Robert Carlyle is a Scottish film actor known for his acting style, which has won him awards from BAFTA and the Screen Actors Guild.
Born in Glasgow, Scotland on April 14, 1961, he trained as an actor at age 21, before graduating from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow. His breakthrough role was in an episode of the British crime drama Cracker, which starred Robbie Coltrane; he played murderer Albie Kinsella, who killed Eddie Fitzgerald’s colleage David Billborough (Christopher Eccleston). This performance earned him a BAFTA TV Award nomination, and led him to the title role in the 1995 BBC television adaptation Hamish Macbeth. That performance gave him his second BAFTA Scotland Award nomination.
Carlyle is known for his utmost commitment to roles. He is known to study the character he will play comprehensively, and even changes his lifestyle and physical appearance to better understand a character. His approach led him to acclaimed high-profile performances in the 1996 cult hit Trainspotting, as psychopathic Francis Begbie, and in the 1997 comedy The Full Monty, as Gaz, one of six steel workers who form a male striptease act to earn extra cash. His performance in the latter was nominated for a BAFTA, while the latter gave him a BAFTA Award for Best Actor, and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast.
Robert Carlyle has also appeared in films such as Safe, with Julianne Moore; Angela’s Ashes, as Malachy McCourt; The World Is Not Enough, as the villain Renard; Face, with Ray Winstone; and the film sequel 28 Weeks Later, opposite Catherine McCormack. He has also played the role of Adolf Hitler in the television movie Adolf Hitler: The Rise of Evil. His performance in the 2005 miniseries Human Trafficking earned him an Emmy nomination.
