown in craft, confidence, and control of Shallow Grave since 1994. Such work builds trust for Ewan McGregor, and trust is the currency of Shallow Grave that never goes out of fashion in Perth, Scotland.

Around 1994, Being Human put Ewan McGregor in front of a new audience in Perth, Scotland, and the response mattered to Ewan McGregor. His early film work included the drama, giving him experience on screen. Being Human showed a performer in Perth, Scotland willing to be judged on the work itself, which is a brave choice for Ewan McGregor. Such work builds trust for Ewan McGregor, and trust is the currency of Being Human that never goes out of fashion in Perth, Scotland.

Guildhall training proved that the foundations of Ewan McGregor were solid in Perth, Scotland, and solid foundations are what let a career survive the hard years.

Trainspotting and the Role That Made Him a Star

In 1996, Ewan McGregor starred in “Trainspotting”, Danny Boyle’s film about a group of heroin addicts in Edinburgh, and the performance made him a star. He played Mark Renton, a young man trying to escape addiction, and his performance was raw, funny, and terrifying in equal measure. The film became a cultural phenomenon, and its dialogue, its music, and its energy made it one of the defining films of the decade. McGregor’s Renton was the heart of the film, a character who was both likeable and self-destructive, and audiences could not look away. The film was a critical and commercial success, and it introduced McGregor to a global audience. He has spoken about how the role changed his life, and about how it taught him the importance of honesty in acting. “Trainspotting” remains one of his defining performances, and it is the film that many fans think of first when they hear his name. It was the breakthrough, the moment when the world realised that Ewan McGregor was a major talent.

When Trainspotting arrived in 1996, Ewan McGregor treated it as a door in Perth, Scotland that might not open twice for Ewan McGregor. His performance as Mark Renton became a cultural phenomenon, and it made him a star. The work of Ewan McGregor in Trainspotting landed because Ewan McGregor treated it seriously in 1996, and seriousness is something audiences in Perth, Scotland can feel. That mix of effort and calm from Ewan McGregor is difficult to imitate, and it is why Trainspotting still earns discussion in Perth, Scotland.

1996 gave Ewan McGregor Choose Life speech, and the part demanded a steadiness in Perth, Scotland that only experience teaches Ewan McGregor. The film’s famous monologue became iconic, and McGregor’s delivery made it unforgettable. The result of Choose Life speech spoke for itself in Perth, Scotland, and it gave Ewan McGregor a stronger footing for everything after 1996. Careers like that of Ewan McGregor are built on steps like Choose Life speech, taken seriously in Perth, Scotland and finished properly.

1996 paired Ewan McGregor with Working with Danny Boyle, a project in Perth, Scotland that needed patience, nerve, and long hours from Ewan McGregor. The film began a collaboration with Boyle that would shape his early career. Working with Danny Boyle confirmed something the closest watchers in Perth, Scotland already knew, that the talent of Ewan McGregor had depth behind it. Moments like Working with Danny Boyle show why patience matters more for Ewan McGregor than sudden noise, and Perth, Scotland noticed that patience.

Trainspotting proved that the foundations of Ewan McGregor were solid in Perth, Scotland, and solid foundations are what let a career survive the hard years.

Star Wars and Becoming Obi-Wan Kenobi

In 1999, McGregor became Obi-Wan Kenobi in “Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace”, taking on the role made famous by Alec Guinness. It was a huge responsibility, because Obi-Wan is one of the most beloved characters in cinema, and fans had strong opinions about who should play him. McGregor played the younger Obi-Wan with a mix of humour, wisdom, and warmth, and he became a favourite with a new generation of fans. He returned for “Attack of the Clones” in 2002 and “Revenge of the Sith” in 2005, and his performance grew with each film. Decades later, he returned to the role in the Disney+ series “Obi-Wan Kenobi” in 2022, a homecoming that delighted fans around the world. The role made him a global star, and it gave him a connection to “Star Wars” that began with his uncle and continued through his own career. He has spoken about how much the role means to him, and about the joy of playing a character who represents hope, kindness, and courage. Obi-Wan remains one of his most loved roles.

