Robert Carlyle (born 14 April 1961) is a Scottish actor. His film work includes ''
Trainspotting'' (1996), ''
The Full Monty
''The Full Monty'' is a 1997 British comedy film directed by Peter Cattaneo, starring Robert Carlyle, Mark Addy, William Snape, Steve Huison, Tom Wilkinson, Paul Barber and Hugo Speer. The screenplay was written by Simon Beaufoy. The film is ...
'' (1997), ''
The World Is Not Enough
''The World Is Not Enough'' is a 1999 spy film, the nineteenth in the ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions and the third to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It was directed by Michael Apted, from an ...
'' (1999), ''
Angela's Ashes
''Angela's Ashes: A Memoir'' is a 1996 memoir by the Irish-American author Frank McCourt, with various anecdotes and stories of his childhood. The book details his very early childhood in Brooklyn, New York, US but focuses primarily on his lif ...
'' (1999), ''
The Beach'' (2000), ''
28 Weeks Later
''28 Weeks Later'' is a 2007 post-apocalyptic horror film directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, who co-wrote it with Rowan Joffé, Enrique López Lavigne and Jesus Olmo. The sequel to the 2002 film ''28 Days Later'', it stars Robert Carlyle, ...
'' (2007), and ''
Yesterday'' (2019). He has been in the television shows ''
Hamish Macbeth'', ''
Stargate Universe
''Stargate Universe'' (often abbreviated as ''SGU'') is a military science fiction television series and part of MGM's ''Stargate'' franchise. It follows the adventures of a present-day, multinational exploration team traveling on the Ancient ...
'', and ''
Once Upon a Time''. He won the
BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Best Actor in a Leading Role is a British Academy Film Award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding leading performance in a film.
Superlatives
Note: ...
for ''The Full Monty'' and a
Gemini Award
The Gemini Awards were awards given by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television between 1986–2011 to recognize the achievements of Canada's television industry. The Gemini Awards are analogous to the Emmy Awards given in the United States ...
for ''Stargate Universe'', and was nominated for an
Emmy Award
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
for his work in ''
Human Trafficking
Human trafficking is the trade of humans for the purpose of forced labour, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or others. This may encompass providing a spouse in the context of forced marriage, or the extr ...
'' (2005).
Early life
Carlyle was born on 14 April 1961 in
Maryhill
Maryhill ( gd, Cnoc Màiri) is an area of the City of Glasgow in Scotland. Maryhill is a former burgh. Maryhill stretches over along Maryhill Road.
The far north west of the area is served by Maryhill railway station.
History
Hew Hill, ...
,
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...
, the son of Elizabeth, a bus company employee, and Joseph Carlyle, a
painter and decorator
A house painter and decorator is a tradesman responsible for the painting and decorating of buildings, and is also known as a decorator or house painter.''The Modern Painter and Decorator'' volume 1 1921 Caxton The purpose of painting is to imp ...
. He was raised by his father after his mother left when Carlyle was four years old. He left school at the age of 16 without any qualifications and worked for his father as a painter and decorator. He later attended night classes at
Cardonald College
Cardonald College was a medium-sized Further education institute located in Glasgow's South Side, in Scotland. Officially opened in 1972, it had over 12,000 full-time and part-time students. Cardonald College merged with Anniesland College and ...
in Glasgow.
Career
Carlyle became involved in drama at the Glasgow Arts Centre at the age of 21 (having been inspired by reading
Arthur Miller
Arthur Asher Miller (October 17, 1915 – February 10, 2005) was an American playwright, essayist and screenwriter in the 20th-century American theater. Among his most popular plays are ''All My Sons'' (1947), '' Death of a Salesman'' (1 ...
's ''
The Crucible
''The Crucible'' is a 1953 play by American playwright Arthur Miller. It is a dramatized and partially fictionalized story of the Salem witch trials that took place in the Massachusetts Bay Colony during 1692–93. Miller wrote the play as ...
''), and subsequently graduated from the
Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama
The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland ( gd, Conservatoire Rìoghail na h-Alba), formerly the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama ( gd, Acadamaidh Rìoghail Ciùil is Dràma na h-Alba) is a conservatoire of dance, drama, music, production, and ...
