Robert Carlyle's Biography

Robert Carlyle was born on April 14, 1961 in Glasgow.

Carlyle was brought up by his father in Glasgow's West End before going to study at the Royal Scottish Academy for Music and Drama.

In an interview with The Times, Robert Carlyle explained that he did not like the Academy's demands for students to speak in 'Standard English': "There was no way I was gonna go back to the pub and to my mates, saying, 'Pant of bittah please'."

Carlyle worked as a decorator and took small roles before making his screen debut in Ken Loach's Riff-Raff in 1990.

Carlyle's acting career started to thrive both in movies and on TV, where his important credits included Cracker, where he met his wife, Anastasia, a make-up artist, and the leading role in Hamish Macbeth.

The next major film role for Robert Carlyle was playing the psychopath Francis Begbie in Trainspotting in 1996. It was followed by the more light-hearted but equally popular film The Full Monty.

Robert Carlyle's film credits since then have included blockbusters on the one hand like the James Bond film The World Is Not Enough, where he played a character called Reynard, and low budget films like The Mighty Celt, where Carlyle plays a former IRA gunman on the other hand.

Film directors he has worked more than once with include Ken Loach (Riff Raff and Carla's Song), Danny Boyle (Trainspotting and The Beach) and Antonia Bird (Ravenous and Priest).

Antonia Bird is also directing The Meat Trade (written by Irvine Welsh of Trainspotting fame), which not only stars Carlyle but is also the first film scheduled to be made by his production company 4Way.

Robert Carlyle was awarded the OBE in 1999.

In 2007, Robert Carlyle starred in 28 Weeks Later. In 2008, Carlyle was cast in The Tournament.

In the 2008 Edinburgh Film Festival, Robert Carlyle won the award for best actor for his performance in Summer.

In December 2008, the BBC reported that Robert Carlyle was to star as the lead in Stargate Universe on the Sci Fi Channel.

In 2017, he appeared in T2 Trainspotting, the sequel to the original Trainspotting film made 21 years earlier.

In 2019, he was cast as Ogilvy in BBC One's adaptation of The War Of The Worlds.