Scottish actor known internationally for his various film roles, including independent dramas, science-fiction epics, and musicals. In 2018, McGregor won a Golden Globe Award (Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film) for his performance as brothers Emmit and Ray Stussy in the third season of FX anthology series Fargo.
He made his film debut in 1994, playing a bit part in Bill Forsyth’s episodic Being Human. McGregor gradually came to public attention in the role of Alex Law in Shallow Grave (1994), followed by The Pillow Book and Trainspotting (both 1996), for the latter film he lost almost 14 kg (30 lb) and shaved his head to portray a heroin addict. He portrayed Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy (1999–2005), plus many more films and TV roles. Rocketing to prominence over a comparatively short time, he sang in the film Moulin Rouge! (2001) and was voted No.4 in a magazine list of Top 50 British Actors, 2001. In a 2004 poll for the BBC, McGregor was named the fourth most influential person in British culture.
As a lad of 16, Ewan left home to join the Perth Repertory Theatre with his parent’s encouragement along with that of his uncle, actor Denis Lawson. After drama study for a year, he enrolled at London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama for a three-year course but left prior to graduation when he was picked for a six-part TV series, Lipstick on Your Collar (1993). He was eventually presented with an honorary doctorate from the University of Ulster at a graduation ceremony in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
McGregor formed a production company with friends Jonny Lee Miller, Sean Pertwee, Jude Law and Sadie Frost that they named Natural Nylon, hoping to make innovative films that do not conform to Hollywood formulas. They produced Nora in 2000.
With tongue in cheek during an interview, McGregor said, “I’m doing my bit for the women’s movement. The women have always been naked in movies and now I’m just desperate to take my clothes off as much as possible.”
In mid-April 2004, the versatile actor left London on his round-the-world motorbike tour with fellow actor, Charley Boorman. The duo took three months to ride nearly 20,000 miles on a route from London to Mongolia, then from Alaska to New York. They had been in rigorous training for fitness and survival skills including first-aid training.
McGregor announced on 22 April 2008 that he had had a cancerous mole removed from beneath his right eye.
McGregor has been involved in charity work and has served as an ambassador for UNICEF UK since 2004. In 2013, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to drama and charity. In 2016, he received the BAFTA Britannia Humanitarian Award.
While working on a TV show in 1994, he met production designer Eve Mavrakis, 28, and they married in July 1995 in France. Their daughter Clara Mathilde was born in February 1996 and Esther Rose on 7 November 2001 in London. Together they have four daughters, one of them adopted from Mongolia.
In May 2017, after separating from his wife, McGregor began a relationship with Mary Elizabeth Winstead, whom he met on the set of season 3 of Fargo in which they starred together. On 19 January 2018, McGregor filed for divorce from his wife, citing irreconcilable differences.
Link to Wikipedia biography