(RSAMD). In 1991, he and four friends founded a theatre company,
Raindog (which was involved in television and film work). The same year he guest starred in ''
The Bill
''The Bill'' is a British police procedural television series, first broadcast on ITV from 16 August 1983 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, '' Woodentop'', broadcast in August 1983.
The programme focused o ...
'' and also starred in his first movie, ''
Riff-Raff'', directed by
Ken Loach
Kenneth Charles Loach (born 17 June 1936) is a British film director and screenwriter. His socially critical directing style and socialist ideals are evident in his film treatment of social issues such as poverty ('' Poor Cow'', 1967), homelessn ...
.
In 1994, he played the
gay lover of Father Greg in the film ''
Priest
A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...
''. Carlyle's first high-profile role came as murderer Albert "Albie" Kinsella in an October 1994 episode of ''
Cracker
Cracker, crackers or The Crackers may refer to:
Animals
* ''Hamadryas'' (butterfly), or crackers, a genus of brush-footed butterflies
* '' Sparodon'', a monotypic genus whose species is sometimes known as "Cracker"
Arts and entertainment Films ...
'' opposite
Robbie Coltrane and
Christopher Eccleston
Christopher Eccleston (; born 16 February 1964) is an English actor. A two-time BAFTA Award nominee, he is best known for his television and film work, which includes his role as the ninth incarnation of the Doctor in the BBC sci-fi series '' ...
(notoriously killing off Eccleston's character, DCI David Bilborough). This highly acclaimed role showcased Carlyle's "pure intensity". Shortly after his appearance in ''Cracker'', he landed the role of
Highland
Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally speaking, upland (or uplands) refers to ranges of hills, typically from up to while highland (or highlands) is ...
policeman
Hamish Macbeth in the
BBC comedy-drama ''
Hamish Macbeth''. The series ran for three seasons from 1995 to 1997.
In 1996 and 1997, he appeared in the two highest-profile roles of his career to date: as the psychopathic Francis Begbie in ''
Trainspotting'' and Gaz, the leader of a group of amateur male
stripper
A stripper or exotic dancer is a person whose occupation involves performing striptease in a public adult entertainment venue such as a strip club. At times, a stripper may be hired to perform at a bachelor party or other private event.
...
s, in ''
The Full Monty
''The Full Monty'' is a 1997 British comedy film directed by Peter Cattaneo, starring Robert Carlyle, Mark Addy, William Snape, Steve Huison, Tom Wilkinson, Paul Barber and Hugo Speer. The screenplay was written by Simon Beaufoy. The film is ...
''. The latter earned Carlyle a
BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Best Actor in a Leading Role is a British Academy Film Award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding leading performance in a film.
Superlatives
Note: ...
. He also starred with
Ray Winstone
Raymond Andrew Winstone (; born 19 February 1957) is an English television, stage and film actor with a career spanning five decades. Having worked with many prominent directors, including Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, Winstone is perha ...
in the 1997 film ''
Face
The face is the front of an animal's head that features the eyes, nose and mouth, and through which animals express many of their emotions. The face is crucial for human identity, and damage such as scarring or developmental deformities may aff ...
''. Carlyle played the senior Malachy McCourt (father of author
Frank McCourt
Francis McCourt (August 19, 1930July 19, 2009) was an Irish-American teacher and writer. He won a Pulitzer Prize for his book ''Angela's Ashes'', a tragicomic memoir of the misery and squalor of his childhood.
Early life and education
Frank ...
) in the
1999 film adaptation of McCourt's first memoir, ''
Angela's Ashes
''Angela's Ashes: A Memoir'' is a 1996 memoir by the Irish-American author Frank McCourt, with various anecdotes and stories of his childhood. The book details his very early childhood in Brooklyn, New York, US but focuses primarily on his lif ...
''; the arch villain Renard in the 1999
James Bond
The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors hav ...
film ''
The World Is Not Enough
''The World Is Not Enough'' is a 1999 spy film, the nineteenth in the ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions and the third to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It was directed by Michael Apted, from an ...
''; and a cannibalistic soldier in the 1999 ''
Ravenous''.
![Stargate Universe Comic Con 2009 Carlyle](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/Stargate_Universe_Comic_Con_2009_Carlyle.jpg)
Carlyle appeared in the 2002
Oasis
In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment'ksar''with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system.”
