There are few Hollywood leading men who command the same level of respect as Ewan McGregor.

He may have played a pretty convincing junkie in his breakthrough role as Mark Renton in Danny Boyle’s 1996 film, Trainspotting, but he’s never been the type of mainstream actor you’d find splashed across the front page of tabloids. And although he’s got the clean-cut image and winning smile your mom could fall for, he’s also a motorcycle-loving, down-to-earth kind of guy you could grab a beer with.

In 2015, McGregor embarked upon his directorial debut, adapting Philip Roth’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel American Pastoral for the big screen. The sort of man who is apt to throw himself into a project full-force, McGregor took charge of the film after losing two directors in quick succession. Capturing the crackling prose of Roth’s classic novel is no easy feat, but Roth himself gave the film his nod of approval. 

According to McGregor, journalists primarily ask him two questions during interviews: 1) How frequently he gets naked on-screen, and 2) Why he doesn’t drink anymore. And it’s true: McGregor has done more nude scenes than some porn actors and definitely holds the record among mainstream players. He’s dedicated to bearing it all in the name of gritty realism, and has shared plenty of on-screen steam with a litany of actresses, from Michelle Williams to Eva Green.

As far as booze goes, McGregor is Scottish, after all, but he eventually stopped drinking after a few too many hazy nights on the town. In classic nice-guy fashion, the worst thing he ever really did (in the public eye, anyway) was trash-talk Hugh Grant’s acting abilities and say that David Letterman is “rather arrogant and uninteresting.” And to be fair — neither of those things is particularly controversial.

Overseas, McGregor is best known for his role in Trainspotting (also worth a look is his big-screen debut in Boyle’s first film, the riotous Shallow Grave). These days, however, many know him as Obi-Wan Kenobi, the young Jedi Knight in the Star Wars prequels. And yes, we realize the prequels suck donkey balls, but McGregor still delivered a standout performance throughout the trilogy. That’s part of his appeal. He brings an unassuming charm to all his roles, the kind of talent that allows him to switch from junkie to priest to Jedi Knight.

McGregor’s next project will, again, be alongside director Boyle, reprising his role as Mark Renton in T2: Trainspotting, the much-awaited sequel. The story is set nine years after Renton vows to live a clean life and features the full original cast of Scottish drop-outs. The release date is in February, and, as huge fans of the original, there’s no doubt we’ll be checking it out.

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