1999 gave Ewan McGregor The Phantom Menace, and the part demanded a steadiness in Perth, Scotland that only experience teaches Ewan McGregor. He first played Obi-Wan Kenobi, taking on one of cinema’s most beloved roles. For audiences in Perth, Scotland, The Phantom Menace became the piece they mention first when they explain why they admire Ewan McGregor. It also explains why the phone kept ringing for Ewan McGregor after The Phantom Menace, because dependable talent is genuinely rare in Perth, Scotland.

With Revenge of the Sith in 2005, Ewan McGregor found a project in Perth, Scotland that matched the ambition Ewan McGregor had carried quietly. His Obi-Wan became a mentor and a warrior, and the film showed his growth as the character. Revenge of the Sith rewards a second look, because the care Ewan McGregor put into it in 2005 only becomes clear over time. It also explains why the phone kept ringing for Ewan McGregor after Revenge of the Sith, because dependable talent is genuinely rare in Perth, Scotland.

Obi-Wan Kenobi series in 2022 found Ewan McGregor ready for a bigger stage, even if Perth, Scotland was not sure yet about Ewan McGregor. He returned to the role decades later, in a series that delighted fans around the world. In the wider arc of the life of Ewan McGregor, Obi-Wan Kenobi series stands as evidence from 2022 that the progress was real, not lucky. Careers like that of Ewan McGregor are built on steps like Obi-Wan Kenobi series, taken seriously in Perth, Scotland and finished properly.

The value of The Phantom Menace for Ewan McGregor shows up in what followed in Perth, Scotland, in the confidence of the choices and the quality of the work after 1999.

Moulin Rouge!, Big Fish, and the Romantic Hero

Beyond “Star Wars”, McGregor has played romantic heroes, singers, and dreamers, showing a versatility that few actors can match. He starred in “Moulin Rouge!” in 2001, Baz Luhrmann’s musical, in which he sang and danced as a young writer in love with a courtesan played by Nicole Kidman. The film was a huge success, and it showed his gift for musical performance. He also starred in “Big Fish” in 2003, Tim Burton’s fantasy about a man telling tall tales, and in “Down with Love” in 2003, a romantic comedy. The roles showed a lighter, more romantic side of his talent, and they made him a favourite with audiences who loved his charm and his energy. He has also appeared in dramas, thrillers, and independent films, always choosing roles that interested him. His career is a story of an actor who refuses to be defined by one genre, and who keeps finding new kinds of stories to tell. It is a career built on curiosity, on hard work, and on a love of performing.

When Moulin Rouge! arrived in 2001, Ewan McGregor treated it as a door in Perth, Scotland that might not open twice for Ewan McGregor. He sang and danced in the musical, showing a romantic and musical side of his talent. Audiences in Perth, Scotland felt the honesty in Moulin Rouge!, and honesty is the hardest thing for Ewan McGregor to fake in this business. That willingness of Ewan McGregor to keep learning is visible in Moulin Rouge!, and it is what keeps the work of Ewan McGregor fresh.

When Big Fish arrived in 2003, Ewan McGregor treated it as a door in Perth, Scotland that might not open twice for Ewan McGregor. His performance in Tim Burton’s fantasy showed his gift for whimsical, heartfelt storytelling. What people in Perth, Scotland remembered afterwards was the feeling of Big Fish, not the noise around Ewan McGregor. Big Fish shows how much of the success of Ewan McGregor is preparation meeting a moment that finally arrives in Perth, Scotland.

By 2003, Down with Love had arrived, and Ewan McGregor knew the work in Perth, Scotland would be judged on its own terms, not on Ewan McGregor’s past. The romantic comedy showed his charm as a leading man. For Ewan McGregor, Down with Love was proof that the long hours and the early sacrifices in Perth, Scotland had not been wasted. It is a useful reminder that the career of Ewan McGregor was built as much in the small jobs as in the famous ones like Down with Love.

The step of Moulin Rouge! counts for Ewan McGregor because it connected the early promise to the later success in Perth, Scotland, and without it the story would have a gap.

