Kevin McKidd Biography

KEVIN McKIDD

Date of Birth: August 9, 1973

Scottish-born actor Kevin McKidd got his first taste for acting as a teenager when he joined Moray Youth Theatre, a local acting group in Elgin. However, because his parents did not believe this was a practical career to pursue, McKidd attended the University of Edinburgh for engineering, but kept acting in his life by joining Bedlam Theatre, the university's student theatre company. Soon, McKidd's love of drama grew too great and he dropped out of the university to study drama at Queen Margaret College.

It was not long after that McKidd landed leading roles in stage plays and eventually made his feature debut as the tragic athlete Tommy in Danny Boyle's Trainspotting (1996). The film's success led to subsequent roles for McKidd as he went on to star in the Scottish film Small Faces (1996) as Malky Johnson. McKidd was also cast in guest roles on British television, such as Father Ted (1996) and BBC's Looking After Jo Jo (1998).

In 2002, McKidd caught the attention of famed director Ridley Scott and was cast in Kingdom of Heaven (2005) alongside Orlando Bloom and Liam Neeson. The same year the film was released, McKidd played Lucius Vorenus in the popular HBO series Rome. This role gained him widespread recognition throughout the United States. The show was a huge success and continued for two full seasons.