Scott James Kyle (born 27 June 1983), is a
Scottish
Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including:
*Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland
*Scottish English
*Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...
actor, best known for his roles as Ross in ''
Outlander'', Clancy in ''
The Angels' Share
''The Angels' Share'' is a 2012 comedy-drama film directed by Ken Loach and starring Paul Brannigan, John Henshaw, and William Ruane. Set in Glasgow, Scotland, it tells the story of a young father who narrowly avoids a prison sentence. He is dete ...
,'' and Corporal Stu Pearson in the film ''
Kajaki: The True Story (Kilo Two Bravo).'' Kyle received the 2010 ''
Stage Awards Best Actor Award'' for his role in the play ''Singin' I'm No A Billy He's A Tim.''
Early life
Kyle grew up in
Rutherglen
Rutherglen (, sco, Ruglen, gd, An Ruadh-Ghleann) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, immediately south-east of the city of Glasgow, from its centre and directly south of the River Clyde. Having existed as a Lanarkshire burgh in its own ...
,
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...
, the son of a single mother, and attended
Stonelaw High School
Stonelaw High School is a non-denominational state high school located in Rutherglen, Scotland near the city of Glasgow.
Admissions
Stonelaw High School is a leading Scottish school delivering the new National 4/5 qualifications introduced by t ...
prior to taking an acting course at the
Glasgow College of Nautical Studies
Glasgow College of Nautical Studies was a further education college of nautical and maritime studies, and a provider of marine and offshore training courses. On 26 March 2009, it was announced that the college would merge with the Central Colle ...
. While still a student, and working night shifts at a supermarket, he founded the NLP Company to create more opportunities for students wishing to act while still in school.
Career
Acting
Kyle's first professional role was in 2006's ''PondLife'', a film from director Sean Wilkie, which chronicled the life of student filmmakers on their last day of school. While still in college, Kyle starred in writer Stephen Greenhorn's play ''
Passing Places
Stephen Greenhorn (born 5 September 1964 in Fauldhouse, West Lothian, Scotland) is a Scottish playwright and screenwriter. He is the creator of the BBC Scotland soap opera ''River City''.
Theatre
Greenhorn’s plays have been produced by a wide ...
'', which he both produced and took on tour throughout Scotland. He went on to feature as Romeo in director Laura Pasetti's production of
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...
's tragedy at the Charioteer Theatre, and in ''Sandwich'' (2009), a short film centering on a retired mobster and a current crime lord. The film was transitioned into an internet series on
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...
entitled ''The Crews'' (2011), which eventually screened on
STV
STV may refer to:
Television
* Satellite television
** Direct-broadcast satellite television (DBSTV)
Channels and stations
* STV (TV channel), the brand name of ITV broadcasters in central and northern Scotland
** Scottish Television, now le ...
in Scotland.
In 2010, Kyle's had a starring role in
Des Dillon's play ''Singin' I'm No A Billy He's A Tim,'' which focused on the rivalry between
Old Firm
The Old Firm is the collective name for the Scottish football clubs Celtic and Rangers, which are both based in Glasgow. The two clubs are by far the most successful and popular in Scotland, and the rivalry between them has become deeply e ...
(
Rangers
A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to:
* Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...
and
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
*Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Foo ...
) football fans. The play, which was produced by Kyle's company NLP (No limit People), premiered at the
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...
, where Kyle received the 2010 ''
Stage Awards Best Actor Award'' for his role, before touring throughout Scotland and Ireland. In addition to the play, Kyle ran anti-sectarian workshops based upon its message at schools and youth groups in and around Glasgow.
Later that year he starred opposite ''
Coronation Street
''Coronation Street'' is an English soap opera created by ITV Granada, Granada Television and shown on ITV (TV network), ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres around a cobbled, terraced street in Weatherfield, a fictional town based ...
''
's Charlie Lawson in NLP's stage production of author
Des Dillon's comedic play ''Blue Hen''.
Director
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), homelessne ...
