Robert Carlyle,
OBE (born 14 April 1961) is a
Scottish film and television actor.
Early life
Carlyle was born in
Maryhill,
Glasgow, the son of Elizabeth, a bus company employee, and Joseph Carlyle, a painter and decorator.
He was raised by his father after his mother left when Carlyle was four years old.
He left school at 16 without qualifications and went to work for his father as a painter and decorator, however he continued his education by attending night classes at
Cardonald College 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's
The Crucible), and subsequently graduated from the
Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. In 1991, he and four friends founded an acting company and guest starred in
The Bill. He first came to the attention of the public as
murderer Albie Kinsella in an episode of
Cracker opposite
Robbie Coltrane (in which he killed the character DCI David Bilborough, played by
Christopher Eccleston). He soon landed the role of
Highland policeman
Hamish Macbeth in the eponymous
BBC comedy-drama.
In 1996 and 1997, he appeared in what are arguably the two most high-profile roles of his career to date: that of the
psychopathic Francis Begbie in
Trainspotting and Gaz, the leader of a group of amateur male
strippers, in
The Full Monty. He also starred with
Ray Winstone in
Face, which was released in 2002 on
DVD.
Other memorable roles include the senior Malachy McCourt (father of author
Frank McCourt) in the 1999 film adaptation of McCourt's first memoir,
Angela’s Ashes, the villainous
Renard in the
James Bond film
The World Is Not Enough, a
cannibalistic soldier in
Ravenous, the
gay lover of Father Greg in
Priest and
Adolf Hitler in the miniseries
Hitler: The Rise of Evil. Carlyle also played one of the main characters in
28 Weeks Later. Most recently, he plays the lead role as a
marine engineer, attempting to save
London from total devastation in the
disaster film Flood, released in 2007.
Carlyle appeared in the 2002
Oasis promotional music video to "
Little By Little". In 2008 he also narrated a
BBC audiobook version of
The Cutting Room.
Carlyle was cast as Dr. Nicholas Rush in the television series
Stargate Universe.
His involvement has been described thus, "As
team fights to 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." Carlyle is being touted by the studio as the "leading role" in
Universe.
In December 2008, Carlyle appeared in
24: Redemption, a television movie of the popular series
24, starring alongside
Kiefer Sutherland. He has also been confirmed doing voice work as Gabriel, the hero from the video game
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow alongside
Patrick Stewart and
Natascha McElhone.
In 2009 he portrayed the role of Father Joseph Macavoy in the to-be-released film
The Tournament.
Acting style
Known for his commitment to roles, Carlyle has often altered his lifestyle and physical appearance to better understand a character: before playing a
homeless character in
Antonia Bird’s
Safe, 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’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 bus; and for the role of Hitler, he listened to all the works of
Richard Wagner, Hitler's favorite composer.
Personal life
Carlyle is the Patron of School For Life Romania, Charity No.1062953.
He is married to Anastasia Shirley with whom he has three children. They met when she was working as a make-up artist on the TV series
Cracker.
Filmography
Film
Television
Video games
Audio books