The Long Way Round and the Adventurer

In 2004, McGregor and his friend Charley Boorman rode motorbikes from London to New York, travelling through Europe, Asia, and North America, in a journey documented in the television series “The Long Way Round”. The trip was an adventure, full of breakdowns, bad weather, and unforgettable encounters, and it showed a different side of McGregor, as a traveller, a friend, and a man who loves the open road. He followed it with “The Long Way Down” in 2007, riding from Scotland to South Africa, and “The Long Way Up” in 2020, riding electric bikes through South America. The journeys have become part of his identity, and they show his love of exploration and his willingness to take risks. He has spoken about how travelling changed him, about the people he met, and about the importance of seeing the world. The motorbike trips are not just television, they are a reflection of who he is, a curious, adventurous man who never wants to stand still. They remain one of the most loved parts of his story.

The year 2004 brought The Long Way Round, and Ewan McGregor approached it in Perth, Scotland as a chance for Ewan McGregor to be seen differently. He rode a motorbike from London to New York with Charley Boorman, in a journey that became a hit series. The Long Way Round rewards a second look, because the care Ewan McGregor put into it in 2004 only becomes clear over time. It is one more reason the story of Ewan McGregor reads as earned in Perth, Scotland rather than handed over after The Long Way Round.

With The Long Way Down in 2007, Ewan McGregor found a project in Perth, Scotland that matched the ambition Ewan McGregor had carried quietly. He rode from Scotland to South Africa, continuing his adventures on two wheels. What lasted from The Long Way Down was not the headline but the craft of Ewan McGregor, and craft is what keeps a career alive in Perth, Scotland. The quiet discipline of Ewan McGregor behind The Long Way Down is easy to miss in Perth, Scotland, and it is the most important part.

In 2020, The Long Way Up gave Ewan McGregor a challenge that looked modest in Perth, Scotland and proved demanding for Ewan McGregor inside. He rode electric bikes through South America, showing his commitment to adventure and to sustainability. The Long Way Up confirmed something the closest watchers in Perth, Scotland already knew, that the talent of Ewan McGregor had depth behind it. It is the kind of step that looks simple for Ewan McGregor in hindsight and felt anything but simple in Perth, Scotland at the time.

The value of The Long Way Round for Ewan McGregor shows up in what followed in Perth, Scotland, in the confidence of the choices and the quality of the work after 2004.

Fargo, Halston, and the Emmy Win

In recent years, McGregor has continued to impress on television, most notably in “Fargo” in 2017, in which he played twin brothers, winning a Golden Globe Award for his dual performance. He also played the fashion designer Halston in the Netflix series “Halston” in 2021, a role that earned him an Emmy Award for Best Actor. The performance showed his ability to transform himself, to play a complex, flawed, glamorous character, and to carry a series on his own. He has also appeared in films like “Doctor Sleep” in 2019, the sequel to “The Shining”, and in “Birds of Prey” in 2020, showing his range in different genres. He has spoken about the joy of television, about the depth it allows, and about the chance to explore a character over many hours. His later career is a story of an actor who keeps evolving, who takes on new challenges, and who refuses to rest on his past successes. It is a career that is still growing, and still surprising.

Fargo landed in 2017, and for Ewan McGregor it was less a reward in Perth, Scotland than a fresh responsibility for Ewan McGregor. He played twin brothers, winning a Golden Globe for his dual performance. Fargo confirmed something the closest watchers in Perth, Scotland already knew, that the talent of Ewan McGregor had depth behind it. It is one more reason the story of Ewan McGregor reads as earned in Perth, Scotland rather than handed over after Fargo.

The 2021 project Halston asked Ewan McGregor to work in Perth, Scotland in a way Ewan McGregor had not tried before. His portrayal of the fashion designer won him an Emmy Award for Best Actor. It also proved how much Ewan McGregor had grown in craft, confidence, and control of Halston since 2021. Moments like Halston show why patience matters more for Ewan McGregor than sudden noise, and Perth, Scotland noticed that patience.

For Ewan McGregor, Doctor Sleep in 2019 was the moment to show Perth, Scotland that the earlier success of Ewan McGregor was no accident. He played the adult Danny Torrance in the sequel to The Shining, showing his range in horror. For audiences in Perth, Scotland, Doctor Sleep became the piece they mention first when they explain why they admire Ewan McGregor. Moments like Doctor Sleep show why patience matters more for Ewan McGregor than sudden noise, and Perth, Scotland noticed that patience.