's 2012 comedy ''
The Angel's Share'', a film revolving around
Glaswegians
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 popul ...
who discover whisky, saw Kyle feature as Clancy in his first film role. That same year, he starred in director Laura Passetti's play ''Fleeto'', about a young man who joins a gang after his best friend is stabbed, and director
Rachel O’Riordan’s ''Cold Turkey At Nana’s'', which focuses on heroin addiction. He would return to the
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...
in 2013 in the title role of the Finnish play ''Bad Boy Eddie''. From there he would star in director Paul Katis' 2014 feature film
''Kajaki'' (aka ''Kilo Two Bravo''), where he portrayed real life soldier Corporal Stu Pearson in the story of a small unit of British soldiers positioned near the
Kajaki Dam
The Kajaki Dam is one of the two major hydroelectric power dams of Helmand province in southern Afghanistan. The dam is located on the Helmand River 100 miles (161 km) north-west of Kandahar and is operated by the Helmand and Arghandab Va ...
in the
Helmand Province
Helmand (Pashto/Dari: ; ), also known as Hillmand, in ancient times, as Hermand and Hethumand, is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, in the south of the country. It is the largest province by area, covering area. The province contains 13 ...
of
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bord ...
during
Operation Herrick
Operation Herrick was the codename under which all British operations in the War in Afghanistan were conducted from 2002 to the end of combat operations in 2014. It consisted of the British contribution to the NATO-led International Security A ...
in 2006. That same years saw Kyle's first radio production,
BBC Radio Scotland
BBC Radio Scotland is a Scotland, Scottish radio station, radio network owned and operated by BBC Scotland, a division of the BBC. It broadcasts a wide variety of programmes. It replaced the Scottish BBC Radio 4 opt-out service of the same na ...
's 2014 psychological thriller ''The Dead of Fenwick Moor'', where he portrayed Stevie Caffrey. 2015 saw Kyle return to stage productions in ''Loranga'', an adaptation of Barbaro Lindgren's book
Loranga Masarun och Dartanjang.
Kyle joined the cast of
Starz
Starz (stylized as STARZ since 2016; pronounced "stars") is an American premium cable and satellite television network owned by Lions Gate Entertainment, and is the flagship property of parent subsidiary Starz Inc. Programming on Starz consis ...
' hit time travel drama ''
Outlander'', based upon best selling author
Diana Gabaldon
Diana J. Gabaldon (; born January 11, 1952) is an American author, known for the ''Outlander'' series of novels. Her books merge multiple genres, featuring elements of historical fiction, romance, mystery, adventure and science fiction/fantas ...
's popular
book series
A book series is a sequence of books having certain characteristics in common that are formally identified together as a group. Book series can be organized in different ways, such as written by the same author, or marketed as a group by their pub ...
, in 2016. He portrayed Ross the Smith, one of
Jamie Fraser
Jamie Fraser (born November 17, 1985) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman who played one game in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the New York Islanders.
Playing career
Undrafted from the Ontario Hockey League, Fra ...
's men recruited from Lallybroch to fight for
Prince Charles Stuart
Charles Edward Louis John Sylvester Maria Casimir Stuart (20 December 1720 – 30 January 1788) was the elder son of James Francis Edward Stuart, grandson of James II and VII, and the Stuart claimant to the thrones of England, Scotland and ...
in the
Jacobite rising of 1745
The Jacobite rising of 1745, also known as the Forty-five Rebellion or simply the '45 ( gd, Bliadhna Theàrlaich, , ), was an attempt by Charles Edward Stuart to regain the British throne for his father, James Francis Edward Stuart. It took ...
. The next year, during the Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival, Kyle starred in writer Mariem Omari’s four-person play ''One Mississippi'', which focused on the voices of four men with mental health issues. In 2018, he starred as Bab Cunningham in
Fraser Murdoch
Fraser Murdoch (19 September 1990) is a Scottish animator.
Career Cunningham's Scrap
''Cunningham's Scrap'' which had the working title of ''Bab: The Man Who Took Too Much'' is a short film written and directed by Murdoch. In November 2016, ...
's animated short,
Tubgate: Cunningham's Scrap'' which premiered at World of Film: International Festival Glasgow in October of that year. Kyle and Murdoch, along with fellow cast member Gregor Firth, met while working on ''Outlander''.