The location of oases has been of critical imp ...
music video for "
Little By Little". He played
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and the ...
in the 2003 miniseries ''
Hitler: The Rise of Evil''. In 2006 he played the villain
Durza in ''
Eragon''. In 2007 Carlyle played one of the main characters in the film ''
28 Weeks Later
''28 Weeks Later'' is a 2007 post-apocalyptic horror film directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, who co-wrote it with Rowan Joffé, Enrique López Lavigne and Jesus Olmo. The sequel to the 2002 film ''28 Days Later'', it stars Robert Carlyle, ...
''. He also played the lead role as a marine engineer attempting to save London from total devastation in the disaster film ''
Flood
A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...
''. That year he also portrayed Father Joseph Macavoy in the film ''
The Tournament''.
In 2008 Carlyle narrated a BBC
audiobook
An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements.
Spoken audio has been available in sc ...
version of ''
The Cutting Room
The Cutting Room is a music venue in New York City that was open at 19 West 24th Street from late 1999 through January 2009 for music of all varieties and reopened at the beginning of 2013 in a new location at 44 East 32nd Street. It was co-owned ...
''. In 2008, he was cast as Dr.
Nicholas Rush
Dr. Nicholas Rush is a fictional character in the 2010 Canadian-American Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer-Syfy television series '' Stargate Universe'', a military science fiction serial drama about the adventures of a present-day, multinational exploration t ...
in the television series ''
Stargate Universe
''Stargate Universe'' (often abbreviated as ''SGU'') is a military science fiction television series and part of MGM's ''Stargate'' franchise. It follows the adventures of a present-day, multinational exploration team traveling on the Ancient ...
''. His role in the series has been described thus: "As
he team fightsto survive, Dr. Rush (Carlyle) works to unlock the mysteries of the ship and return the group home, but evidence of his ulterior motives soon arises." His was touted by the studio as the "leading role" in ''Universe''.
In December 2008, Carlyle appeared in ''
24: Redemption'', a television movie based on the popular TV series ''
24'', starring alongside
Kiefer Sutherland
Kiefer William Sutherland (born 21 December 1966) is a British-Canadian actor and musician. He is best known for his starring role as Jack Bauer in the Fox drama series ''24 (TV series), 24'' (2001–2010, 2014), for which he won an Emmy Award ...
.
In 2009, Carlyle appeared in "The Man Who Walked Around The World," a long-form commercial for
Johnnie Walker
Johnnie Walker is a brand of Scotch whisky now owned by Diageo that originated in the Scottish burgh of Kilmarnock in East Ayrshire. The brand was first established by grocer John Walker. It is the most widely distributed brand of blended Sc ...
whisky. Carlyle was shown walking down a path and talking for six minutes in a single
long take
In filmmaking, a long take (also called a continuous take or continuous shot) is a shot with a duration much longer than the conventional editing pace either of the film itself or of films in general. Significant camera movement and elaborate bl ...
. The ad took two days to film. The director, Jamie Rafn, afterwards referred to Carlyle as an "utter genius".
He voices the character of Gabriel Belmont, and his counterpart,
Dracula
''Dracula'' is a novel by Bram Stoker, published in 1897. As an epistolary novel, the narrative is related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist, but opens with solicitor Jonathan Harker taki ...
in the video game ''
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow'', as well as its sequels ''
Mirror of Fate
A mirror or looking glass is an object that Reflection (physics), reflects an image. Light that bounces off a mirror will show an image of whatever is in front of it, when focused through the lens of the eye or a camera. Mirrors reverse the ...
'' and ''
Lords of Shadow 2''.
From 2011 to 2018, Carlyle portrayed
Rumplestiltskin
"Rumpelstiltskin" ( ; german: Rumpelstilzchen) is a German fairy tale. It was collected by the Brothers Grimm in the 1812 edition of ''Children's and Household Tales''. The story is about a little imp who spins straw into gold in exchange for ...
/
Mr. Gold
The characters of ABC's ''Once Upon a Time'' and its spin-off '' Once Upon a Time in Wonderland'' are related to classic fairy tale and fantasy characters, and often tie-in with other Disney media properties.