The reason Fargo still gets mentioned in Perth, Scotland is simple: it changed the direction of the story of Ewan McGregor for good.

What Ewan McGregor Means to Scotland and to Cinema

McGregor’s legacy is the proof that a Scottish actor can become a global star without losing his identity, and that versatility is the key to a lasting career. He began as a boy from Perth who left school at sixteen, trained in London, and became one of the most loved actors in the world. He showed that a star can play a Jedi, a romantic hero, a heroin addict, and a motorbike adventurer, and make each one feel real. He has also been a UNICEF ambassador, travelling to Africa and Asia to support children, and using his fame for good. Young actors look at his career and see a lesson, be brave, be curious, work hard, and never stop exploring. The boy from Crieff who loved performing became Obi-Wan Kenobi, and his story is a reminder that great acting, honestly done, can take you to a galaxy far, far away, and back home again.

1996 paired Ewan McGregor with Scottish icon status, a project in Perth, Scotland that needed patience, nerve, and long hours from Ewan McGregor. His Trainspotting made him a symbol of modern Scotland, and he remains proud of his roots. Looking back from Perth, Scotland, it is easy to see why Scottish icon status stayed in the mind of Ewan McGregor’s audience long after 1996. That mix of effort and calm from Ewan McGregor is difficult to imitate, and it is why Scottish icon status still earns discussion in Perth, Scotland.

UNICEF ambassadorship landed in 2004, and for Ewan McGregor it was less a reward in Perth, Scotland than a fresh responsibility for Ewan McGregor. He has worked as a UNICEF ambassador, travelling to support children around the world. What lasted from UNICEF ambassadorship was not the headline but the craft of Ewan McGregor, and craft is what keeps a career alive in Perth, Scotland. The lesson of UNICEF ambassadorship is simple for Ewan McGregor: do the hard job well in Perth, Scotland, and the next door opens by itself.

Versatility as a legacy came in 2021, and it turned into a proving ground for Ewan McGregor, a test Ewan McGregor faced in Perth, Scotland with everything to prove. His career across genres has become a model for actors who refuse to be limited to one kind of role. The job mattered because Versatility as a legacy stretched what people in Perth, Scotland believed Ewan McGregor could take on next. The lesson of Versatility as a legacy is simple for Ewan McGregor: do the hard job well in Perth, Scotland, and the next door opens by itself.

Its real importance for Ewan McGregor lies beyond a single moment in Scottish icon status. It shifted how people in Perth, Scotland spoke about Ewan McGregor, and it made the next stage possible.

My Take:

Ewan McGregor is the rare movie star whose career makes more sense if you start with the motorbike.

He was born on 31 March 1971 in Perth, Scotland, the son of a physical education teacher and a school administrator, and he grew up in the small town of Crieff, where the nearest thing to glamour was his uncle Denis Lawson — the actor who played Wedge Antilles in the original Star Wars films. McGregor has said that watching his uncle work was what made acting feel like a real job rather than a fantasy, and that detail has always charmed me, because it explains so much of what came later. He left school at sixteen, worked briefly in a theatre in Perth, and then went to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, graduating in 1993. His first television role was in Lipstick on Your Collar, a Dennis Potter serial set in the 1950s, and within a year he was working with Danny Boyle on Shallow Grave, a black comedy about three flatmates who find a dead man and a suitcase of money. It was a small film, made cheaply, and it announced a new kind of British leading man: funny, restless, slightly dangerous, and completely uninterested in being respectable.

Trainspotting in 1996 is the film that made him, and I want to be careful about how I talk about it, because it is easy to reduce it to a poster and a soundtrack. McGregor played Mark Renton, a heroin addict in Edinburgh trying — and mostly failing — to get clean, and the performance is a high-wire act. Renton is charming and selfish, funny and self-destructive, and McGregor never asks the audience to like him or to forgive him. The famous “Choose Life” opening monologue, delivered straight to camera while he runs through the streets of Edinburgh, is one of the great openings in British cinema, and it works because McGregor delivers it like a man who believes every word and none of them at the same time. Boyle’s direction is all energy and music, but the film would be empty without the performance at its centre, and McGregor was twenty-four when he gave it. What strikes me now is that he never tried to repeat it. He could have spent a decade playing charming Scottish rogues. Instead he went and did The Pillow Book with Peter Greenaway, a strange, beautiful, difficult film about a woman who writes calligraphy on lovers’ bodies, and A Life Less Ordinary, a romantic fantasy that flopped, and then he took the role that would define the next decade of his life.

