British actor Ian McShane was born in Blackburn, England on September 29, 1942. He grew up in Manchester, where he attended Stretford Grammar School. He made his first screen appearance in 1962, in the film The Wild and the Willing. He appeared in several other films, such as Battle of Britain, !$#!#cat, !$#!#cat, I Love You, Tam Lin, Freelance and The Last of Shiela, as well as on television serials and plays. This led to him being pin-up material across the country.
McShane is best known to British audiences as antiques dealer Lovejoy in the 1986 British television drama Lovejoy. He played the role until 1994, when the program ended. He also became more familiar to American audiences with his role as Don Lockwood in five episodes of the soap opera Dallas, in 1989, although he appeared six years earlier in a short-lived soap opera, Bare Essence. After those roles, he made sporadic appearances in some major films.
McShane returned to the scene at the turn of the new millennium, first with the 2001 British film Sexy Beast. In 2003, he starred opposite Frankie Muniz in the 2003 film Agent Cody Banks; he plays the main antagonist Dr. Brinkman, who plans to use nanobots to destroy the world’s military defense systems. In 2006, he appeared in the Woody Allen film Scoop, where he plays the dead investigative reporter Joe Strombel.
He is perhaps best known for his role as businessman Al Swearengen in the Western drama Deadwood. His performance of the saloon owner with criminal sidelines earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Drama Actor. He also recently appeared in films such as The Seeker: The Dark is Rising and Hot Rod, and also provided his voice to animated films such as Shrek 3, The Golden Compass and Kung Fu Panda.