Cast Main cast
: = Main cast ...
in the fantasy-drama television series ''
Once Upon a Time''. The character is a wizard, deal-maker, and master manipulator. In an interview, Carlyle explained that his son inspired him to create Rumplestiltskin's voice.
In 2019, he portrayed Ogilvy in a three-part television adaption of ''
The War of the Worlds
''The War of the Worlds'' is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells, first serialised in 1897 by ''Pearson's Magazine'' in the UK and by ''Cosmopolitan (magazine), Cosmopolitan'' magazine in the US. The novel's first appear ...
'' for the BBC, and made an uncredited appearance as
John Lennon
John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...
in the film ''
Yesterday''.
In 2020, he portrayed Robert Sutherland, the Prime Minister and Leader of the Conservative Party in ''
Cobra''.
Acting style
Known for his commitment to authenticity in roles, Carlyle has often altered his lifestyle and physical appearance to gain a better understanding of a character; much akin to
method acting. Before playing a
homeless
Homelessness or houselessness – also known as a state of being unhoused or unsheltered – is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and adequate housing. People can be categorized as homeless if they are:
* living on the streets, also kn ...
character in
Antonia Bird's ''Safe'', for example, he went to live in the
Waterloo area of London where the film was set. For his role as a bus driver in
Ken Loach
Kenneth Charles Loach (born 17 June 1936) is a British film director and screenwriter. His socially critical directing style and socialist ideals are evident in his film treatment of social issues such as poverty ('' Poor Cow'', 1967), homelessn ...
's ''Carla's Song'', he passed the test for a PSV licence (a licence to drive a bus with passengers) in a Glasgow
Leyland Atlantean
The Leyland Atlantean is a predominantly double-decker bus chassis manufactured by Leyland Motors between 1958 and 1986.
Only 17 Atlantean chassis were bodied as single deck from new.
It pioneered the design of rear-engined, front entranc ...
bus. Carlyle also had dentistry as part of his preparations for reprising his role as
Begbie in ''
T2 Trainspotting
''T2 Trainspotting'' is a 2017 British black comedy-drama film, directed by Danny Boyle and written by John Hodge. Set in and around Edinburgh, Scotland, it is based on characters created by Irvine Welsh in his 1993 novel '' Trainspotting'' and ...
,'' choosing to have a dental implant and an adjacent tooth that became damaged during the implant's removal, extracted. Writing of Carlyle's performance in ''
The Full Monty
''The Full Monty'' is a 1997 British comedy film directed by Peter Cattaneo, starring Robert Carlyle, Mark Addy, William Snape, Steve Huison, Tom Wilkinson, Paul Barber and Hugo Speer. The screenplay was written by Simon Beaufoy. The film is ...
'',
Andrew Johnston stated: "Carlyle was brilliant as the savage psycho Begbie in ''Trainspotting''; here, he proves he can be almost as good when kept on a short leash. We don't know much about Gaz, but he's the most interesting character in the movie, largely because of Carlyle's down-to-earth warmth."
Personal life
Carlyle has been married to
make-up artist
A make-up artist, also called a makeup artist, and often shortened to MUA, is an artist whose medium is the human body, applying makeup and prosthetics on others for theatre, television, film, fashion, magazines and other similar productions inc ...
Anastasia Shirley since 1997.
They have three children: a daughter born in 2002, and two sons born in 2004 and 2006, respectively. Carlyle is a patron of School for Life in Romania.
Carlyle supports
Rangers F.C.
Rangers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the Govan district of Glasgow which plays in the Scottish Premiership. Although not its official name, it is often referred to as Glasgow Rangers outside Scotland. The fou ...
. He was appointed an
OBE in 1999.
Filmography
Film
Television
Video games
Audio books
Awards and nominations
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carlyle, Robert
1961 births
Living people
Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Screen Actors Guild Award winners
Male actors from Glasgow
Alumni of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
Scottish male film actors
Scottish male television actors
Scottish male video game actors
Scottish male voice actors
Best Actor BAFTA Award winners
Officers of the Order of the British Empire
Best Actor in a Drama Series Canadian Screen Award winners
20th-century Scottish male actors
21st-century Scottish male actors
People from Maryhill