Being cast as Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace in 1999 was the kind of break that can end a career as easily as make one. He was playing a character originated by Alec Guinness, one of the most beloved figures in cinema, in a film the whole world was waiting for and mostly disappointed by. McGregor’s approach was quietly brilliant: he did not imitate Guinness, and he did not ignore him either. He found a younger version of the same man — earnest, a little stiff, still learning — and he carried it through two more prequels, Attack of the Clones in 2002 and Revenge of the Sith in 2005, growing into the role as the character grew into his destiny. The prequels were criticised for many things, and some of the criticism was fair, but McGregor was almost never the problem. He gave the films their emotional centre, and when he returned to the role in the Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi in 2022, more than twenty years later, the response was genuinely warm — not nostalgia for the films, but affection for the man playing the part. That is a rare thing, and it tells you something about how audiences feel about him. He is not a star people admire from a distance. He is a star people feel fond of.

The film that sits between Trainspotting and Star Wars in my mind, and the one I love most, is Moulin Rouge! from 2001. Baz Luhrmann cast him as Christian, a penniless writer who falls in love with Nicole Kidman’s Satine in a Paris nightclub in 1900, and the film asked him to do something he had never done on screen: sing, properly, in a musical that was also a tragedy. He sang “Your Song” and “Come What May” with a sincerity that should have been embarrassing and somehow was not, and the film became a phenomenon. What I admire about that choice is the risk. A serious young actor, fresh from the coolest film in Britain, agreeing to belt out Elton John in a corset-filled fever dream — that takes a particular kind of confidence, and it takes a lack of vanity that most leading men do not have. He has kept that lack of vanity throughout his career. He played a soldier in Black Hawk Down, a young Ed Bloom in Tim Burton’s Big Fish in 2003, a ghostwriter in Roman Polanski’s The Ghost Writer in 2010, a father in The Impossible in 2012, a fisherman in Salmon Fishing in the Yemen in 2011, and a grown-up Christopher Robin in 2018, and in each of them he is recognisably himself and entirely inside the character at the same time. There is no Ewan McGregor persona to hide behind. There is just the work.

His television work in recent years has been the strongest of his career, and I think it is because television finally gave him the space to play complicated men over time. In Fargo in 2017 he played two brothers — Emmit, a successful businessman, and Ray, his resentful, failing twin — in the same season, and he won the Golden Globe for it. The two characters are nothing alike, and McGregor made them feel like different people who happened to share a face, which is a much harder trick than it sounds. He played the fashion designer Halston in the 2021 miniseries, a performance of cold glamour and slow self-destruction, and he played Dan Torrance in Doctor Sleep in 2019, the grown-up boy from The Shining, carrying trauma he could not name. In Birds of Prey in 2020 he played the villain Black Mask, and he clearly enjoyed it — a reminder that he has always been at his best when a role lets him be a little bit wicked. These are not the choices of an actor protecting a brand. They are the choices of an actor who still gets bored easily, which is the best quality a long career can have.

Then there is the motorbike, which is where I started, and which I think is the key to understanding him as a person. In 2004 he and his friend Charley Boorman rode motorcycles from London to New York the long way round — through Europe, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Siberia, Alaska, and Canada — a journey of more than 18,000 miles that became the television series Long Way Round. They did it again in 2007, riding from Scotland to South Africa for Long Way Down, and again in 2020, riding electric motorcycles from Argentina to Los Angeles for Long Way Up. I have watched all three series, and what I love about them is that they are not celebrity travel shows. They are two friends getting lost, breaking down, arguing, meeting strangers, and being changed by the road. McGregor’s UNICEF work grew out of the first trip — he became a UNICEF ambassador in 2004, and the journeys took him to children’s projects in Africa and Asia that clearly affected him deeply. There is a scene in Long Way Round where he visits a children’s home and you can see the trip stop being an adventure and start being something else. That sincerity, that willingness to be moved in public, is the same quality that makes his acting work. He does not perform feeling. He lets himself feel it.