That same year he featured in writer Adam Head's
WWI
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
football (soccer) play ''The Greater Game,'' which was based upon the true story of the
17th Battalion Middlesex Regiment
The 17th (Service) Battalion, Middlesex Regiment was an infantry battalion of the Middlesex Regiment, part of the British Army, which was formed as a Pals battalion during the Great War. The core of the battalion was a group of professional f ...
, the first football club to enlist together, at the Waterloo East Theatre in London. In 2019, he guest starred in the second series of BBC's medical drama ''
Trust Me'', opposite fellow ''Outlander'' cast member
Richard Rankin
Richard Rankin (born Richard Harris on 4 January 1983) is a Scottish film, television and theatre actor. He is best known for the Scottish sketch show ''Burnistoun'' and as Roger Wakefield MacKenzie in the Starz drama '' Outlander''.
Early life ...
. He would return to live theatre later that year in ''A War of Two Halves'', a depiction of the
Heart of Midlothian F.C.
Heart of Midlothian Football Club, commonly known as Hearts, is a professional football club in Edinburgh, Scotland. The team competes in the Scottish Professional Football League. Hearts, the oldest and most successful football club in the Sc ...
players that
enlisted in the military en masse in 1914 at the outbreak of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
, which was performed at the club's stadium as part of the
Edinburgh Fringe Festival
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...
. At the 2022 Edinburgh Fringe, he played
Renton in a new stage adaptation of
Irvine Welsh
Irvine Welsh (born 27 September 1958) is a Scottish novelist, playwright and short story writer. His 1993 novel '' Trainspotting'' was made into a film of the same name. He has also written plays and screenplays, and directed several short fil ...
's novel
Porno.
[Irvine Welsh’s Porno review – coarse and gutsy Trainspotting sequel](_blank)
The Guardian, 14 August 2022. Retrieved 4 September 2022
In addition to acting, Kyle runs acting workshops for children both within Scotland and abroad, and will partner with the Edinburgh Acting School, alongside Jen McGregor, to lead their ATCL Speech and Drama Diploma course in 2019.
He will also be working with school leadership to develop a series of masterclasses and workshops that will be offered over the next year.
Theatre manager
Between 2012 and 2017 Kyle was the artistic director of the
Bathgate
Bathgate ( sco, Bathket or , gd, Both Chèit) is a town in West Lothian, Scotland, west of Livingston, Scotland, Livingston and adjacent to the M8 motorway (Scotland), M8 motorway. Nearby towns are Armadale, West Lothian, Armadale, Blackburn, ...
Regal Community Theatre in Scotland, which was housed in a refurbished
Category B listed
This is a list of Category A listed buildings in Scotland, which are among the listed buildings of the United Kingdom.
For a fuller list, see the pages linked on List of listed buildings in Scotland.
Key
The organization of the lists in thi ...
former cinema. In 2017, Kyle was awarded a ''Pride of West Lothian - Special Recognition Award'' for Outstanding Contribution to Community Theatre for helping to raise over £65,000 for improvements to the theatre through donations from his
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
followers.
He also organised several Scottish-themed events, including the annual Highland Fling, for fans in Scotland and North America.
In late 2017, Kyle was appointed Program Manager for the
Fife
Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross ...
Cultural Trust, overseeing the bookings and events for theatres, libraries, museums and galleries in the area.
He manages the Dunfermline’s Carnegie Hall, the Lochgelly Centre, the Adam Smith Theatre in
Kirkcaldy
Kirkcaldy ( ; sco, Kirkcaldy; gd, Cair Chaladain) is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It is about north of Edinburgh and south-southwest of Dundee. The town had a recorded population of 49,460 in 2011, ...
, and Rothes Hall in
Glenrothes
Glenrothes (; , ; sco, Glenrothes; gd, Gleann Rathais) is a town situated in the heart of Fife, in east-central Scotland. It is about north of Edinburgh and south of Dundee. The town had a population of 39,277 in the 2011 census, making it ...
. Of the position, he has said, "My idea is to have one person: you start there and they work with the theatres, bringing together their different programmes and using their marketing budget to promote the show".
Filmography
Television
Film
Theatre
Radio
Awards and nominations
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kyle, Scott
Living people
People educated at Stonelaw High School
1983 births
People from Rutherglen
Male actors from Glasgow
Scottish male film actors
21st-century Scottish male actors
Scottish male stage actors