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Robert Carlyle

Born in Maryhill, Glasgow, Scottish actor Robert Carlyle has repeatedly amazed audiences with his chameleon-like ability to inhabit a range of characters. Known for his commitment to roles, Carlyle has often altered his lifestyle and physical appearance to better understand a character. Before playing a homeless man, he went to live in the Waterloo area of London where the film was set; for a role as a bus driver, he passed the test for a PCV license in a Glasgow Leyland Atlantean bus.

Carlyle broke into the international eye in the 1996 film Danny Boyle's Trainspotting. As the drunken, raving psychotic, Begbie, Carlyle imbibed the character with the type of rage that made many filmgoers unable to separate the character from the actor who gave him life. The film was the object of both critical adulation and controversy.

However, it was Carlyle's turn as the down-and-out Gaz in Peter Cattaneo's The Full Monty that brought him fully into the spotlight. The film was a sleeper hit, winning both box-office millions and five Oscar nominations, including one for Best Picture. Carlyle himself won the BAFTA award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for his performance and the cast won the SAG award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast. Most importantly, the film was nominated for Best Dance Sequence at the MTV Movie Awards. Other notable works include Antonia Bird's Priest with Tom Wilkinson, the critically acclaimed and very controversial story of the moral struggles of a gay priest, in which he played the priest's lover; Alan Parker's adaptation of Frank McCourt's Pulitzer winning autobiography Angela's Ashes as Malachy McCourt, the author's father; the James Bond film The World Is Not Enough with Pierce Brosnan; 28 Weeks Later, the sequel to Danny Boyle's zombie film directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo; and the Emmy nominated television movie Hitler: The Rise of Evil, in the title role of Hitler.

In 2005, he was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie for Human Trafficking, a Lifetime Network movie dealing with the horrible reality of the buying and selling of young girls into prostitution.

Carlyle lives in Glasgow with his family.


Note: This profile was written in or before 2009.
Read earlier biographies on this page.

Robert Carlyle Facts

OccupationActor
BirthdayApril 14, 1961 (62)
SignAries
BirthplaceGlasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom
Height5' 8" (1m73)  How tall is Robert Carlyle compared to you?
Awards1998 BAFTA Awards: Actor in a Leading Role (for The Full Monty)

Selected Filmography

24: Redemption
Trainspotting
The Last Hunt
Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing & Charm School
28 Weeks Later
Once Upon A Time: The Complete Fifth Season
Eragon
The Beach
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