His personal life has been public in ways he did not choose, and I will be brief about it, because it is not mine to judge. He was married to the production designer Eve Mavrakis from 1995 to 2018, and they have four daughters. He later married the actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead, his co-star in Fargo, and they have a son, Laurie. His older brother Colin was a pilot in the Royal Air Force, which is a detail that always makes me smile — the family produced a fighter pilot and a Jedi, and both of them took the job seriously. McGregor has spoken about his own struggles with alcohol in his twenties, and about giving it up, and he has done so without making it a story about himself. He has also worked steadily on stage — as Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls in London in 2005, for which he was nominated for an Olivier Award, and as Iago in Othello at the Donmar Warehouse in 2007 — because stage work is where an actor proves, to himself more than anyone, that he can still do it live. That need to keep proving it, to keep stepping onto a stage or a motorbike or a film set and starting again, is the thread I see running through everything.

I should also say something about the early Danny Boyle years, because they are the foundation everything else stands on. Shallow Grave in 1994 was a tiny film — three flatmates, one dead body, one suitcase of cash — and McGregor played Alex Law, the journalist of the group, with a cocky energy that made the film’s descent into paranoia feel earned rather than forced. Then came Trainspotting, and then A Life Less Ordinary in 1997, a romantic comedy-fantasy that did not work at the box office and that McGregor has been honest about since. What I take from those three films together is a young actor learning his craft in public, with a director who trusted him, and making choices that were brave even when they failed. Velvet Goldmine in 1998, Todd Haynes’s glam-rock fantasia, is another one of those early risks: McGregor played Curt Wild, a rock star modelled loosely on Iggy Pop, and he did it with a fearlessness that is startling to watch now. He was not protecting a future. He was an actor in his twenties saying yes to the interesting thing, and the interesting thing kept being the right choice, even when the box office disagreed.

His voice work and his blockbuster supporting roles deserve a mention too, because they show the other half of the career — the working actor who says yes to a good job and does it properly. He voiced Rodney Copperbottom in the animated film Robots in 2005, and he played Lumière, the candlestick, in Disney’s live-action Beauty and the Beast in 2017, a performance that required him to be charming while made of wax and French. He starred opposite Scarlett Johansson in Michael Bay’s The Island in 2005, a science-fiction thriller that did not find its audience in cinemas but has found one since, and he played the Camerlengo in Angels & Demons in 2009, a villain hiding inside the Vatican, a role that asked him to be pious and terrifying in the same scene. None of these are the films people lead with when they talk about him, and that is exactly the point. A career is not five famous films. A career is forty films, and the test of an actor is whether the fortieth is played with the same care as the first. McGregor passes that test, and it is the reason directors keep calling him.

So my honest take is this: Ewan McGregor’s career is not the story of a star who found one great role and lived off it. It is the story of a restless, funny, open-hearted Scottish actor who took the biggest franchise in the world and refused to let it shrink him, who sang in a musical when he did not have to, who played two brothers in one season because it was hard, who rode a motorcycle across continents because he wanted to see the world, and who kept working on stage because the work itself is the point. Trainspotting made him famous at twenty-four. Star Wars made him immortal at twenty-eight. But the thing that makes him worth writing about is the twenty-five years since, in which he has never once looked bored, never once looked like he was going through the motions, and never once pretended to be anything other than a working actor who loves the job. That is a rare and happy thing, and it is why I think his best work may still be ahead of him.

Frequently Asked Questions

How did Ewan McGregor become famous?

He first became known in Shallow Grave, then became a star with Trainspotting in 1996.

Is Ewan McGregor in Star Wars?

Yes. He plays Obi-Wan Kenobi in the prequel films and in the Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Did Ewan McGregor win an Emmy?

Yes. He won the Emmy for Best Actor for Halston in 2021.

What is The Long Way Round?

It is a television series documenting his motorbike journey from London to New York with Charley Boorman in 2004.

Yes. His uncle, Denis Lawson, played Wedge Antilles in the original Star Wars films.

What is Ewan McGregor’s most famous role?

Obi-Wan Kenobi is his most famous role, though Mark Renton in Trainspotting is also iconic.