McGregor was born in the Scottish coastal town of Crieff on March 31, 1971. After the normal run of school, he joined the Perth Repertory Theatre, and then went on to train at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. His studies at Guildhall led to a key role in Dennis Potter's 1993 Lipstick on Your Collar, a historical drama set during the Suez Crisis. He also appeared in Scarlet & Black, another 1993 historical adaptation, this time taking the lead. The same year, McGregor made his film debut, playing a bit part in Bill Forsyth's episodic Being Human. He continued to turn up on television on both sides of the Atlantic until late 1996; some of his more notable work included his turn as a beleaguered gunman in an episode of E.R. and the Cold War episode of Tales From the Crypt.

The actor's breakthrough in motion pictures came with Shallow Grave (1994), a stylish, noir-influenced feature directed by Danny Boyle, in which McGregor essayed the role of Alex, a journalist who finds himself in a horrendous position after a murder. He quickly went on to appear in the British surfing parable Blue Juice and Peter Greenaway's The Pillow Book before losing almost 30 pounds and shaving his head for his turn as heroin addict Mark Renton in the critically acclaimed Trainspotting, working once again with Danny Boyle. Having gained the attention of critics and audiences worldwide with this performance, McGregor proceeded to take something of a stylistic left turn by taking the role of Frank Churchill in the elegant historical comedy Emma (1996).

McGregor continued working at an impressive pace after Emma, appearing in Brassed Off (1996), Nightwatch, The Serpent's Kiss (1997), and yet another feature for Danny Boyle, the 1997 fantasy A Life Less Ordinary. This latter film concluded on a raffish note, with an animated puppet of McGregor dressed in a kilt, apparently in the McGregor tartan. In 1998, the actor began his work on the Star Wars prequels and appeared in Todd Haynes' Velvet Goldmine, in which he played an iconoclastic, Iggy Pop-like singer during the glam rock era of the 1970s. In 1999, along with his role in The Phantom Menace, McGregor appeared as infamous financier Nick Leeson in the biopic Rogue Trader, and had a full slate of projects before him. Some of these projects included several for his own production company, Natural Nylon, which he co-founded with fellow actors Jude Law, Sean Pertwee, Sadie Frost, and fellow-Trainspotter Jonny Lee Miller.

In 2000, McGregor could be seen in one of Natural Nylon's projects, Nora. Based on the real-life relationship between James Joyce and Nora Barnacle, it starred McGregor as Joyce and Susan Lynch as the eponymous Nora. The actor stayed in period costume for his other film that year, Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge. Set in 1899 Paris, it starred McGregor as a young poet who becomes enmeshed in the city's sex, drugs, and Can Can scene, and enters into a tumultuous relationship with a courtesan (Nicole Kidman). ~ Steven E. McDonald, All Movie Guide

Filmography:

Unknown Release Date: Flora Plum

2006: Gnomeo and Juliet (Voice) - Gnomeo

2006: The Great Pretender - Leslie Grangely/Bonnie Prince Charlie

2006: Stormbreaker - Ian Rider

2006: Scenes of a Sexual Nature - Billy

2005: Stay - Sam Foster

2005: The Island - Lincoln Six Echo/Tom Lincoln

2005: Star Wars: Episode III - Obi-Wan Kenobi

2005: Valiant (Voice) - Valiant

2005: Robots (Voice) - Rodney Copperbottom

2003: Big Fish - Young Ed Bloom

2003: Young Adam - Joe Taylor

2003: Down With Love - Catcher Block

2002: Solid Geometry (TV) - Phil

2002: Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones - Obi-Wan Kenobi

2001: Black Hawk Down - Spec. John Grimes

2001: Moulin Rouge - Christian

2001: Nora - James Joyce

2000: Anno Domini

2000: Eye of the Beholder - Stephen Wilson

1999: Rogue Trader - Nick Leeson

1999: Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace - Obi-Wan Kenobi

1998: Little Voice - Billy

1998: Nightwatch - Martin Bells

1998: Velvet Goldmine - Curt Wild

1998: Desserts - Stroller

1997: Brassed Off - Andy

1997: A Life Less Ordinary - Robert Lewis

1997: The Pillow Book - Jerome

1997: The Serpent's Kiss - Meneer Chrome

1996: "Karaoke" (mini TV Series) - Young Man

1996: Emma - Frank Churchill

1996: Trainspotting - Renton

1995: Blue Juice - Dean Raymond

1995: Shallow Grave - Alex Law

1993: "The Scarlett and the Black" (mini TV series) - Julien Sorel

1993: "Lipstick on Your Collar" (mini TV series) - Pvt. Mick Hopper

1993: Being Human - Alvarez

1993: Family Style (TV) - Jimmy